“Ayla.” I spit the name like acid. “She has my brothers and has successfully lowered my numbers.”
He was quiet for a moment. “It is of no consequence. Especially after your recent capture.”
At least my witches were good for something. I guess beating them for their failure with Camilla paid off. I groaned in annoyance, and his breath tickled my scalp because he knew, as did I, my recent capture refused to speak.
“We also have Oblivion,” he added.
I shook my head. “I thought Oblivion was in that ring, but it only held residual power. It stopped working the second I killed Killium. The ring is now ash.”
His mouth pressed against my temple as he held me. “Fear not. You still have the upper hand.”
“Do I?” I sneered. “My own council fears my fall, the houses are slowly turning toward her, and my fates …”
“What of them?”
“The fates have gone insane.” I sighed.
“How so?”
“The things they whisper, what they say, make no sense. Out-of-context drivel, I’m surprised they’re not drooling on themselves.” My hands tightened on his arms as I stared at the statue of my former lover, unable to contain my disgust. “They cry and scream, mumbling words of darkness and despair. War looms and worlds end. And her fucking name.”
While the fates were together, they could at least speak in coherent sentences, but I didn’t tell him about the one sentence they’d spoken that still scraped across my nerves.
As long as Ayla lives, your reign will end.
I’d beaten Catori after she’d said it, beaten her so severely that neither sister spoke it again. Still, prophecies did not lie, and it haunted my thoughts. If the fates chanted and cried about impending darkness and war, it would be, but I knew there was a simple fix. Ayla simply needed to die. The devastation of the realms would not be by her hands. It would be by mine.
However, from the way things were going, it seemed I would have to be the one to do it. How hard was it to get rid of one fucking person?
Blayne made a noise low in his throat, blissfully unaware of what truly plagued me. “You truly believe Ayla can slay us?”
Disgust filled me as I turned my head toward him. “Absolutely not, but she may be an annoyance with the help she has.”
“An annoyance that we can handle swiftly,” Blayne reassured. “You have the weapons, and with my help, The Eye will soon be hunting them, too.”
I sighed as his hands ran lazy swipes up and down my arms. “Your prospects?” I asked. “How do they fare?”
It was his turn to sigh in annoyance. “We grow closer, but even with your suggestion, I fear he may not be much help.”
I half turned toward him. “Seduction didn’t work?”
He shrugged. “I have tried countless times. I’ve never had such issues before, but it seems that Xavier is far too attached to his former life.”
I rolled my eyes and scoffed in disgust, but I was still surprised. The Hand was nothing but a collection of dumb rejects that Samkiel had collected and then attempted to craft into soldiers. But their idiocy went deeper than I’d assumed. I had hoped that Xavier at least had some brains, but to turn down a god for Cameron, of all people? It seemed their only usefulness was that, at the end of the day, they were the perfect mindless soldiers.
My lips thinned, and I ran my nails lightly along his jaw. He shuddered, his silver eyes darkening, and I felt his cock swell against my backside. “Have no fear, my beloved.” I purred, leaning back into him. “We have moved from seduction to manipulation. The images I fabricated should be enough of a push for us to start the corruption phase now. Remind him as only you can, my pet. I will not have The Eye deciding it’s time to join the fight fully.”
“Even if they do, it won’t matter. Our numbers are far too vast. I will ensure you rule Arcelia as the rightful heir. Your fear is unnecessary.”
“I do not fear anything,” I said, my voice laced with lethal venom as I stared up at Blayne.
He was the epitome of power and masculine beauty, his compelling eyes bearing down on me as he tilted his head ever so slightly. “Samkiel is still a threat. Do not let your council misguide you with talk of Ayla being the only threat.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I bared my teeth and glared up at him. “He and my half-brothers will suffer. I will make sure of it. I will systematically destroy everything Samkiel loves until he begs me to take him, too, and when he does, I will deny him that mercy.”
“I am sorry for your sour mood, my love, but I am afraid I am about to make it worse.” Blayne placed a kiss on my temple before speaking in a whisper in my ear. “Umemri sent a messenger to my room last night.”
My anger bubbled, and my hands tightened on his forearms where they wrapped around my waist. That idiot, if someone had seen, everything could have been lost. “I warned him if he—”
