“This will work,” Cameron said again.
I ignored him as we looked at the jostling crowd. Sunlight, high and bright, showered down on the massive gold and white city. Colorful confetti floated in the air, and streamers decorated the town square. There must have been thousands of people there, all dressed as if they were celebrating the greatest event known to man.
Kaden, Isaiah, and I shared the same sentiment. This was asinine. Nismera created a parade for my wife’s death, but it would end in hers. We hadn’t planned on leaving as early as we had, but all three of us had felt Dianna’s anguish down our bonds. Reggie’s death had hit her so hard that even Kaden and Isaiah had felt it, and they had spun toward me as if they thought she had died and they were next.
I took a shuddering breath as we pushed through the laughing and whooping crowd. Everyone turned as we heard the hooves of huroehe slam against the street. The crowd pushed back, and we fell in line with them, giving space to the large beasts.
“Look and behold the false queen before you,” a voice rang out over the merriment.
The crowd oohed and ahhed, a few of them jumping on their tiptoes to see. I growled low in my throat and moved deeper into the crowd, pushing to not get to the front but far behind. Kaden and Isaiah followed me. The green and brown cloaks helped us blend in, and we made sure to keep the hoods up. We wound our way out of the square, scaling the steps to a suspended walkway high above the square. People stood at the railing, watching the crowd below. Here we were above the path the huroehe would take as they traveled the road to the glittering, massive palace.
I watched the sunlight gleam off the bars of a cage made of iron and god-tempered steel. They were lined with tiny, razor-sharp spikes, so if she grabbed them, they’d serrate her flesh. My heart stuttered, everything in me reaching for the woman I had been searching for my whole life. She lay in the center of the cage, her body beaten and bloodied as people pointed and laughed, on display to everyone. The ragged and torn dress they had dressed her in was as stained and filthy as the rest of her, but at least she was still covered.
This wasn’t an event, but an exhibition meant to demonstrate Nismera’s power and ensure that people far and wide knew who the enemy was. Sparks flared high in the sky, an array of colors and lights. People whooped and hollered in celebration as if an evil had been defeated when, in reality, the evil was leading this damn festival.
I shoved through the crowd clogging the walkway, following the cage as it passed beneath us. Electricity danced like static on my skin, zapping people when I bumped against them. They yelped and cursed, and I heard Kaden hiss my name as he and Isaiah followed.
There was no way I would leave her to suffer alone. I could not let them parade her through the streets in a cage meant to hold a beast when Dianna would have bled and died for these people, when she had given up her damn heart for that book.
They threw things at her, poked and spat and cursed her name, hundreds of voices, hundreds of hateful beings. The royals of the remaining realms had brought their citizens, and a part of me wondered if any of them were worth saving.
Dianna didn’t change forms. There was no sign of her fangs, snarl, or fire. She just sat there and took it, and it terrified me. Even if she weren’t so weak and battered, the god forged metal the cage was made from would have kept her in her mortal form, but it hurt to see her quiescent acceptance.
“Baby. Hear me, feel me as you have before. Know you’re not alone.”I poured my desperate love down our bond, needing her to hear me.
Her eyes did not flick in my direction, and silence reigned in my mind. She stared out at the sea of faces, at all those who mocked and ridiculed her. I’d slit the throat of every royal and commoner here who laughed at this monstrous display. Dianna, who had proven repeatedly how much she cared. The woman who had given her life to a stranger in the desert to save her sister, who had her heart ripped out for the world, who sold her soul so I’d live. She was not a monster. She was a dream, and I’d be a nightmare for her.
Why can’t they see her like I do?
Why can’t they love her like I do?
WE FOLLOWED THEcage until it reached the palace doors. None of the civilians were allowed in, another harsh reminder that they meant nothing to her. Kaden, Isaiah, and I followed the assassin into the shadows, changing our attire to blend in with the extravagant costumes of the masquerade ball.
I snuck a glance over the banister, making sure I remained out of sight. The grand ballroom below was a canvas of gold with an array of designs painted onto the gleaming floor. A bunch of overly adorned royals milled about, beckoning to each other with false enthusiasm. Every being here sought to prove they were worthy of the invite, attempting to portray sophistication and refinement in their elegant gowns and dark suits with gold accents. There was so much gold and so many jewels. It was overdone and gaudy. Dianna would have hated it.
Music curled through the air, a boy who looked to be the same age as Miska playing a soft tune. His clothes couldn’t hide the chains around his ankles and wrists, and when he looked up at me, still strumming the stringed instrument that rested against his shoulder, I saw the unique shimmer of his eyes. A muse. An imprisoned one. My lips curled in a sneer. Of course, why would she not enslave all she could touch?
Chatter brought me back to the large ballroom floor. Every house we had visited, begging for support and help, was here. Their leaders mingled, their laughter and the sound of their conversation drifting up the stairs. Nismera was a fucking tyrant, and they were here at her gala, drinking, chatting, and supporting her.
I took a deep breath, the half mask covering my eyes cutting into my cheekbones as I clenched my jaw. Nismera had called them all here because she wanted to make a fucking show out of my wife and her capture. I hoped to surprise her and unburden her body of her head by the end of the night, for both Dianna and Reggie.
Faye had managed to steal an invitation from a royal they had been watching, and she’d delivered it along with Camilla and Vincent. I wasn’t going to lie. Vincent’s betrayal was still an aching wound on my heart. Even after talking with Camilla and Vincent for hours, the hurt remained. I’d had no idea Nismera had bound him, and I didn’t have time to process any of it. Dianna was my primary concern right now, and they were helping me get to her, so I would take that as a beginning. I didn’t know the beginning of what yet, and I wasn’t sure if I could convince Dianna to let him live, but we would deal with all that once we were all home.
“If it doesn’t work, I need you all to stick to the plan.”
“I left you both once, and I’m not leaving you now,” Cameron said, grabbing my biceps. “Or her. Not again.”
I met his eyes behind the intricate gold mask he wore. “I am barely stable, Cam. My powers are unpredictable at best. It’s for yours and everyone’s safety.”
“I’m staying,” he insisted. “Until the end.”
My smile was genuine this time, and I clamped my hand over his.
Isaiah walked up the stairs, wearing a suit with the same half mask covering his face. He leaned against the banister beside us. He raised his glass, and I caught a glimmer of green in the amber liquid as he swallowed it down. Camilla had crafted a potion to conceal our power. The catch was that we had to continue to ingest it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to have her on our team.
“Kaden is in place, and I checked the upper floor. It’s empty. I feel the other kings of Yejedin, but don’t see them. She loves the drama and will no doubt use them to make a grand appearance.”
I nod. “Good, we’ll be ready.”
