“They support my claim,” he told her. “Arcadia currently has no official king, so it’s only a matter of time.”
“But I thought Sol?—”
“Is not a particularly popular choice here, as you will soon discover. None of the other principals have even attempted to step up, though.”
Nya scowled. “Have youeverconsidered that perhaps a monarchy is not the answer? I thought you hated Kronos.”
“I do. But you’re preaching to the wrong crowd when it comes to the way Arcadia’s government should be structured,” he said, brow furrowing as he looked at her intently. “You need to bathe. You’re covered in blood and dust, and I’d prefer you not to be so haggard during our wedding.”
“You’re delusional,” she snapped, earning a few looks from the crowd just beyond them. “I’m not marrying someone like you. Not now, not ever.”
He dipped his head once more, nose-to-nose with her as he said, “Someone ‘like me’? And what am I, Nya?”
“A monster,” she hissed, a wave of burning darkness rising in her throat.
He chuckled darkly, though his smile was empty and cold. “I know what I am. At least I don’t try to deny it to myself. I thinkif you knew what was at stake here, you might be a bit more willing.”
“Morgen.” Carus stepped between them, his back to her. “Perhaps we should take this little lovers’ spat somewhere…not here? Someplace more private, don’t you think?”
Nya flared her nostrils, looking between the two of them. “We are not lovers. And there is no fucking way I am marrying a demi-god who thinks he’s king just because he has the right blood and a few armed friends in a volcano.”
Incorrect, and also incorrect. Or am I to really believe you forgot what we did?
She flushed, and she hated herself for it, though she hated him more for bringing it up.
When Carus cocked his head to the side, an obvious request to follow, she didn’t hesitate this time, if only to get some distance from Morgen. Even so, he followed a few paces behind. Perhaps he had seen the looks on the faces of the men they were leaving behind in the mess hall. She didn’t understand why he cared, givenhewas the one who had just kidnapped her.
Neither he nor Carus spoke as she was led into another tunnel that branched off from the mess hall cavern, this one dryer and wider than the one at the entrance. The light was dim, illuminated by burning torches mounted every few paces on the stone walls, and the floor was a mix of packed dirt and stones. Both the walls and floor sparkled strangely, perhaps with some mineral or geode.
They hadn’t been walking for long when Carus turned abruptly to the left, leading her into a warm, slightly humid cavern, though this one was much smaller than the mess hall. In the center lay a pool, the water a deep shade of turquoise from whatever sediment lay within it. A young woman with short, dark hair and a sharp, pale face was sitting against the wall, cross-legged and reading a leather-bound book. She hardly looked up when they entered.
“This is her, I presume?” she drawled, her voice low and flat.
Carus coughed, shifting on his booted feet, but Nya caught the small, incredulous smile he tried and failed to suppress at the woman’s demeanor. Perhaps they were friends. Nya could not imagine having more than one. It had always just been her parents and then, eventually, Morgen. There was a reason she had always dreamed of having a large family, even if such a thing was foolish.
She supposed it did not matter now, just like any other dreams of the future she’d had before today.
“Nya, this is Imeria,” Carus said, gesturing at the woman. “She’ll help you get ready.”
“I am perfectly capable of bathing myself, and I do not need to get ready for anything,” she snarked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Carus glanced at Morgen but he was already looking at her, jaw set. In the corner, Imeria snorted softly, but no one acknowledged it.
“What you saw in the mess hall just now,” Morgen said with a deadly softness, “is barely a quarter of our forces. Perhaps you think them fools, but all of them possess magic and are viciously trained. I am not above sending them to the Elysian Valley, where most of the principals—including your grandparents—play house. But I’d prefer to try other tactics first. Think whatyou want about me, but I would prefer not to incite violence unless necessary.”
She held his gaze. Veins of amber-gold flared as she asked, “How does marrying me help you with that?”
“You’re not stupid, Nya. I’m sure you’ve already figured it out.”
Her jaw trembled, but she ground her teeth to still it. “You’re using me as a bargaining chip…perhaps even a way to strengthen your claim too, given who my parents are.”
Morgen’s lips twitched, but he only said, “I’ll let you bathe.”
He turned to leave, but his steps faltered as she called, “Do you think you’re better than him just because you won’t kill without reason?”
He said nothing, and even as her stomach twisted with the words, she added bitterly, “Using me like this…presuming you have the ability toownme—it makes you just as corrupt.”
A droning buzz disturbed every invisible thread of ether in the air, the embers of life itself that he had inherited from Kronos twisting around each drum of her pulse. Carus made a choked sound as the air thickened, sparking visibly with energy, like tiny bursts of lightning, but Nya only scowled. There was a slumbering beast inside her, one with cold, burning eyes and a thirst for the emptiness of death. She never let it free because she did not understand its moral-less, wild nature. But for a moment, as Morgen filled every inch of the air with his power, she had the sudden urge to take it all away, to create a void of endless, unforgiving darkness before she burned every inch of the room, the realm, the entire world, to ashes?—
