His shadows lash out like scythes, cutting down the first wave before they take three steps. Blood sprays across the white silk walls. Screams fill the air. A soldier's arm lands at my feet, still clutching his sword.
And through it all, Kaan's grip on Father never loosens.
"Stand down!" Father chokes out, blood flecking his lips. "Stand—" The word dissolves into a wet gurgle as Kaan's shadows tighten further.
"No." Kaan's voice is almost gentle. Almost tender. The voice of a man who has waited a very long time for this moment. "You die here. Today. For my son. For mywife. For every tear she's shed blaming herself for a loss thatyoucaused."
More guards rush in. My light magic blazes to life without conscious thought, meeting them with walls of searing brilliance. I don't know if I'm protecting Kaan or helping himkill my father, and in this moment, I don't care. All I can see is Father's face, purple and bulging, and all I can feel is satisfaction.
Let him suffer. Let him feel a fraction of the agony he inflicted on me.
Beside me, Zoran draws his sword, but he doesn't move toward Kaan. He turns to face the incoming guards, positioning himself between them and us.
"Stand down!" he shouts at the soldiers. "All of you, stand down!"
"Lord Zoran—" General Altin starts.
"That man murdered my nephew!" Zoran's voice cracks like a whip. "He ordered an assassin to kill her unborn child! Whatever happens to him now,he brought it on himself!"
The guards hesitate. Confusion ripples through their ranks. They look at Father, dangling from Kaan's shadows. At me, blazing with light. At Zoran, their own prince, standing against them.
"He's lying," Father wheezes. "They're all?—"
Kaan's shadows squeeze, and the words cut off in a strangled gurgle.
"I've been patient," Kaan says. "I've held back. Played politics. Let you live because killing you would have started a war my wife didn't want."
His face twists into something terrible. Something hungry.
"But you already started the war, didn't you? The moment you sent that assassin into my home. The moment you decided that my son's life was worth less than your political machinations."
He pulls Father even closer. Their noses are almost touching now.
"So let me be very clear about what happens next," Kaan whispers, and his voice carries clearly through the silentpavilion. "I am going to kill you. Slowly. Painfully. I am going to takehoursto end your miserable existence, and I am going to enjoy every single second of it."
Father's eyes roll back in his head. His struggles are weakening.
"And when you finally die," Kaan continues, "I will find every single person who helped you plan this. Every adviser, every guard, every servant who knew what you intended. And I will kill them too. I will build a monument of corpses to commemorate what you took from me."
"STOP!"
Solene's scream cuts through the chaos like a blade of pure light.
Power explodes from her, raw, uncontrolled, nothing like the polished magic she displayed earlier. It slams into everyone in the pavilion with building-leveling force. Guards go flying. Silk walls tear from their moorings. The makeshift throne topples and shatters.
Kaan staggers back but keeps his feet, a spear of light piercing his shoulder. Black blood sprays across the ruined floor.
But his grip on Father loosens. Just for a moment. Just enough.
Father crumples to the ground, choking and gasping, his hands clawing at his bruised throat.
Kaan reaches up and grips the light spear embedded in his shoulder. Without hesitation, without even a flicker of pain crossing his features, he rips it out. Black blood pours from the wound for a moment before shadows swirl and seal it closed.
He takes one step toward Father's fallen form.
Solene throws herself between them, her hands raised, light blazing around her like a shield.
"Please," she gasps. "Please, I can't—I didn't know. IswearI didn't know what he'd done. But if you kill him here, the Councilwill retaliate with everything they have. It will be total war. Thousands will die."
