“No.” Odom shook his head. “Niniane won’t kill her. She was a shrewd woman once, smart, savvy. She knew the rules. Even in her madness, she knows that the way to destroy someone is through the heart.”
“If this is Niniane,” Aiko said, leaning against the wall, “she won’t take her back to the Stronghold. She’ll take her somewhere else.”
Belshazzar’s eyes flicked between Odom, Aiko, me and Dorian. “Gwynnore can handle herself.” He finally landed his gaze on Odom. “You’re sure this Niniane won’t kill her?”
Odom’s eyes flicked to mine, and then back to Belshazzar. “She’s insane. Savion made her that way. She won’t want to kill the queen because I believe she’ll think you’re just as cruel to Gwen as Savion was to her.”
“I would never—”
“Oh, we fucking know.” Dorian groaned. “But she’s not sane, Bel. He made her that way, and that’s the way she’s going to see the world.”
The king marched right up to Dorian and got in his face this time. “And how would you feel if she stole your female?”
Dorian leaned up, and the brothers locked eyes. “Like I wouldn’t know what the hell to do. Like I wouldn’t listen to the people around me, grab my sword and do something incredibly stupid like get my ass captured, bound in galena chains, cut and bled for Savion’s amusement.”
He held out his arm, and the white scar that ran from wrist to elbow shone bright. His fist clenched, and he pointed at me. “And it took her and the twins to rescue me from my moronic decisions.”
Belshazzar held still, his eyes cutting across Dorian’s features. King Belshazzar barked, “I’m going after her.”
“You haven’t heard a word I said. You’re a moron, Bel. I always said you were.”
Belshazzar tackled Dorian.
Odom and Drez grabbed Ophelia and me and pulled us out of the way, back to the wall where Aiko was standing.
“What the actual hell…” Ophelia gasped.
Belshazzar swiped his claws out, catching Dorian’s tunic and ripping it across the chest. Dorian’s fist connected with Bel’s jaw, snapping his head back, but not before Bel managed to punch him in the kidney.
The two menflickered.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes. It had been as if it were a mirror image of them—but not quite.
They rolled apart, but Bel didn’t wait very long before he balled his fist and went for Dorian’s jaw. The punch whipped Dorian around, but instead of falling over, Dorian used the momentum to swing him all the way around and land a kick right in Bel’s side.
They flickered again—Bel a dark red and Dorian a bright white. Were those…horns? What in the gods?
I shook my head. Exhaustion was getting to me.
Bel cartwheeled through the hit and, at the bottom, grabbed Dorian’s knee to pull him off the ground. Dorian fell back, and just as Bel was vertical again, Dorian shot his foot out and kicked Bel across the room.
It was a big room.
Bel hit the wall and slid down but landed on his feet. He growled, his eyes red. Dorian took a casual stance that I recognized as his barrage stance and motioned his brother to come at him.
“This is bad,” Roran whispered.
No one was going to get between these two, though.
No one was that foolish.
It was like two bulls going at each other—and I was shocked they didn’t pull the stone floor up.
Another flicker as they crashed together.
I could swear thosewerehorns.
Bel aimed low for Dorian’s waist, and Dorian braced on Bel’s shoulders. They flipped over, slamming into each other, and Dorian somehow managed to land both feet in the small of Bel’s back, sending him flying again, this time on a collision course with a pillar.
