“Don’t believe him!” Larylis ground out.
Silence echoed back. Then footsteps. They grew nearer and nearer with every thundering beat of Larylis’ heart.
“Don’t, Mare,” Larylis called. “Go back!”
She didn’t pay his words any heed. Instead, she emerged from the cavern just ahead, Ferrah behind her, their son in her arms. She trembled from head to toe. “I surrender.”
Tears poureddown Mareleau’s cheeks as she approached her enemy. She’d never seen him before, but she knew the gray-haired man was Darius. Her nemesis. Larylis was at the mercy of another man’s blade.
Her shoulders quivered, arms convulsing as she wrapped them tighter around Noah’s sling. A sob broke from her lips. “Don’t hurt him, please! I’ll do anything.”
Darius’ face broke into a grin that bore equal parts cruelty and amusement. She was everything he’d expected her to be. Weak. Trembling. Embarrassingly feeble.
It was exactly how Mareleau wanted to be seen right now.
Pride flared inside her, but she didn’t let it show. She kept it burning in her heart and poured more and more of her intent, herknowing, into her glamour.
Her trusty, unfailing magic trick.
She’d never felt stronger. Never been more certain of her abilities.
Even before she’d laid her eyes on Darius, she’d understood his character. What he wanted to see in her and what he most feared to see. That impression grew now as she met his gaze. Despite his belief that the Elvyn hated him for his human blood, he didn’t think any better of his bloodline. He considered everyone to be beneath him. He certainly had no respect for a pampered princess-turned-queen who’d been given a life of luxury.
Now he saw what he’d expected all along, and she played into that.
She wore a mask of frail obedience as she stepped closer and closer to him.
“Stop,” he said. “Order the dragon to stay back.”
Of course he would make that demand. So long as Ferrah kept her distance, she couldn’t harm Darius without risking Mareleau and Noah too. With a sniffle, she faced the opalescent dragon. “It’s all right,” she said, tone simpering. “Stay where you are.”
Ferrah splayed her wings but obeyed.
Good. That meant the dragon would listen to her after all.
You understand the next part too, right?she conveyed, but she received no answer. She and Ferrah weren’t bonded like Cora and Valorre. Even though she’d explained what she needed Ferrah to do for her, she could only hope her instructions had made it through.
Darius’ lips spread wider as Mareleau proceeded closer to him. She was halfway there when she stopped, her knees trembling. His expression darkened. “Come the rest of the way. Give me the child and relinquish your role as regent.”
She fell to her knees, unable to hold herself up anymore.
At least, that was what her glamour displayed. Gods, for once in her life it felt good to be underestimated.
Weak. She poured her intent into her glamour.Feeble. No one to fear. The most pathetic creature you’ve ever seen.
“Give me the child.” His voice was chillingly gentle.
She heaved another body-shaking sob and extended an empty, pleading hand.
Slowly, he closed the distance between them, then crouched before her. She cradled Noah’s sling tighter to her as she met Darius’ eyes. A soft smile lifted his lips but it didn’t meet his eyes. “Hush, hush, Your Majesty. It will be all right.”
More tears gushed from her eyes. Her empty hand found his coat collar. She grasped it like a woman devoured by grief, seeking anything to steady her. He extended his hands toward the bundle she cradled so tightly, so lovingly.
Her lower lip wobbled, eyes turned down at the corners as she held his gaze with a pleading look. “Promise me,” she whispered.
He nodded, impatience tightening his false smile. “Anything,” he said through his teeth, one hand clawing at the lavender swaddling inside the sling.
“Promise me…” she said again as she aided his efforts, lifting the bundle from inside.
