“That’s enough of this,” Steward Soloman said firmly. “Miss Sosna, Prince Ethan, please remove yourselves and your court from the winner’s table.”
I was in such shock, I couldn’t believe this was happening. Emma and I had the throne in our grasp. And it’d been cruelly taken away.
“Remember our deal, Sosna,” Gabby purred as she strolled past, with a snarky glance at me. “Just because I’m going to be queen now doesn’t mean anything’s changed. Keep your wolf in line.”
Emma hurtled a hated look her way. Elijah took my seat, and Gabby sat beside him. Emma, myself, and our court were forcibly escorted out of the tent. The sounds of the party resumed, and they were a painful reminder of everything we’d lost. Every laugh and delighted noise ached at my core.
Our worst nightmare had come true. Elijah had control of the crown. He’d become king. And who knew where Malovia would be after that.
“What deal was Gabby talking about, Emma?” I whirled on her. My anger was so overwhelming— I could hardly see straight.
Emma gave me a steely look. “Gabby came into our tent while you were getting fixed up. She threatened me. She told me that if I didn’t do as she said while I was queen, she’d hurt you. I’m supposing she’s turning the deal around now, so that if we try to stop her in any way frombeingqueen, she’ll take your life. And mine, possibly.”
Her tone was guarded, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes. Had her and Gabby made some sort of back-door deal? She was hiding something else… would these secrets ever end between us?
Hypocritical bastard, a bitter voice taunted, but I ignored it.
“I’m gonna kick that bitch’s ass,” Delmare snapped.
“What are you going to do, Irena?” Stefan had stepped in— he immediately sobered up as he rounded on her. “You can’t touch her now without getting hurt. She’s going to be queen. Once they crown her, it’s all over.”
“I’ll crown her, all right,” Delmare raged.
“Enough,” I growled, and all fell silent. “We need to talk about this someplace else.”
The others gathered my meaning. We left the tents— darkness enveloped us as the arena was left behind and lights faded. We drove further into the woods, until Emma had to light a spell so that we could see. Only when we were in a clearing devoid of the chance of being overheard did we stop to congregate in a circle.
Godsdammit! I punched a tree. My knuckles hurt, but I didn’t care. Close. We were so fucking close. We had everything, and then Gabby tore it away.
I’d been focusing on Elijah the entire time. My mistake. It was his mate that was the real threat.
“This isn’t right,” Emma whispered. “The hag told me you’d be king. She said—”
“Shelied,Emma!” I all but roared. “When are you going to understand that monsters don’t tell the truth?”
Emma’s eyes watered with tears. I hated hurting her like this, but by the gods, how could she be so naive?
“What hag?” Delmare looked utterly confused. The others wore similarly confused looks.
“It doesn’t matter right now,” I replied viciously. “What matters is we lost. We fucking lost.”
There was silence for a moment, until Odette broke it. “Why would you do that, Emma?” Odette spoke weakly. “You shouldn’t have cheated.”
Emma’s head hung low. “I know I shouldn’t have.” Her voice trembled. She barely held back tears as she said, “You just don’t understand how hard it was to survive out there. What I would do to keep Ethan alive.”
My heart clenched at the admission. Emma had been the one who’d cheated, yes.
But I was the one who’d failed. She still didn’t know much about this world— I was her mate. It was my duty to lead and guide her, and I’d been utterly unsuccessful in doing so.
“I can’t even imagine,” Theo agreed. “But that doesn’t make what you did right.”
Emma’s eyes turned on me. I could barely look at her right now. Her choices had cost us everything. They’d cost us our future. My legacy. The safety of the country and all of Malovia’s people were now at risk, because of a dumb decision she’d made— and my inability to protect her from making that decision.
I was furious with her… yet angrier at myself for being so blind. Enraged that I hadn’t been able to defend my title, and my mate.
But being mad wasn’t going to change things. And rage wouldn’t stop what was coming. I could be as angry with Emma as I wanted, but what good would it do?
“What’s past is past,” I snapped. “We lost the throne. Now what are we going to do about it?”
