“Tell us, oh great Nyses Grimaldi,”
“What would make the King of Mysthelm,”
“Burn his own temple to the ground?”
Confusion struck me as they kept talking.Hehad done this? Their own king? That couldn’t be true. All those innocent people, dead?—
“Setting fire to your people? Lettingthem burn among the smoke and flames? You must be truly desperate to summon an audience with us.”
The third voice purred, “Yes, Nyses. So very desperate.”
Nyses’s body jerked, and he tipped his head up as if being clutched around the throat.
“Well, Your Majesty?”
“What is it that you seek?”
“Magic,” he choked out. His voice was deep and gravelly, full of hatred.
“That’s what all of this was for?” the third voice asked. “You desire magic?”
“Yes. Magic to rival that of the Veridian Empire. Magicyougranted them.”
“Magic they earned, Nyses.”
“The Veridian Empire defeated your kingdom over a century ago.”
“They conquered the power we offered to both of your lands.”
“You asked what I sought,” Nyses said. “That is my answer. Magic to rule over my people. Magic to conquer my foes. Magic greater than what you have given our enemies.”
The smoke in the temple rose as their voices grew distant. My vision wavered, and when I reached up to rub my eyes, my body slammed back into the stone wall of my cell.
I stumbled forward and dropped to my knees. The smell of smoke clung to the walls, to my skin, to the inside of my nose.
“Was—was that real?” I croaked out.
“Yes,” the second one hissed. “Do you see why we did what we did?”
“The Grimaldis were power-hungry and foolish, desperate for bloodshed without caring who got in their way.”
“Call us liars all you want, little Empress,” the first one sang. “But can you truly blame us?”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. Galen’s ancestor was willing to endanger so many lives, all for the sake of seeking an audience with the Fates. To what,threatenthem? Bargain with them? To convince them to give him their magic?
And in his greed, he’d condemned his entire bloodline.
A wicked laugh filled the silence. “Poor Nyses must be turning over in his grave knowing his own flesh and blood put a Veridian on his precious throne.”
I gritted my teeth. “This isn’t funny. Galen didn’t deserve to die for his ancestor’s sins.”
“Perhaps not,” the second voice said. “But what’s done is done.”
“You don’t even care,” I muttered. “You’ve never cared about any of us. You started an entire war, killing hundreds of thousands of people over this magic, just for what? Yourentertainment? And now you act as if this curse was some sort of justice against a corrupted king. Where’s the justice inanythingyou’ve done?”
“We did not come here to be lectured by a self-righteous, would-be queen,” the third one warned, the feminine voice now deep and laced with irritation.
“Then whydidyou come here?” I demanded. “To watch me die like you watched Galen?”
