“A little,” she said as I spun her beneath my arm. “I wasn’t sure I had enough magic left, with everything being drained.”
“Our magic is stronger together.” I drew her back against my chest as the dance required. “Always has been.”
We moved as one now, the steps of the Shadow Rite flowing naturally. Where her foot stepped, mine followed. When my arm lifted, hers mirrored the motion. The music built toward its crescendo, and with it, our shared power intensified.
The final sequence approached, the one symbolizing complete union. I held her gaze as we circled each other one last time, our hands extended, our fingertips nearly touching. The golden and blue light coalesced between our palms, forming a perfect sphere of blended magic.
In a single movement, we brought our hands together, clasping the sphere between them.
Light exploded outward, washing across the ballroom in a wave of warm energy. Chandeliers brightened, the flames in the wall sconces leaping higher, and Cyrene’s joy lanterns, hung throughout the room, began to glow brighter.
For one perfect moment, everything was illuminated.
Then a dissonant note cut through the harmony.
One of the joy lanterns near the council’s table began to vibrate, its light turning sickly gray. The sphere of magic between our palms flickered.
“Kieran—” Cyrene’s eyes widened in alarm.
The lantern shattered with a crack. Shards of glass exploded outward, but instead of falling, they hung suspended in the air, surrounded by crackling energy. This wasn’t Cyrene’s golden joy magic, but something tainted and wrong.
Gray lightning arced from the broken lantern, seizing the joy magic Cyrene and I had released. It condensed into a spear of corrupted power that shot directly toward us.
Toward Cyrene.
I pulled her against me, spinning so my back faced the attack. My magic flared, a shield of midnight blue swirling around us.
The corrupted magic struck my shield with enough force to drive me to one knee, still holding Cyrene in my arms. Pain lanced through me as some of it penetrated my defenses. But most of it rebounded, careening back toward its source.
Toward Lord Rathley.
The advisor stood rigid, his hands raised and steaming with the same gray energy. His face contorted in shock as his own attack rebounded toward him. It struck him squarely in the chest, lifting him from his feet and slamming him against a pillar.
Silence fell, broken only by Rathley’s labored breathing as he struggled to his feet.
“Guards.” My voice carried through the stunned ballroom. “Seize Lord Rathley.”
Two of my personal guards moved forward, but Rathley held up a trembling hand. His face twisted into something ugly and desperate.
“Wait.” His voice cracked as he raised both hands, palms out in a gesture of surrender that fooled no one. “Your Majesty, please. You misunderstand my intentions.”
Rage surged through me. I rose to my feet, still keeping Cyrene behind me, my fangs elongating in response to the threat. Every instinct screamed at me to tear him apart for daring to attack my wife.
“Misunderstand?” I growled. “You just hurled corrupted magic at my queen.”
“It was a test!” He stumbled forward, his usual composure shattered. “Merely a test of her stability, Your Majesty. Surely you understand the necessity?—”
“The necessity of blood magic?” I stalked toward him. “You drained servants. You sabotaged my wife’s enchantments.”
Rathley’s eyes darted around the ballroom, seeking allies, but everyone eased away from him, leaving himexposed to my wrath. “I did what was necessary to protect this kingdom. A witch’s chaos could endanger everything we’ve built. Her kind?—”
“Finish that sentence,” I said softly, “and it will be the last words you speak as a noble of this house.”
He paled, recognizing the deadly promise in my tone. “The old families remember when vampires ruled without diluting our power with foreign magic. Your father’s reforms were a mistake, and this marriage?—”
“Enough.”
The single word echoed through the ballroom. The temperature dropped, frost forming on the windows in delicate patterns. Every candle flame guttered, and the joy lanterns dimmed.
