Page 32 of A Promise of Lies (Shadows of the Tenebris Court #3)

31

Bastian

T he strike could hit me instead. My shadows might slow it.

But it never came.

And as I blinked away the terrible burning light of the Brightblade, I understood why.

I had him, yes. But only his lifeless body, still warm, still bleeding as his head rolled away.

All the world pressed on my ears as I stared. All the world and the things beyond it. Space and the Stars above and the great forces that moved such things. The Celestial Serpent and the Tellurian Serpent’s ghost. Their love. Their hate. Their wonder and disappointment.

“He plotted against the throne.” There was a note of surprise in Cyrus’s voice. “So good to know you wanted him to survive to do it again.”

Too slow. I had been too slow.

It didn’t seem possible. Real. Right.

There were other voices out in the crowd. Witnesses. Most of the city.

Remember who you are . I needed to drag myself up. I needed to function. To salvage something. I needed to be the Bastard, not the son.

People surging. I lost sight of Kat amongst them.

Somehow I released his warm body, shadows setting him down gently as I stood. “You should have used Justice.” My voice sounded hollow but hard, like an empty well. “It’s protocol and you broke it.”

Cyrus bared his teeth, hot pleasure in his eyes. “Like you did when you beheaded Princess Sura, you mean?”

I couldn’t reply. He didn’t realise she was still alive. Had he held a grudge all these years? Was that why he’d done this? Why he’d demanded Kat as his hostage? They’d been lovers, and I assumed that meant as little to him as sex usually did, but if he’d actually been in love with her…

Lucan cleared his throat. “Bastian is correct, Your Majesty. We have our laws for a reason.”

“ Our laws?” The Brightblade gleamed as Cyrus stepped forward, standing over him. “They are my laws. If they displease me, they are gone.” He flicked blood off his sword, and it brought my gaze back to the lifeless form lying on the stone platform.

My father. My athair .

My vision blurred, and it was all I could do to offer a curt nod before I turned and strode out of the square, barging through the crowd.

I made for the nearest dark place, able to make out that much through the unshed tears.

Shadowed alleyways rose around me, cradling, shielding. I wound through them as quickly as I could until I hit a dead end and found myself alone.

As the clouds released a misty drizzle, I sank to the ground.

I’d failed him.

I’d counted on Justice but Cyrus had circumvented its whims to get exactly what he wanted.

I hadn’t just failed him. I’d failed all my parents. Kaliban. Sylen. Nyx. Even the nameless unseelie whose blood flowed through my veins. I had no idea what kind of man he was, but I knew I wasn’t someone Sylen would be proud of, nor Nyx.

I had trusted that the system would work. I had trusted my own judgement. I had trusted that Cyrus would play by the rules.

And Justice really wasn’t presiding over this day, because it hadn’t cost me —the one who’d fucked up. No. It had cost my athair .

Warm arms wrapped around me. The same warmth I’d felt as I’d caught him, and for a moment I thought he was here. Alive.

But when I gasped, the breath tasted of snowmelt and spring showers.

“Kat,” I choked out. “You shouldn’t be here. It isn’t safe. Your guard will?—”

“I gave my guard the slip in the madness after… after… Your shadows found me… brought me here.” Her voice was thick, and when I pulled back, I found her eyes red-rimmed and swollen.

It was the sight of her, hair wild like she’d run here on the wind, face crumpled with grief, that unlocked something in me.

“It’s my fault.” With that, I doubled over, trying to curl up and hide from her, from all those things that had pressed on my ears… from myself.

“No. No .” She caught me. Held me. Squeezed so tight, it was like she was trying to stop me falling apart.

But I slid through the gaps, pieces of me fracturing, breaths broken by sobs, heart shattering and shattering until there was only dust left.

“I thought we had time. I thought… after the dungeons…” The words came out jumbled, fragments of half formed thoughts. “I thought we’d get another chance. A fresh start. But he’s gone.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

She held me. I didn’t know for how long, just that I needed it.

“Katherine?” someone called. “Kat?”

“Shit,” she whispered and pulled me tighter. “It’s my guard.”

“You go.” Faolán’s voice reached through my dark haze. “We’ve got him.”

I looked up, dashing the tears from my eyes. He and Rose hovered nearby, faces crumpled in concern.

Kat shook her head. “But?—”

“Go.” I pulled away, giving her a reassuring nod. “She can’t find you with me. It’ll ruin all your hard work.”

She knelt there, torn. Her brow creased as though she could figure out a way to stay with me and not break her cover, if she could only have a moment longer to think.

“Katherine?” The call sounded more desperate this time. Louder, too.

Eyes shut, she sighed, shoulders sinking. “I’m sorry. I have to?—”

“I know.”

She cupped my cheeks and kissed me. It tasted of salt and regret. Then she was gone.

Stiffly, I dragged myself to my feet. The world seemed off, like the ground had tilted by just a few degrees. But Kat had given me the strength to find my balance on the uneven ground.

Rose and Faolán accompanied me back to the palace, her at my side, him terrifying people out of our way so we could pass through quickly. It was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other until we finally reached my rooms. It seemed like a voyage and yet no time at all. Time had lost its meaning.

Everything had.