“It frightened her.”
Everything in me went still.
Her lips curved up in a thin smile. “I was there,” she said, her voice dropping to a hiss. “Saw her enter with the arrogance of the False Queen whose blood runs in her veins.”
The ravens perched above turned their heads toward me as my blood cooled.
“I heard the exact moment all that false bravado collapsed into nothing. When she learned the hard way what her position is with him.” The god laughed, the sound light. “I can still hear her screams.”
Ice-coated smoke crawled up my throat.
“Do you know she begged? Pleaded with him.” Her smile grew, revealing the tips of her fangs. “Ah, you didn’t know that.”
A deep, animalistic sound tore from my chest in warning as I locked gazes with her. The raven on my shoulder took flight.
“She was weak,” the god whispered. “And once she shows her face again, he will find her and finish what he started. He will take it all.” The glow of essence in her eyes grew brighter. “And there is nothing you can do to stop him. You’ll already be dead.”
The ravens vanished.
I snapped forward, grabbing a fistful of her hair. Twisting her around, I dragged her back against me before she could take another breath. Jerking her head to the side, I struck, sinking my fangs into her neck. It wasn’t a nice, clean bite. I made sure I tore through her flesh, letting the blood pour down my throat.
She fought. They all did. First, with eather that burned my flesh. I ignored it as I drank. Then, with their body. Clawing, struggling, and striking out until they grew too weak. She went limp against me, and I tasted the stutter of her heart. Tasted death in her veins.
Until she was nothing.
Disengaging my fangs, I lifted my head as I let go. She slid to the floor, her flesh as pale as the veilsshehad been forced to wear. With a flick of my gaze, I destroyed her body, leaving nothing but bones behind.
My head tilted, I eyed the skeleton for a few moments, then reached for an arm, snapping it off just below the shoulder, and then again at the elbow.
Straightening, I strolled across the floor of the Hall, humming under my breath as I idly flipped the bone. I pulled the essence back, feeling the wings retreat and fold themselves away. The ravens returned, their wings beating against the air as I reached the dais and leapt, landing silently before the throne. My head cocked as I rose, eyeing the back of the seat. I held the bone as several vines unfurled and stretched out, wrapping around it. The vines retreated, sinking back into the throne, nestling the newest addition beside the femur of the last god who had entered Wayfair.
Pivoting, I let my gaze fall on the closed doors. The castle remained silent.
The humming in my thoughts started again, and I knew I couldn’t stay here. It was too quiet. And when it was this silent,I thought about what had happened in here. To Hisa. To Delano. To my father. And I needed…
My hands fisted at my sides as I stretched my neck from side to side. I needed… I spun toward the throne again, my gaze landing on it. It was a dark, twisted mess of bone, vine, and sin.
My gaze lowered to my palm. The imprint shimmered a faint gold in the dim light. I neededher. I neededhim.
I acted without much thought, opening thenotamand allowing myself to connect to Kieran for the first time since Poppy had left. By the time he felt the whisper of my presence, I’d already located him.
His shock rippled through thenotamlike a splash of icy water.Cas—
Cutting him off, I shadowstepped onto the torchlit Rise, directly behind him and the Primal god I’d unfortunately descended from.
The line of Kieran’s spine went rigid as his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.
Shadows pooled around me as my gaze flicked over the battlement. The white and gold armor of Atlantian soldiers stood out starkly against the black of the mortal Rise Guards who waited within the rounded parapet, arrows pulled taut against the strings of bows. Two generals of the Crown’s Guard stood near in another stone nest: the fair-headed Elemental, Aylard, and the changeling, Murin. Speaking among themselves, their stares were fixed on the mist below. My attention shifted back to Kieran as commands were shouted.
He had frozen, the rigid line of his spine betraying the cold chill I knew pressed against his back. He turned slowly, vivid blue eyes landing on where the thickness of night was the heaviest. His jaw flexed.
Attes stiffened, then whipped around.
It took the Primal god a fraction of a second longer than Kieran to find me. “Nice of you to join us.”
A shadow-laced laugh parted my lips, curling into the air like smoke settling on the Rise.
Both generals had gone silent. Murin turned first, his sea-glass eyes wide. Aylard, the fuck, took a step back, bumping into the parapet wall, his skin pale in the moonlight.
