Memories—blurred, hazy memories—hit her like a boulder.
The dinner with Nik. The lightness she’d felt eating the food and drinking the wine. The raging hangover she’d had the next day, the loss of her memories about how she’d gotten back to her rooms.
When she turned to Sebastian, mouth slack and tears burning behind her eyes, she hoped he read the truth.
Drugged. She’d been drugged for information on Mariah.
Was this why Nik had given them access to the archives? To make himself feel better after forcing her to spill information about her queen?
What was it he’d said before leaving them?I hope the knowledge of Vatha is enough to bank the flames of war.
Maybe the war he’d intended to bank wasn’t the one where her queen won. Maybe all along it had been a distraction while they’d readied this. One Ciana had played into all too well.
Nik’s betrayal burned, but not nearly as much as the guilt.
Ydros wasn’t done.
“The interests of Vatha no longer align with those of Onita.” The god regarded them with cold disinterest, as if he were analyzing the weather. “Mariah Salis and the members of her court are hereby declared enemies of the Vathan Crown. Seize them immediately.”
Chapter 70
Gloved hands grabbed Ciana’s shoulders before Ydros’s words had even finished echoing through the throne room. Booted feet stopped across the marble, the clanging of plated steel clashing with the soft glow of the Vathan evening.
This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be real. The world around Ciana slowed, her heart thundering in her ears.
Movement jostled the hands holding her. Sebastian’s roar tore through the throne room, though the sound was dull and muted. He struggled desperately against the swarming guards, his eyes wide and frantic as they found Ciana’s through the chaos.
But there were at least twenty guards, and only one of him. He was stripped of his sword and daggers in seconds, pushed down to his knees and held with his arms behind his back. Ciana saw the moment he realized that escape was impossible. His shoulders slumped, grief tearing across his face.
Ciana splintered. She knew how heavily he would bear this. How much it would tear him apart, believing he’d failed once again.
When really, this failure belonged to her.
The ring on her pinky warmed, like the metal and stone was heating against her skin. She toyed with it, allowing herself just a brief, fleeting second to wonder what would happen if she slipped it off?—
No. It wasn’t the time. Itcouldn’tbe the time. It would only make things worse. She had to keep control, to keep things from slipping further into this hellish nightmare.
That part of her wasn’t something she wanted. It was only one more thing that would make her different. Make her broken.
She’d promised herself that she’d never be broken again.
Ciana found Niktael’s dark hazel gaze. He watched the madness unfurl, expression wide and helpless.
“Please,” Ciana said, voice breaking but forcing herself to speak anyway. “Please, Nik. Why are you doing this? This isn’t you?—”
“You’re right. It isn’t him.” Ydros’s tall form edged forward. “The king is young and easily swayed by beauty. I am not.”
Power thrummed from the god’s mossy stare. It was different from that of Rulene or Callamus or even Mariah. Ydros’s power was the rumble of earthquakes, the crash of falling trees, the twisting chokes of parasitic vines on an ageless oak.
“Mariah has done nothing to Vatha except offer friendship. We arenotyour enemy.”
Ydros chuckled. “Do not lie to me. I know the true purpose of your mission here. All your queen has done is try to use the kindness of this country to her own benefit.”
Ciana ground her teeth in frustration. “But her success benefits Vatha, too!” she exclaimed. “All she—allwe—want to do is defeat Kol. You fought him in the First War. Don’t you want to see him defeated once and for all?”
Ydros was silent for a moment, arms crossing over his chest. “Yes,” he said slowly. “I opposed Kol in the First War. I helped lock him away in Enfara for five thousand years, until yourqueen set him free.” He stalked forward, stopping at the first dais step.
“It took all of us—all seven of us—to stop him last time. But thanks to yourqueen, we no longer have Qhohena or Zadione on this plane to help. My Consort, Krilene, lives for the heartbeat of war, but even she grows tired and chooses instead to linger in the Kizar Islands amidst the water. Priam is as useless as he was the day he ascended. That leaves only Rulene and Callamus to take on Kol, and they cannot do it alone.”
