“I don’t lie. Ican’tlie.”
No, but he could be evasive. Same difference.
His voice lifted, stricken with fear. “Only four.”
I could press him, but I suspected this was how it was going to be. The fates had made their decision. “Alright.” With dread coiling tight inside me, I resecured the sack.
He melted into the shadows.
There was nothing I hated more than dealing with thisloathsome serpent. Despite the recoil of my soul, need demanded it.
A battle was coming, and soon, those who’d remained neutral would have to choose a side. Lieges and dregs should’ve remained out of this, but like with anyone, there was always a price.
On this vast terrain, countless variables shift like shadows—each piece’s choice rippling with possibility. As they move across the board, forecasting the outcome was like revealing an enigma covered by time’s veil.
Turning, I strode out of the shadows and into the weak moonlight.
“Vexxion,” someone chided from my right. “Blood breeds true.”
Fuck.
Uncle Camus strode into view, stopping a short distance away from me. After my mother was murdered and when I was still a child, he’d trained me, grinding my face into the ground when we battled with blades and scorching my flesh with magic when I couldn’t block everything he delivered. He took pleasure in dealing pain, but in that, he was like everyone else in Bledmire Court. He was the most vicious, second only to Ivenrail, his adored older brother.
He would assume he could still defeat me, that I was the broken child I’d pretended to be so long ago.
He was wrong.
Not giving him time to speak again—or flit to the king—I locked him in place with magic. At the same time, I whipped out my threads, wrapping them around him, choking off hisstrangled gargle and securing his mouth to keep him from speaking.
“Walk with me,” I said.
I took him into the woods where watchers would have to strain to make out further details.
Then I killed him.
It felt anticlimactic to burn his remains with white-hot fire, as if the defeat of one of my greatest enemies should come at a greater cost than a bit of spent energy. For many years, I’d feared this man. It was only recently that I’d realized I truly had strength, that I deserved better than the scorn of men such as this one.
Worth blooms under true love’s eyes. I wasn’t sure where I’d heard the phrase, but it hit me solidly in the chest.
Now that Fury believed in me, I could too.
My body shook, and I would almost swear I felt sickened by what I’d done, despite knowing I had to do it. I’d killed him not only to protect myself but also Tempest, and I’d do so a thousand times more to ensure she lived.
But I was tired. So incredibly tired.
I flitted to the river where I hid the sack with magic on the bank, then plunged into the water fully clothed.
Nothing would wash the taint of the deal I’d made from my skin, and no amount of remorse would hold back the regret gnawing on my conscience. There was no path other than the one I walked on. I’d know this from the moment I sensed her at the fortress.
I’d been forged for this moment and this time, and damn if I’d falter now.
I swam until my bones ached, my muscles spasmed, and I felt renewed. With the bag in hand I flitted to my room, where I magicked the bag into a secret location.
While I stood beside the bed dripping water onto the floor, moonlight fought its way around the curtains to find her, glowing on her face, though light such as this couldn’t rival the beauty that shone from within this precious person.
Within a matter of days, everything would be revealed.
The surge was imminent, ready to flood this world, and despite not knowing the outcome, I welcomed that moment. I’d stand on the shore as the enormous wave rushed toward me with my arms spread wide and a feral grin splitting my face.
