His impassioned words made me snarl, my canines lengthening in rage, as I demanded, “And how will you stop me?”
“You are already committing treason. I could have you imprisoned.” He countered, raising a brow at me, but I laughed his words off. “But you’ve made it clear that won’t be enough.”
My lightning writhed around me, striking out at random as my rage grew brighter.
“Look at you, Cyrus! You can’t even fully control this power!” My father argued, his own lightning now rising, but with the waning of our gods-granted power, it was a fraction of what he once had. And so much less than what I now wielded.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I snarled, my body growing tight with tension as I waited for any movement from him.
He lifted his hand, and a bolt of lightning came shooting straight at me. I lifted my own hand on instinct, and my lightning met his in a bright blue clash. My bolt was so much stronger than his, demolishing it in midair.
We both paused, looking at one another with wide eyes. He’d actually tried to attack me. Hisson. Hisheir. He’d always been a dick, but this was a betrayal beyond anything he’d ever attempted before with petty court politics. My heart seemed to contract, the pain of the internal hit much greater than the physical one he attempted.
“And now you try to kill me?!” My words were more a tortured shout as my lightning grew around me, the buzz of it ringing in my ears.
“You are out of control, Cyrus! I can help you. Just let me—” he pleaded, hands stretching out toward me, but I let out a scream, cutting him short.
Every ounce of resentment I’d ever felt for him. Every moment he’d dismissed me or wrote me off. Turned to Weylin over me, or undermined me in front of the court. All played on my mind as blinding rage took me over.
My power responded in kind, and without even directing it, a storm of lightning bolts arced off of me and shot toward him.
My eyes went wide as I watched them slam into my father. His entire body shook from the force of the bolts, his eyes rolling back in his head as he collapsed to the floor. His body continued to spasm over and over.
I ran to him, kneeling beside his body, grabbing onto his arms in some futile effort to stop the spasms. Desperate shock and confusion made my own hands tremor lightly.
“Father?!” I screamed. “Father?!”
His body went still. The spasms stopped, leaving cold, still blue eyes looking up at the ceiling. His tanned skin looked paler than I’d ever seen it.
“Father?” I whispered, unnoticed tears building in my eyes as I shook him, trying to wake him up.
“No,” I mumbled, unable to believe what had just happened. “No.”
“What did you do?!” A female screeched, and I heard running footsteps before blonde curls entered my vision.
Emmie fell beside my father, her dress billowing around her as she grabbed his face, “Astra?! Astraeus?! Please!!”
She began sobbing as I sat beside her numbly, still holding onto my father’s limp hand.
I would never get his approval now. The thought popped into my head randomly, and I hated myself for it. I was supposed to be above that now.
And yet…
“What did you do?!” Emmie demanded, her tear-stained face scowling at me with red bloodshot eyes.
A bit of the haze around me lifted, and I scowled back at her. The implications of what just happened rushed through my mind as I reviewed and discarded contingency after contingency.
“Watch your tone, human,” I told her coldly, but my voice came out more shaken than I’d prefer. I straightened slightly, letting the blood magic give me strength for what must happen now. “You’re speaking to your king.”
Emmie curled back into herself, looking appropriately afraid for the first time as the truth of what I now was settled over us both.
“You killed him,” she whispered, defeat in every syllable.
“I did.” I nodded, unable to deny the truth, even as my heart ached a bit at it. But a king couldn’t let petty sentiment drive him. I turned to face her, letting go of my father’s hand to grip her face, mushing her cheeks together.
“But you will not tell a soul,” I murmured threateningly. “As far as anyone knows, he died a natural death. His heart gave out.”
“Fae hearts don’t justgive out,” she argued, glaring slightly despite the fear in her eyes.
