Page 69 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood (Of Fae and Wolf Trilogy #2)

I cut her off with a vicious sweep of my hand.

“Even if the council did, I did not choose you!” I advanced another step, my shadows writhing around me like living serpents.

"You think you can steal what belongs to another?

You think you can take her place? You think you want me?

Will you want me when my shadows rip you to pieces and pour out your lifeblood on the seal of the Shadow Kingdom? "

A hand tugged at my arm, and I twisted around to see Elara. She shook her head with wide eyes. “Vad, please calm?—”

I jerked my arm free. “She deserves death.”

“The Shadow King is correct that Kaylen is not the choice of the councils.” Bryn's voice rang out across the Ceremonial Hall, sounding more tremulous than I’d ever heard it. He moved out from the benches into the center aisle.

Unlike the council members in the front, he was not wearing a hood that obscured his face, and his usually wild hair had been neatly combed back.

Kaylen gasped. “What? But?—”

Bryn silenced her with a look, and her shoulders sagged as if he had struck her. Two of the wingless Aureline guards approached her. Where had they even come from? My guards approached more slowly, seeming to exchange looks as if to ask who took precedence.

He’d better have Briar, or I would slit his throat here, happily.

“The Aureline choice is in accordance with the winner of the trials. There was an error in formalities and procedures, for which we are truly apologetic, but Fate’s choice is…Calla Lily.” Bryn gestured to his right.

My stomach twisted, and I froze again in pure rage. More blood dripped into my eyes. He had to be behind this.

Calla Lily rose, one hand rising to her chest as she demurely curtsied. “I am at the service of the Shadow Kingdom.”

The feck she was. My shadows expanded, searching for Briar and for vengeance.

The council members exchanged glances, most looking between one another, though a few simply stared straight ahead.

“Calla Lily not only survived all three of the challenges, but she was the gold winner of the third and final trial, in which character was tested.” Bryn didn’t glance at Calla Lilly and sounded as if he’d rehearsed the line over and over again.

“Liar!” Veralt stood, towering over the seated guests. “That pink-winged girlie didn’t win shit in the last competition. That was Briar, through and through. She won it fair and square, and there were folk sent in there trying to kill her too.”

Briar’s friends jumped to their feet around him.

Shocked murmurs rippled out among the crowd. “The king’s assassin?”

“The girl from the other world?”

“The outsider?”

“The weird shadow-beast woman?”

Bryn paled. “I do not know who you are or why you think you have the authority to speak against the will of the High Aureline Council, as well as the Aureline Councilmembers who participated in the oversight of the bridal competition.” None of the Aureline councilmembers at the front moved.

I wanted Bryn’s blood. Had he been involved in my father’s death as well? Rage boiled within me, seething as my shadows lashed out. The stone railing cracked, and one of the spokes shattered.

Calla Lily’s gaze darted around the room as she took a half step toward me. “I am Fate’s choice as well as the choice of the Aurelines involved in this test, and I am willing to serve. I mean no harm.”

“No harm ?” Something hot flared inside me that I didn’t understand, and my shadows gripped the railings harder and tighter. More spokes shattered and splintered, exploding outward.

Vyraetos held out his hands, looking around with pure confusion on his aged features. “No one informed the Shadow Council that Calla Lily was the winner. To my knowledge, there was no determined winner because of the disruption with the earthquake. Is this not so?”

Bryn cleared his throat. “It was clarified?—”

“You are part of this conspiracy!” I snarled.

It would mean instant war if I murdered a member of the High Aureline Council, but I didn’t care.

Not anymore. “Are you among the traitors who sought to destroy my beloved and frame her for the murder of my father? Were you involved in his death?” Darkness loomed within the hall.

My madness was on full display as my claws lengthened.

They cut into my palms, but I didn’t care.

He had fooled me and taken Briar from me. That sin alone meant death.

Bryn fell back, and his liquid gold eyes widened even more.

Elara gripped my arm again. “Vad—” Panic filled her voice. “Vad, please?—”

I looked at my sister, a desperate plan forming in my mind. I could pass the crown and the throne to her. Let the magic transfer to her. Then I’d find Briar. I’d give all this up for her. Every shred. Every moment. Nothing mattered as much as Briar did.

The doors at the end of the Ceremonial Hall slammed open, striking the walls and shaking as the guards barely ducked out of the way in time.

Vad .

My heart stopped. Briar’s voice had sounded in my head, and something yanked in my chest.

I sucked in a breath.

There she was in the Ceremonial Hall, at the start of the red carpet, standing between the heavy doors. Her copper hair was loose and wild about her shoulders, framing her face. Those green eyes met mine from across the room.

My beloved.

My queen.

My all.

She was a vision, despite the dirt and dust and blood smeared across the iridescent gown that Fate had made for her.

Anyone viewing her now would see the difference between her dress and the others and would know that she was the one Fate had marked.

This woman was not just my queen. She alone held my entire heart.

“Briar,” I whispered. “You’re here.”

Bryn’s eyes widened as he looked from Briar to me, and he stretched out a hand. His face went deathly pale. “No!”

But I ignored him. Nothing would keep her from me ever again. It was time to claim her once and for all.

I turned and grabbed the queen’s crown.

Trying to block me from Briar, Bryn said, “No, you don’t understand. She’s an Aur?—”

Velessa sprang up on her bench and raised her hand in a grasping motion, silencing him as Veralt picked him up and moved him out of the center aisle, Yuki flanking the giant.

Three wingless Aureline guards started toward Briar, but Rhielle’s shadows swept in front of them. Her pupils faded away entirely as her shadows sealed them in. Quen, Thalira, and Myantha raced down the aisle toward two more guards, parting them and letting Briar through as she ran toward me.

The thorns on the queen’s crown pricked my palms and fingers, but I held it tightly and leaped off the dais, then raced toward Briar amid the screaming guests.

When she had almost reached Briar, Myantha tripped and went sprawling onto the carpet. A dagger with a green-coated blade spun from her pocket. Thalen paled, and then he grabbed her and pulled her away, holding her hands at the wrists.

Quen and Thalira cut off two more guards from reaching Briar with a water whip and a heated blast that sent one flying.

When I finally stood in front of her, I asked, “Do you wish to be my queen and my love?” The question seemed to come both from my voice and my mind at once.

Her eyes shone as she stared up at me. The most incredible being in all of creation and existence. “Yes. I never wanted to leave. Now and forever, I’m yours. Always.”

My heart expanded and felt fuller than ever before as I lifted the queen’s crown and placed it on her head.

The blood from my hands dripped onto her hair, and the thorns pricked her scalp, though I tried to be gentle.

The crown was a heavy burden, like the duty to our kingdom, but she was a queen and the strongest person I’d ever known. She could more than handle it.

Blood now dripped down her cheeks as well. I seized her in my arms and pressed my lips to hers. The comforting jolt had me melting into her, refusing to ever let her go again.

I had to have her. Hold her. Breathe her in.

Her sweet cinnamon and ginger scent was not marred by the smell of blood, and I clasped her tight against my chest and savored her. She was my home and my world. Nothing mattered right now except holding her.

You’re my everything, her voice said in my head.

I didn’t know how this was happening, but I never wanted it to stop. I wanted her to be a part of me always. I love you more than the realm.

The screams intensified, and then Briar stumbled in my arms.

“Earthquake!” she exclaimed.

The ground shook, and I tightened my arms around Briar, refusing for her to ever be harmed again. The vibrations caused my feet to stumble, and one of the huge chandeliers above the guests dropped and shattered.

Pieces of glass cut into my arms as I wrapped my wings around us both.

“Fire,” someone yelled, as feet pounded and wings flapped frantically.

“My water magic isn’t working!” another responded. Cries rose from others, saying their magic was impacted, followed by an odd, rushing sensation that poured through my veins and screamed in the air around us.

Then the torches went out.

All light vanished, and the screaming cries turned to whimpers and then silence.

I lifted my head to see if it was over, and my gaze caught on the shadow beast banner above the dais. The beast glared down at us, its red eye molten and glowing.

The banner collapsed, rustling as it vanished from sight. In its place, a ghostly stag loomed...and the world split apart.

Bryn yelled brokenly, “You don’t know what you’ve done!”