He snapped the final latch. Brietta’s breath heaved, her breasts squished so they filled the chest of the armor.
Her eyes flicked up to Derrick’s face and they both held their breath. Annalisa and I shot each other a quick glance, neither of us knowing what was to come from the stalemate between them.
Derrick dropped his gaze and cleared his throat. “You do not have to believe me now, but I will tell you every day for seventy years if I have to…” He finally looked up at her. “Ineverwould have just let you die.”
Brietta smiled. Through the power I inherited from Fraleigh, I sensed the golden ribbon twisting around Brietta’s chest. The blood bond she shared with Derrick did not burn or ache, but instead shined—only a little, but enough to see that she had grabbed on to her end of the bond again.
Soft sobs trickled into the room from the hallway. I stepped around Brietta and looked past Annalisa through the door. Daigen clutched Fraleigh, his cheek mashed against hers, as she softly cried with a wide smile.
Daigen’s thumb stroked her neck over and over. “I did it. I finally killed him.”
After nearly five centuries, the Conqueror was gone.
I turned my head toward the sound of heavy panting. Endre sprinted down the hall and his eyes flared as soon as he saw Daigen. Fraleigh screamed as Endre grabbed Daigen by the shirt and slammed him into the wall.
“The hell did you do to my baby sister?” Endre growled. “You said you were helping her! How the fuck did you deceive me—?”
“Endre, no!” I pushed against his arms until he looked over at me. I lifted my chin to show him my bare neck. “Derrick snapped the collar and gave up his crown. I am fine!”
“I never deceived you, asshole,” Daigen choked. “You know I couldn’t.”
A mixture of relief and panic flashed across Endre’s face all at once. He released Daigen from the wall and raked his hand through his messy hair as he tried to find his breath. “He does not know…”
Ice spiked through my veins, knowing exactly who he was referring to. “What is happening with Riyan?”
Endre’s eyes were wide. “He claimed the crown. He says he is the Duke of Lycaster.”
My heart raced. I had told him I would be the slave to the Duke. The magic of the collar was bound to theDuke,not Derrick.
“He cannot do that!” Annalisa scoffed. “Just because he has Hyton blood does not mean he can—”
“He challenged his father over his claim, a trial by combat,” Endre said with a knitted brow. “He opened the challenge to anyone in the Dukedom—whoever makes him fall has the crown.”
Annalisa’s eyebrows raised. “Uncle Ragnar still stands?”
Endre’s face blanched as he looked at me. “He told me it was the only way he could free you.”
My throat seized. I lifted on my toes and sprinted past Endre before he could stop me. Annalisa screamed at Derrick to followher. Brietta shouted down the hall. I drowned them all out as blood pulsed through my body.
I never sacrificed my life to let Death balance the scale, so Riyan was not deathless like I had assured him he would be.
Still, he issued his own Alastar trial, a fight to the death to win the crown…
…and he did not know he was mortal.
I paused at the open door of the keep, wrapping my fingers around the frame as I froze.
The Bloodstone Fortress gate was wide open. Riyan stood alone in front of the gate, an axe in his hand.
General Hyton stood in front of him with a smile on his face.
Ready to make his final move.
The two Hyton bulls stood head-to-head at the fortress gate. Father against son.
The once great General Hyton looked sickly and weak, the veins in his neck stained black and his arms twitching. Riyan’s muscles were tense. The turmoil in his blood bond raged, the waves in his mind crashing into the rocky beach with the force of an entire sea.
I splayed my fingers and our bond lit up.
