Her laugh is chilling. “I’ve been called worse. You’ve eluded me so cleverly for years. Did my late husband and his treacherous soul-fated lover have a hand in that?”
Soul-fated.My eyes round in shock.
“Zarek and Nihira knew what a monster you were,” my father says.
Morvarid inclines her head. “And she paid for her treachery.”
“You fucking murderer!” I shout.
Her stony stare turns to me. “I should have removed your tongue that first day in the courtyard. My own sister bedded my husband and bore him a bastard son, and she paid in blood for taking what was mine.”
A collective gasp winds its way through the men around us. Roshan had said the truth of his parentage was a carefully guarded secret. Now, not anymore.
“He loved her, never you,” I snarl. “You kept them apart. You took him from her, knowing they loved each other, because you couldn’t stand that he was hers and not yours.”
As far away as I stand, I can feel her rage and jealousy burning.
“And what doyouknow of love?” she drawls. “It is a sickness. A disease that infects the weak. Take these two for example.” She hooks her fingers, and two of the guards at her side push two figures forward: Laleh and Amma. I swallow the howl that claws up my throat. Blood covers half of Laleh’s swollen face. “You love them so much that it makes you weak. You are not worthy of the magic you bear.”
“And you are?” I fist my hands, clenching my teeth as my tears flow, despite my efforts to stanch them. Blood rushes in my ears as I summon the Starkeeper’s power. I don’t even hear the terrified murmurs from my father’s men as they watch my skin glow luminous silver and the section of my hair burn iridescent white. All I am focused on is my enemy. “Release them.”
“As you wish.”
Before I can move, before I can blink, a gleaming jadu blade with a carved golden simurgh for a handle slides across Laleh’s throat.My dagger.If I could have foretold this moment, I never would have forged that fucking blade. Time slows to a trickle, Laleh’s hopeless eyes meeting mine across the space. Blood pours from her gaping neck. An agonized scream tears its way out of me as I rush forward, only to see her lifeless body sink to Morvarid’s feet.
“Laleh!”
My vision tunnels to red. Heat saturates every part of me, hissing through my eyes and mouth, thirsty for vengeance.They’re all going to burn. Every last one of them.
“Suraya, no!” It’s my father’s voice, but he has no sway on me.
Morvarid’s words do, however. “Your choice, Starkeeper. Your precious aunt dies next.”
Amma.
My skin sparks with magic and I come to a halt. Sobbing openly, I quake with the effort to subdue my ravenous soul, my breath shuddering through my anguish as a hundred armed royal soldiers march into the courtyard to encircle my father and his men. Resigned to the queen’s will, I release my gathered magic and fall to the ground, my heart in fucking pieces. I don’t even struggle when two guards yank me to my feet and someone approaches. Javed, my betrothed. I don’t care anymore. Let him take me. Let Fero come. There’s enough blood on my soul. Let it rest on someone else’s for once.
“Quickly now, my son, the moon is almost aligned,” Morvarid calls down as he drags me to a nearby door leading up to the tower.
Suddenly, a second wave of armed men—not guards this time—swarm the line of royal soldiers with a roar.Dahaka.Fighting breaks out in earnest as a tight circle forms around Javed and me. He shoves me into the tower, pulling me by my hair up the steps to stand before a trembling magi. House of Fomalhaut, by the looks of his navy-blue robes with the laurel wreath and two birds. I guess the rumors of thathouse being heretics and arcanists have been true all along. An entire secret society of death magi plotting the downfall of the realm... led by a devious, power-hungry queen.
“Invoke the rites for the handfasting,” Javed orders.
The cleric starts speaking hastily, binding my hands to Javed’s with a satin ribbon. I don’t struggle or protest. I can’t even think beyond the sense of grief and futility swamping me. A crashing sound echoes up the stone steps leading into the turret, the clang of clashing blades swiftly following.
Javed thrusts a golden chalice into my face. “Drink.”
The liquid within is dark, thick, and reeks of rust.Blood?
Nearly gagging, I stare at him, my lips descending to obey his command, but the delicate cup is shot out of his hand as a jadu arrow impales it to the far wall, exploding it in a shower of sparks. The brackish, sludgy fluid splatters over the ground.
We turn in unison to see Roshan standing there like an avenging angel, bow aloft and dark eyes flashing. I’m no delicate rose who swoons upon rescue, but my nostrils burn and my eyes sting at the sight of him. I knew he’d come.
Has he been here the whole time? And by the heavenly stars, why does it feel like I need him to fucking breathe?
“Get the fuck away from her,” he roars, discarding his bow for a curved jadu blade carved with an earth rune.
Javed does the opposite, pulling me to him as he squares off against Roshan, his own saber drawn and at the ready. “Good to see you, too, brother.”
