It takes all my control not to race back to Cratos and return to Nocturna to hunt him down.
We’re going to invent new ways for Killian Valtiere to die.
Shadows start to stir around the edges of the room. Lucien’s eyes slide over to them and narrow, assessing.
“Now is not the time, princess,” I tell Meryn, trying to snap her out of it. Her power is thrilling, but the person she wants to harm isn’t here.
She takes a breath and the shadows abate, but she looks wrecked. “It was from the very start,” she whispers into the bond.“From the very beginning of our relationship.”
Lucien reaches for his glass. After a long sip, he continues, swirling the golden liquid.
“Of course, such magic was immediately outlawed throughout Astreona as an abomination—a fundamental violation of autonomy. But it didn’t matter to Alistair. He continued to create thrall bracelets in secret, eventually leading to his exile from the kingdom.”
Meryn seems entirely unable to speak.
“Do you know how to get them off?” I ask him tightly. “Is it possible?”
Lucien shakes his head. “Only the creator can remove them. If the wearer can get it off themselves, by any means, they die. It’s one of the many reasons they are outlawed.”
The corruption in our magic. The way he’s using Meryn’s shadows. It’s all going to stay until he’s dead.
Fuck.
At least he doesn’t seem to have any compulsion powers over her. If he had, surely he would’ve forced Meryn to come to him by now.
Meryn’s eyes go to her wrist and linger there.
I’m not the only one who sees it.
Lucien grabs her hand, face full of suspicion. In one swift move, he yanks up her sleeve, exposing the bracelet to the entire table.
An immediate shock wave rips through the room.
The Astreonans recoil, averting their eyes and darting away as if Meryn’s a plague victim and they don’t want to breathe her air. The only exception among the court is Elias, who glares at the bracelet on her wrist.
Noemi and Venna and I all shift closer to her.
A tense moment of silence follows, followed by a white blur.
And then there’s a blade at Meryn’s throat.
One pounding beat of my heart he was sitting in his chair, the next, Lucien stands over Meryn with a dagger pointed at her jugular, his fangs bared, his eyes burning with malice.
I’m on my feet almost as quickly as Lucien, drawing a concealed blade.
“Hurry!” I send out a pulse to Cratos.
Lucien looks predatory.
He does a nice job of pretending to be insouciant, but I was waiting for the feral creature inside him to come out. Finally, I see it. The true danger lurking beneath his bored, playful veneer.
“Unhand her immediately,” I snap. “My direwolf is on his way, and kings tastejustas good to him as anyone else.”
Noemi and Venna also have their weapons fully drawn, but Lucien doesn’t seem bothered by the various blades pointed at him or the threat of a fully grown, battle-tested direwolf closing in.
His grip on Meryn tightens, pinning her to her chair. “If the queen is here under Alistair’s control, she is a danger to all of us, including you. The thrall bracelets give my brother complete dominion over the wearer’s mind.”
That doesn’t make any sense. Meryn’s bracelet doesn’t seem to work that way.
