Page 18

REIN

My heart tightens as the sound of Silia shouting after me fades in the distance. My only friend—my only family—is turning into a microscopic speck in the background as I use all of my strength to keep pushing forward.

I need to get to her, my sweet Diana. She needs me, and this fucking armor is in the way. Not slowing my pace, I rip off my gloves, the vambraces covering my arms, and then my chest plate. I send a silent prayer to Qhaena to guide me as I feel her powers flowing through me. I’m moving faster than I ever have before, and my muscles burn in a plea to relent—but I will not. I would rather die a slow, painful death than relent even a second.

My lungs work at a quick pace to keep up with me as I feel them slowly tighten with each stride. It feels like a lifetime, but in under a minute, I am standing at the bottom of the endless staircase leading to the palace doors.

She’s so close, but not close enough. I need to have her in my arms. I need to tell her I’m sorry. I need to look into her soul-crushing blue eyes and tell her the truth.

I remove my helmet and wipe the sweat from my temple. My eyes burn as the stray droplets sink into them. “Get it the fuck together,” I whisper to myself.

Every bit of pain I’m enduring is worth it if she’s okay, and if she isn’t, I will see to it that every living being in that palace feels her pain a thousand times over.

But this is all my fault. She’s here because of me. I couldn’t protect her, and my whole reason for being on this earth was to protect her. My heart and soul had been taken from me the moment she was. That fucking prick, he filled her head with lies and convinced her to come here. Eus himself will recoil with disgust when he sees what I have in store for that ridiculous excuse of a man.

I had waited for an entire year. I’d desperately hoped she would see this man—who she had never even met—wasn’t right for her. I’d waited for her to come to me after he’d eventually broken her heart, but that day never came. I know I shouldn’t have read her letters, but how could I not?

I should have put a stop to this an exceedingly long time ago, but she had looked so happy. At the time, the reason for her happiness did not matter to me—as long as I was the cause of a sliver of it, I could settle. But now that this monster has taken her away from me, I will ruin him.

I will kill him.

She loves me. I know she does .

I can feel the rage boil in my veins as I replace my helm and ascend the staircase. There are at least a hundred steps, but with each one, my anger and energy only increase.

With Qhaena’s aid, I am at the top of the stairs quickly, pushing open the palace doors. Two guards with shocked looks on their faces don’t even have time to react before I raise my sword and separate their heads from their bodies. An elderly maid comes rushing into the foyer at the sound of heads rolling, but as soon as she sees me, she stops dead in her tracks. I give her a slow, low bow as I meet her gaze through the slit in my helmet.

“ Run .”

The maid runs down the hall, presumably alerting the rest of the guards and, hopefully, the king himself of my presence. Good, let them come. Not nearly enough blood has been shed.

I speed-walk through the main entrance and take the first right down the hallway. Not a single guard in sight. I need to hit something. My gift will not cool down until more skulls have been shattered. I take my sword and rip through the various paintings, drapes, and mirrors along the wall as I continue walking down the hall.

At the very end, I spy the room I’m looking for.

The large black double doors almost reach the ceiling, identical to the ones back at the palace in Eza. He’s in there. I can feel the dread seep through the cracks of the doors.

I march up to the doors and kick them as hard as I can. The doors almost fly off their hinges as I enter the throne room.

Black marble floors screech underneath my dangling sword, and I walk past the matching glossy pillars lining the room. I stop in my tracks once I am halfway to the dais and huff out a breath. Erebus is sitting there, smirking at me, waiting for me to do something.

Before he can speak, I break the silence. “Where is she?”

He simply looks down at me from his throne, his smirk growing even wider.

“I’m not here for fucking games. Where. Is. She?” I grit through my teeth. If this fucker doesn’t speak in the next five seconds, more heads will fly.

“Well, that certainly is no way to greet your gracious host.” Erebus leans back on his throne, no less relaxed than he would be on holiday, lying on the beaches in Stasia.

“I’ll fucking kill you, Erebus!” Without even thinking, I lunge for the dais, and two guards I didn’t see before rush forward and grab me by the arms. My sword flies out of my hand and skids across the floor. A foot clamps down on the blade. My eyes drift up from the weapon to find the man whose insides I’d like most to turn inside out.

“ You .” Venom drips from my words as I face the man who took my Diana away from me.

I rip one of my arms free and lunge for my sword. The hilt is just in reach before a set of manacles are slapped on my wrists, and my skin begins to boil. Pain as I’ve never felt before shoots through my wrists as the scent of burning flesh makes its way beneath my helm.

“Remove that ridiculous helmet,” I hear the Prophet say, and the guard to my right rips the cool metal free from my head. I yell out in pain as the manacles dig deeper into my flesh, burning me any time I move even an inch.

That poor excuse of a man takes three long strides and stops in front of me, his hair flowing in a phantom wind. It’s so long, it’s hard to tell where his hair ends and his onyx black robe begins.

He towers over me as he grasps my face in one of his hands, his sharp nails digging into my cheek as he squeezes. “Kneel.”

I lock my knees and spit in his face. He wipes the saliva off his cheek with one finger, then wipes it across my neck, making sure to scratch me with his sharp talons along the way.

“I will not ask you again. When you are in front of the king, you kneel .” The guards kick my legs out from under me, and my worst enemy grabs my shoulders with both hands and forces me to the ground. I hit the marble floors with a bone-cracking slam.

Suddenly, he stiffens, his sharp nails still digging deep into my flesh. I watch as his icy eyes gloss over to an opaque white. The veins in his neck begin to bulge and he collapses to his knees in front of me.

Before I can make a move, his vision returns to normal, and his gaze is no longer teasing. The hoods of his eyes lower and he crinkles his nose in disgust.

“ You ,” he breathes out so quietly, I almost can’t register it.

I don’t have time to respond to his strange change in mood before he yanks me into him, so his lip is at my ear. “You will pay for this, you worthless piece of shit.”

He bites down hard on my ear. Pain radiates from the side of my skull as I watch him pull back, stand up, and spit the chunk at my feet.

“That’s enough, Odious. Thank you.” Erebus waves his hand in the air, dismissing Odious.

A large, sadistic grin spreads across his face as he licks his bloody lips. He gives me a mocking bow before striding back to the dais.

“Now,” Erebus claps his hands together, the loud sound echoing off the walls. “Your princess is safe, captain. She is being well cared for.”

Odious lets out a frustrated huff at this statement, and I just barely see him ball his fist before loosening it.

“Where is the rest of your little group?” Erebus rises from his throne and walks down the few steps to the dais.

“Not here,” I respond, trying to sound disinterested.

“I find that very hard to believe.” Erebus descends the final step of the throne, his cane tapping against the marble with each step. When the fuck did he get that thing?

“Well, I find it incredibly hard to believe that Diana is actually safe and unharmed.” I want to spit in his face too, but seeing as I’m handcuffed and kneeling on the floor, I know I’ll lose in this scenario. I need to stay alive for her.

“Oh, she most definitely is not safe, little captain. She’s currently hanging by her feet in my chambers.” Odious glides down the steps and stands next to Erebus. His grin widens as he takes in the sight of me on my knees in forced submission.

He’s lying. He’s trying to rile me up. I won’t waste one more breath on this creep.

“You’ve made this much easier for me by showing up on my doorstep, captain. I didn’t even need to show you to the throne room!” Erebus tilts back his head and lets out an ear-piercingly loud laugh as he taps his cane repeatedly on the floor.

Odious clears his throat, and Erebus abruptly stops laughing, then motions to the door beside the throne. “Bring her in.”

The door swings open, and out walks Diana. My heart sinks, and my tense muscles relax as I see her standing before me. It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve seen her last. Her clothes are fitted slightly looser than before, and her cheekbones look hollow and sunken in. Her hair is still the most perfect shade of orange and red, but most importantly, she’s alive.

When our gazes meet, tears begin to build in her eyes. “Rein! What are you doing here?” Diana rushes over to me and kneels on the ground in front of me. She takes my face in her hands and holds me tight, then whips her head to the king. “Erebus, let him go!”

“Diana, thank the Gods, you’re all right.” I want to reach out to her, feel her skin on mine, but these damn manacles are keeping my arms in place behind my back.

“Your captain decided to rain on our parade. He is not a welcomed guest in this palace. You know what happens to intruders.”

Diana’s face pales as realization sets in.

Torture . Intruders will be arrested and tortured.

“I’ll do whatever you want, Erebus, just please let her go. She does not belong here.” I try to speak as quickly as I can, afraid I’ll lose the chance to negotiate with him.

“You haven’t the faintest idea where she belongs, pig.” Odious spits at me, closing the space between us and stopping directly behind Diana.

“Odious, enough! You’ll have your turn with him soon.”

Odious bows his head to Erebus, but stays planted behind Diana.

“Bring her to the throne. I want her to watch as I slice open her pretty little captain’s chest, and he takes his final breath.” Erebus’ slick tone sends a shiver down my spine as I watch Odious’ fingers slither around Diana’s shoulders and drag her away from me.

This is it. Death is coming to greet me with open arms.

I can go peacefully knowing Diana is alive.

“No! Please, just let him go!” Diana shouts at Erebus, but she does not fight Odious as he whisks her away to the throne.

“You want to end the fun already, Father? Why don’t we take our time with him.” Odious adds as he sits Diana on the throne.

Father? Erebus is Odious’ father? All this time, I’d thought he just worked for the palace.

Erebus taps his finger on his cane, contemplating whether to spare my life at this moment. “You’re quite right, my boy. Why don’t we just give him a little taste of what’s yet to come?”

Erebus walks towards me. He places his cane in his other hand and picks my sword off the floor, tossing it around in his hand. “This will do quite nicely. What fine craftsmanship.”

Erebus lifts the sword and aims it at my face. “Do you scar easily, captain?”

Just as the blade caresses my cheek, a low, familiar voice echoes through the throne room. “Leave him alone, Erebus.”

Lars, he’s here. I pray to any Gods who will listen that he didn’t bring Silia with him.

Erebus raises the sword and points it behind me. “Well, look who came crawling back home, and look who he brought with him. Hello, dear niece.”

Lars, you fool.

The footsteps abruptly stop behind me, and the air suddenly drops ten degrees.

I spot Odious’ lips curve into another insidious grin as he waves his pale fingers to Lars and Silia behind me. “Welcome home, brother.”