Ronyn shakes his head with barely leashed rage.
“Elyssara was retribution for Zak. It’s my fault,” I breathe, and I can’t stop the memories of her naked form, her torn clothes, Zak’s entitled face.
I shake my head to dislodge it and fail.
“Oh, fuck off with that. Son, any one of us would’ve hung him for what he did to the poor girl. Rhyven will get what’s coming to him, but you have to stop feeling sorry for yourself and lead us out of this,” Merrik says. “Be the king we want back on that throne. Be the king we’ve all fought with our fucking lives for,” he pushes with conviction.
He’s right.
Merrik is always fucking right.
He was right about Rhyven.
“I need to know why you did it,” Seren’s hushed words cut through my thoughts as sharply as if she’d yelled them. “Why did you let them take her?”
I meet her gaze. Tears rim her eyes, but her jaw is set. Defiant. Strong. I know I owe her the truth.
“Nalya was held at knifepoint out of view of Elyssara. If I didn’t say what he wanted me to say, he’d kill her. It was her life or Elyssara’s trust. And I chose the only thing that would let them both live—even if it killed me.”
Itdidkill me.
Itiskilling me.
I feel empty without the tether. Like I’m missing a limb; my other hand keeps searching for what’s no longer there.
I don’t tell them the whole story. After Torvyn, Zak, Rhyven—I don’t trust anyone anymore. Trust is like a blade—you only know its edge once it’s already in your back.
“Regardless, we need to make a plan,” Merrik says softly, and I note the hint of sympathy in his tone, and I fucking hate it.
I don’t want pity.
I want retribution.
I wanther.
“Maldrak will be trying to break her mentally—just like he did with Nalya. He’ll start with making it look like you gave her up willingly, Kael. We know how he works—twisting, distorting…,” Therion murmurs, his voice low and quiet. Like he still bleeds for the way Maldrak destroyed what was his.
A single tear runs down Seren’s cheek, but she sits a little straighter. She wipes the tear away with the back of her hand, eyes defiant and raw. “Then we get her back.”
Silence settles over the room, heavy and expectant.
I might hate myself for what I let happen.
But there is no one—god or mortal—that will stand between me and my Starbound.
“That’s the plan.”
CHAPTER THREE
ELYSSARA
The woman half-drags,half-lifts me up the stairs, looping her arm around my ribcage and squeezing tightly right where I suspect the break is. I wince at the pressure, my broken bones protesting. But I don’t give her the pleasure of a reaction.
She kicks the heavy door open and nods to the guards at the top of the stairs. “Pick a traitor and hang them from the walls,” she grunts, jerking her head in the direction of the cells. He nods and descends swiftly.
My stomach roils, blood draining from my face.
These fucking bastards.
