“Get your hand off my daughter!” I snap, but it only spurs him on.
Tiberius grips her chin, but he freezes when he tilts her face up, taken aback by the grin on her lips.
Confusion flickers across his face as she smirks. “Gotcha ya, asshole.”
Before he can react, Nevaeh slams her head into his nose with a sickening crunch and jumps to her feet, running to Anxo.
The crowd erupts, gasps of horror echoing… then Zale moves.
He swings around with his sword, two clean strikes, and the warriors behind me are beheaded.
Nevaeh joins him, taking down the last three warriors standing behind Seiji and Anxo.
Tiberius roars and lunges at Nevaeh… only to slam into an invisible barrier. The dome ripples with the impact but doesn’t budge.
He stumbles back, looking up, and all the color drains from his face.
A gold ring hums above him, alive with enchanted symbols and the Horseman of Conquer’s Divine. His head snaps to Anxo, eyes widening in shock as he finds him sitting up, eyes glowing a powerful shade of gold.
Not so powerful now, are you, asshole?
The ring spins faster, lowering. Tiberius stumbles, but he’s too slow, and so when the dome grazes his head. A scream rips out of him from the burn before he drops to his knees.
His pain finally eases some of the rage in my heart.
Once the dome seals around him, Anxo pushes further, revealing his biggest trick.
The illusion finally peels away as Tiberius looks around in disbelief as the hall fades and he realizes he’s nowhere near the grand hall… or surrounded by his guards.
No throne. No audience. No power.
The crowd morphs into shadows of people he’s never seen before.
But I know every single face. Anxo is showing him the day our kingdom gathered to hear Nevaeh had been cast out, turning his memory into a weapon.
The air in that memory was heavy with grief and anger, the perfect bait. And I knew he wouldn’t recognize a single face. Someone like him wouldn’t know the people he’s supposed to protect.
Truth is, his defenses failed the moment we entered Eldoris. He was too busy celebrating how he caught to notice. Anxo could’ve trapped him in his room while he was still pretendingto be asleep, but we would’ve been buried under his guards in seconds.
So we waited… let him build his stage, knowing we were about to snatch it away soon.
Zale cracked Anxo’s cuffs while we were being dragged here, and everything since has been a show put up by our Conquer. He warped our reality. With every step, every breath, the illusions grew stronger.
Even I had to constantly remind myself what was real because the magic flowing from Anxo today is overpowering.
And that was before seeing Nevaeh in danger pushed him further. We planned to trap Tiberius, but forcing him to his knees until he was writhing in pain? That’s all Anxo.
Zale strides over as Seiji, and I finally break out of our cuffs thanks to Hazel’s blood disrupting the magic on them.
He offers his hand, pulling me up.
“Zale.” I nod.
He rolls his eyes, the corner of his lips slightly tipping. “Dean.”
Fates, they are so alike.
When Hazel told me how she escaped, something about it didn’t feel right.
