“We were friends!” she shrieked, clawing at her throat.
“You smiled when Florence died.”
My attention shifted to Trefor. He was crying, watching Angharad’s flesh melt away, an avalanche of hair collapsing from atop her skull.
“Do you want to die with her?” I asked. “I have more.”
Trefor shook his head. “P-please, no, Your Majesty.”
“Good. Then when she stops breathing, you’ll remember none of this.” I paused, letting Angharad’s screams interrupt me until her voice started to give. “You found her dead, choked on her own vomit after another binge. She’ll have accidentally set herself on fire, knocking over a candle. Tragic, but…”
She wailed, thrashing in her seat. Her skin seeped between Trefor’s fingers and he let go, jumping as his wife’s body slammed against the table in convulsions.
“Expected,” I finished, rising from my seat. Angharad’s life was ending now, and my stomach twisted at the sight.
I went to the door and Trefor stopped me, grabbing hold of my wrist.
“Please. Please don’t leave,” he begged. “I should hate you. I should be screaming, fighting, but I…I can’t. I don’t understand…”
His grip tightened. Behind him, Angharad’s body lurched, thenfell still.
“Take me with you. We’ll burn this house to the ground and I’ll move into the palace. Gods, what have you done to me?”
“Don’t worry,” I replied, patting him on the hand. “I’ll have further use of you. Burn it all down, if you wish. Move the children to the castle and find a new wife.”
I descended the stairs of the Tharons’ manor, making my way to the door. All the while I felt Trefor’s eyes on me, desperate and hungry. I took hold of the door and was stopped by an arm snaking around my waist, pulling me close.
Trefor’s mouth fell to my neck.
“Don’t touch me!” I shouted, but his hold only tightened as shadows cloaked him. His free hand felt over my clothes, groping at my breasts from outside the bodice. I bucked against him, trying to find some way to inflict injury, but he was too tall to headbutt, and my arms were worthless at my sides as his hold constricted me. “Trefor!”
The door slammed open. Marcy didn’t hesitate, drawing her sword and bringing it down so that it split the marquis’ head in two. He fell back, releasing me. I didn’t dare look.
I jumped onto Marcy, wrapping my arms around those powerful, armored shoulders. Sobs racked through me, not only from fear but from the unwinding of everything I’d just done. There was no coming back from any of it, and I did not wish to do so…but the last of my innocence deserved to be mourned.
Marcy’s hand fell on the small of my back.
“We’ll set a fire,” she said. “Take the kids on a ride, bring them to the palace.”
I nodded, unable to let go. Warm, red liquid from Trefor’s skull leaked underneath my shoes. I’d spoken aloud, commanding his desires, the Lord of Night assisting where love wasn’t enough, but I was a fool for thinking such devotion might come without consequences.
It was something I’d have to work on.
But that was a concern for another day.
Chapter 53
Smoke blotted outthe sun and sky like some great fire was burning down the country.
I watched it from the observatory, swaying Julianna in my arms. The sweat from the summer’s heat quickly cooled in the wake of that looming shadow, and she whined with restless discomfort.
A hand settled over my hip. Nicolas pulled me to his side, his gaze fixed on the horizon.
“Is it Him?” he asked. “The Lord of Night?”
I shook my head. Florence and the dark god might have brought it on, but the sky was the earthquakes’ doing. There was such precedent in the history books: erupting mountains casting smoke and debris high into the air; year-long winters brought on by unending darkness.
If that happened now, Gallae would be a graveyard within months. With Florence’s curse, I had a feeling that was precisely what awaited us.
