The grain of hope in me withered.
Beren wasn’t here to negotiate. He wanted to bully and cower for an easy win.
He’d found the wrong person to play these games with.
“That doesn’t work for us,” was all I said.
Beren looked pleased. Like he’d been waiting for any excuse to end this farce and get on with his true wish.
“We’ll just have to pay you another visit.” He shrugged. “This time, I’ll come personally.”
I forced a dark chuckle. “You can try to take it by force–”
“Tried that,” Dax said. “Failed.”
“Or you go on with your lives like you did until now,” I said. “Greed is not worth your people’s lives.”
“We’re entitled–”
“To nothing. The magic belongs to the crater. Otherwise, you could have accessed it without the Commander’s say-so.”
“You forget one thing, Huntress,” he said. “Solkar’s Reach is Ryker’s birthright as long as he lives. He has no heirs–” An eerie grin contorted his face. “And no wife. With the way the war’s going, I doubt you’ll ever get the chance to walk down the aisle with him.”
My breaths turned shallow, even as I tried to keep every inch of me still.
“Though, who knows.” He shrugged again. This one looked like a twitch he couldn’t quite control. “If you’re that set on protecting Solkar’s Reach, I wouldn’t mind another wife–”
All my composure melted into a sea of rage.
One moment I stood there, perfectly still, perfectly unbothered.
In the next, I took out Ryker’s dagger–the one which had brought me so much pain–and impaled it in the table right in front of the palaver portals.
A deathly silence settled in the room. Just like on that first day when I’d realized my world had fallen apart.
For the first time, Beren looked truly unsettled, eyes darting from the dagger to my face.
He recognized it, the louse.
I was sick and tired of these men underestimating me.
Dria Vegheara’s blood ran through my veins.
She wouldn’t have stood for this–and neither would I.
I felt the weight of my brave, undefeated ancestors resting on my shoulders.
But instead of burdening me with their expectations, this time they raised them higher with the potential they’d sowed and saw in me.
I braced my hands on the table, leaning forward menacingly.
“Try me,” I said, unflinching. “Come here, with all your armies and all your weapons, and try to face me.”
Beren opened his mouth, but he was too slow.
“What happened to your soldiers isnothingcompared to what I’ll do to you. I’ll enjoy it, too. You think you’ve known pain?” I leaned further, the wings of all my fearsome ancestors fanning my rage and courage. “You haven’t been constricted by my power yet. Felt the life leave you, breath after miserable breath, slow enough that you can fully understand what a gravemistake you have made. The last thing you will see is my face, hallowed blue, as I will watch you die.”
Lioran cleared his throat again. “Huntress–”
