“More useful than a daughter?” Lyssandra spat.
“Well, they did already have an heir, little sister,” Arenn pointed out with a flourish of his arms, while Ikelos fell apart with dry laughter.
“I said be quiet!” Lyssandra snapped again at Ikelos.
Just then, the strange coldness shifted to a damp feeling, making the ends of my hair feel wet. I glanced at Lukas, who looked equally confused as water droplets formed on the tips of his fingers. No one else seemed to notice, though. Ikelos continued to shake with roaring laughter while Lyssandra’s parents desperately tried to justify their decision.
“You did come back to us in the end,” the Faery Queen reminded her.
“Ask them how much gold they have stored away because of you.” Ikelos spoke between choking laughs.
Lyssandra growled with anger, her head whipping between a cackling Ikelos and her babbling parents. Beneath my feet, the floor seemed to tremble. Then, the water that had soaked my hair and clothes suddenly disconnected itself from my body andrushed towards Lyssandra in a violent, horrifying wave of blue.
“I SAID BE QUIET!” she screamed, as a huge crystal-blue serpent made entirely of water gushed up from her raised arms. As it soared into the air, my mouth swung open and I stumbled backwards. I’d never seen magic like this before. Power thrummed from its swirling blue body – intense power, so full of rage, I could almost taste it.
Without a breath of pause, it barreled towards Ikelos, the sheer force immediately splitting his chair to pieces. One moment he was laughing, and the next, he was being torn apart in a blur of crashing and foaming waves. His cursed body didn’t stand a chance as he crashed against the back wall of the dining room. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the water serpent vanished, evaporating into nothing but a small puddle around the King’s lifeless body.
Heart pounding, I sprinted over to him before I even realised I’d moved. Everyone was silent as I fell to my knees to roll him over. But I knew what I’d see before I saw it. Glazed over eyes. Parted lips. Quickly, I padded my fingers along his neck, feeling for a heartbeat. Nothing.
“King Ikelos is dead,” I announced coldly.
Behind me, someone cheered.
CHAPTER 42
“Atoast to my dead husband!” Erissa cheered, raising her glass.
The last few minutes were a foggy mess in my mind. At Lyssandra’s insistence, everyone had returned to their seats at the dining table – of course, everyone but Ikelos, whose body had been left untouched on the floor. I then vaguely remembered Arenn scooping me up from where I was kneeling and placing me into a chair beside him at the table. And then someone else, possibly Erissa, filling my goblet with wine. But I barely recalled lifting the glass to my lips – only how much my hands shook as I gripped the stem of the goblet.
I couldn’t explain the feeling. Every time I caught sight of the dead king’s body, a cold dread crept up from my toes. I’d seen death before, many times. We used to have cadavers delivered to my home village so we could study them, but they were just tools for learning. This was a human being. A king. He’d been alive just minutes ago, and now he was dead.
I downed the wine. Then I snatched Arenn’s glass and downed that too.
“That’s the spirit, Naria!” Erissa grinned. “You know, I think we should throw a ball.” She glanced at the Faery Queen. “You’ll help me plan it, won’t you, Amie? Let the whole realm celebrate with us! Everyone shall be invited. It’s been years since—”
“The King is dead, Mother,” Lukas growled, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the head of his wine goblet. “Yourhusbandis dead. Show some respect.”
Silence fell over the table, and I risked a glance at Lyssandra. She’d been oddly quiet since Ikelos’s death, her focus remaining fixed on her goblet as she sipped her wine slowly.
“Is the wine not to your liking?” Erissa asked, twisting to face her.
“It’s fine,” Lyssandra shot back in a raspy voice. “I just—” She cleared her throat. “I think we should drink something a bit stronger.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Erissa signalled to a nearby trembling faery servant. “Fetch us the strongest wine. Quickly!” She spoke with such confidence, as if this were her own kingdom. I’d never seen her like this before. Perhaps the King’s death had restored some of her sanity.
Although any hope of that soon faded when the servant hurried back with a black bottle of faery wine. After the servant placed the bottle on the table, Erissa swiped Lyssandra’s goblet and promptly tossed the leftovers over her shoulder, as if this were the usual way to deal with unwanted wine. We all watched in surprise as the red liquid splashed against the sparkling white floor, some of it landing on the poor servant’s apron.
“Ugh, clean that up, won’t you?” Erissa groaned, as if the entire deliberate act was an accident. The trembling servant didn’t hesitate to obey, falling to her knees to wipe up the stain.
“Clumsy thing,” Erissa scoffed as she poured the wine, fillingboth hers and Lyssandra’s goblets to the brim. With an innocent smile, she handed Lyssandra her goblet back. “To my dead husband, and to our future friendship!” She raised her glass high.
“Indeed,” Lyssandra grumbled, before downing the entire glass in a few deep swigs. After lowering her goblet, she paused for a moment, then added, “You do realise that now Ikelos is dead, I will be taking your kingdom?”
Erissa nodded with a light chuckle. “Of course! It’s no good to me anyway, dear.”
Lyssandra’s lips thinned. “And I will be killing your son.” Gasping, my heart lurched as if someone had just punched me in the chest. “I thought about keeping him as a pet,” she yawned, “but he looks far too similar to Ikelos for my liking.”
“Do whatever you’d like to him.” Erissa shrugged as my heart raced. “He was always more of my husband’s son than my own. I never wanted children, but the King had to have his heir.”
