Even Ciana had to keep herself from flinching at the cruel edge in Mariah’s voice.
Her stepfather blanched, eyes narrowing. “Are…who are you?”
Mariah shrugged. “I’ve been called many names. For you, ‘Your Majesty’ should do just fine.”
Ciana couldn’t help herself. She grinned, savoring the confusion, then anger, then panic that made its way across Leon’s face.
“Your Majesty,” he blubbered. “Thank the goddess for your arrival. My family has suffered incorrigible mistreatments during our travels.” He glared at Sebastian—bold, considering his blade was still pressed to his neck. “Thisdoghere attacked my son unprovoked. He nearly killed him—my only heir.”
Mariah hummed, as if considering. “Thatisinteresting, Leon. We certainly wouldn’t want any innocent boys suffering needlessly.”
Leon nodded emphatically. “Yes, Your Majesty. Precisely. Something must be done.”
Mariah stepped forward, clasping her hands behind her back. “Do you know what else I find interesting?”
Leon gave her a questioning look.
Ciana could just see the edge of the dark, feral grin spreading across Mariah’s face.
“The fact that this same son of yours spent years abusing a girl under your care and protection, and you did absolutely nothing to stop it.”
The wind brushed through the desert. Leon’s jaw dropped.
“Those arelies!” he screeched, cheeks flushing a deep cherry red. “Filthy, foul lies told by a spoiled little girl?—”
“Ciana?” Mariah glanced over her shoulder. “Do you stand by the things you’ve told me? Here, before your queen, your countrymen, and with the ear of the gods themselves?”
Ciana clamped her hands together. It was the only way to stop the trembling. She knew her eyes widened with panic as they met Mariah’s.
Despite all the scenario’s she’d run through in her mind about how this might go, this hadn’t been one of them.
Mariah’s gaze softened slightly, and she gave Ciana an almost indiscernible nod.
It dawned on Ciana. Mariah hadn’t asked her to voice her allegations or her trauma; simply to validate that what she’d told Mariah in the past was still the truth.
She swore to herself, the moment they were back in an Onitan kitchen, she was making Mariah the biggest plate of waffles she’d ever seen.
Ciana lifted her chin proudly, filled with her queen’s—her best friends—assurance. “I stand by everything I’ve said. It was all the truth. I swear to it in Qhohena’s name.”
“Why, you little bi?—”
“Excuse me, Sir Blaise,” Mariah interrupted—the second time she’d done so in less than a minute. A thrill shot through Ciana at the blithering look on Leon’s face.
“Lady Visseau did not make the accusations against you. She has made them against your son. As he is an adult himself, he is expected to defend himself before his queen.Alone.”
Oh.
Ciana paled as Sebastian lowered his sword from Leon’s throat, taking a step away from the Blaise patriarch.
A step that allowed Lucas a path forward. A path to Ciana.
His soulless eyes bored into her with the same possessive fury that still haunted her nightmares.
“Lucas Blaise.” Mariah’s voice rang out across the sands. “You are accused of assaulting and raping your stepsister, Ciana Visseau. Such crimes are of the highest offense and are not tolerated in my reign—or under the reign of any anointed queen. What do you say in your defense?”
The world was still. Then Lucas took a lurching step forward, tilting up his chin. The discoloration of his face was more pronounced in the sunlight, the brightness of the day catching every bloody mark and purple bruise.
Sebastian had really beaten the shit out of him. Ciana didn’t think he’d ever been more attractive to her than he was right at this moment, even despite everything happening around them.
