Page 19

SILIA

The moment we enter the throne room, I’m hit with several feelings, all of them emitting from Lars. First there’s confidence, then anger, next surprise, and finally, dread. I stop dead in my tracks as my gaze falls on Rein kneeling in the middle of the room. He’s wearing some type of glowing manacles that look extremely painful. They must be hindering him in some way, because if the headless bodies and deep gashes lining the walls were any indication, normal cuffs would never be able to hold him back in this state.

I glance around the rest of the room to find it exactly how I’d last seen it. It’s an eerie, almost completely empty room except for a throne, which my sister is currently sitting on.

“Leave him alone, Erebus,” Lars growls next to me, an underlying promise of death if he were to harm Rein.

Uncle Erebus raises his sword and points it directly at us, throwing that promise right back in our faces. “Well, look who came crawling back home, and look who he brought with him. Hello, dear niece.” His eyes bounce from Lars to me as his smile grows wider.

Before we’d entered the palace, Lars had somehow changed his hair back to silver to match the color I saw in my dream. This change makes him almost unrecognizable, but it wasn’t just his hair color that had changed. The scar on his face grew thicker, and the redness around it deepened to the shade of blood. He’s been using his gift to mask his identity and the severity of his injury. It must hurt much more than he leads on.

Lars takes a few paces ahead of me, but abruptly stops when he sees Diana on the throne. A chill runs down my spine as the man standing next to her lifts his lengthy fingers and waves at us, a stomach-curdling grin plastered on his face.

“Welcome home, brother .”

“Brother?” Rein and I ask at the same time.

My gaze jumps back to Odious as I watch him lean down and whisper something in Diana’s ear. It makes my stomach churn that he’s mere inches from my sister. But she doesn’t fight him. When he’s done speaking, a look of shock passes over her features before she quickly masks it. A sinking feeling grabs ahold of me that something other than our appearance in the palace has them so on edge.

“This is quite the family reunion, wouldn’t you say? I’d like to officially introduce the Eza dwellers to my stepsons.”

Uncle Erebus waves the sword between the man standing next to the throne, to Rein, and then to myself. “Silia, captain, this is Odious. Odious, you’ve already been acquainted with our captain, so let me introduce you to the Princess of Eza, Silia Goylstm.”

Odious lowers into a mocking bow and places his hand on his heart. “Welcome to our home, princess. Or should I say, welcome back? It has been too long since you’ve graced us with your presence.”

If he didn’t seem like the vilest man to walk the planet, he would almost be beautiful. Even though Lars and he have extremely opposite features, they somehow look exactly alike. Odious has black hair as long as my own that seems to dance in the air despite the nonexistent breeze, and his eyes are so bright that if I were told he possessed snowfall for irises, I’d believe it.

I look between him and Lars as realization takes control of my brain . He’s supposed to be dead . And by the look on Lars’s face, he’s thinking the same thing.

“You—you’re alive?” Lars’s legs give out as he hits the marble floor, matching Rein’s kneeling position. Waves of longing and confusion pour off Lars and into my veins as my chest suddenly feels tighter, and my eyes begin to burn with tears. Lars is breaking. I can feel it.

“It’s okay, we can handle this. Please breathe for me,” I speak to him in the eather.

One.

Two.

Three.

He looks up from the floor and gets back to his feet, hand now clutching his chest . “I don’t know how this is possible. I watched him die, Silia.”

I approach Lars and place a hand on his back. “We will figure this out. I need you to be strong for me right now.”

Lars replies with a feeling he’s never expressed to me before. It feels a lot like gratitude, maybe? It smells of lavender and the night sky. I blink and question my sanity at this moment, because I just smelled his emotion.

He straightens his back and sets his burning gaze back to Erebus.

“What have you done?” Lars’s tone no longer wavers. His question is straightforward and lethal.

“What have I done?” Uncle Erebus chuckles to himself and drops the sword. He raises his cane and walks over to us, then stops just a few feet away and pokes Lars in the chest with the end of his cane. Not his cane, but Harland’s. How did he get that?

I was too busy worrying about Lars to even comprehend what Uncle Erebus had just said to me. Lars is his stepson. That must mean…

Aunt Viktoria is Lars’s mother, not one of her maids.

I release my hand from his back and take three strides away, my eyes never leaving the back of Lars’s head. Snippets of him confiding in me about his life and past replay in my mind.

Lies—all of it.

“Little Flame, I can explain.”

“No!” I audibly shout. Is Erebus lying? Lars wouldn’t keep something like this from me…right?

“What is the meaning of this? Erebus, you are a filthy liar.” I refuse to believe the truth, even as it’s shoved violently in my face.

“I see you’ve connected the dots, niece . I am not lying. I only speak the truth. Few others in this room can say the same.” Erebus lowers the cane from Lars’s chest and walks over to me. I shake my head and try to collect my thoughts. I don’t want to hear another word about his stepsons .

“Just let Rein and Diana go. They have done nothing to you.” Fresh, hot tears break loose as I try to find my words.

His grin flips upside down in disgust as he stares down at me. “It’s not what they have done to me, but what they can do for me. Though, admittedly, your captain has already completed his purpose here. I have no more use for him.”

Erebus taps his cane on the floor, and two guards appear at the doors behind us and take hold of my arms.

“Let her go!” Lars rushes to Erebus, cocking back his fist as if he’s going to punch him square in the face.

Before his hand makes its connection, Erebus raises his hand too, and Lars stops mid-punch. “Careful now, Lars. Do not forget the power I hold. With one snap of my fingers, your mother ceases to exist.” He begins to form his raised hand into a snapping motion, testing Lars’s boundaries.

“I’d see this entire country burned to the ground along with its people before I let you lay a finger on Silia.”

Lars’s confession smacks me uncomfortably in the chest. I can feel his growing panic, but as I look at him, I don’t see a single hint of anything other than rage.

“Is that so?” Erebus’ lips tug as he lowers his hand to his side. “Then why don’t we raise the stakes?” He gestures my way.

“Make one wrong move, boy,” his eyes slide back to Lars, “and she’ll be the one to die.”

The guard’s grip tightens on my arms one last time before they throw me to the ground. My face connects with the cold marble, and blood drips down my nose and then over my lips.

Lars whips around at the sound of my bones smacking the floor, and his brand glows a blinding gold. He rushes to me and lifts me to my knees. He frantically wipes the trail of blood from my lips as he scans the rest of my face. Waves of comfort and reassurance wrap me in a warm hug, and I sag into it for a moment, if only to relieve some of my pain.

“Little Flame?” At the sound of his cracking voice entering my thoughts, I sober up enough to stand my ground.

“Let go of me,” I seethe at him. I haven’t had nearly enough time to process the information Erebus has shed light on. I need to breathe. I need to get away from him.

“Let me help you.” Lars tries to lift me into his arms, but I push him away with all my strength.

“I said, let go!” I tumble backward towards the guard’s feet as Lars recoils. When I meet his gaze, I see fresh tears gather in his eyes, and his pupils contract to the size of pinholes.

Erebus and Odious chuckle as they watch me push Lars away. This is all a game to them, but to what end?

The guards lift me by my arms and drag me past Lars, then toss me next to Rein. Our knees touch as we kneel next to each other in defeat.

I reach behind my back and take Rein’s hand in mine. My heart aches for Rein. He’s caught in the middle of all this, and he may pay for it with his life. The familiar feelings of guilt and shame waft off me, and I know Lars can feel it.

Erebus circles us once before making his way back to the dais. The tapping of his cane echoes through my ears and creates a somber, rhythmic beat. My head begins to pound as if my brain is growing too large for my skull, and it’s searching for a way out.

“Lars, won’t you join us?” Erebus waves his hand towards the throne, and a smaller but still extravagant throne appears directly next to the original.

“Burn in Hel,” Lars growls back from behind me.

Erebus gives an exaggerated sigh and looks over his shoulder. “In due time, boy, but that was not a request. Sit . Remember .”

“ I’m sorry, Silia .” Lars appears in my view once again as he follows after Erebus. With each step he takes towards the throne, my heart cracks further and further beyond repair.

“Move,” is all Erebus says as he waves his hand towards Diana, and she is lifted in the air by Odious and placed on her feet at his side.

Erebus and Lars ascend the steps, and both take their respective seats. My gaze burns through Lars as he avoids eye contact with me.

“What’s wrong, Lars? Can’t look your princess in the eye as you make her kneel before you?”

No response.

“You’re pathetic.”

Nothing.

“Your father would be ashamed of who you’ve become.”

At this, he flicks his eyes to me, and my anger only intensifies.

“Little Flame, he is toying with you. This is not who I am. You know me better than anyone in my life.” His voice becomes broken and breathless in my mind as his eyes soften.

“I cannot deny him.”

Lars sends images of us wrapped in blankets in my bed, memories of him tracing circles on my bare back, a vision of the way he’d carried me to his room after our night in the library.

I drag my claws through the memories, and they abruptly stop materializing as I hear Lars choke on his breath.

“Stand up, Silia. It is not becoming of a princess to splay herself on the floor,” Erebus commands from his throne, as if his guards weren’t the ones to throw me down in the first place.

I let go of Rein’s hand and rise to my feet, smearing the remaining blood on my face as I stand fully straight.

Before I lose my nerve, I ask him the one question that’s been swirling in my mind since the night she was taken. “What do you want with Diana? It’s clear Aunt Viktoria is not sick.”

Erebus taps his fingers on the arm of his throne, seemingly pondering my question. “Why spoil the fun? You will see soon enough.” He uses his cane to point to Rein as he gives the guards his next order. “Take him below.”

The guards seize Rein and begin to drag him out of the throne room, and I hear him shout, “Diana, I’m sorry!”

I turn to face Diana as Rein is lifted by the guards. She clutches her chest as her breathing becomes increasingly fast, and she lunges in our direction before Odious grabs her by the arm and pulls her back into his chest.

She’s going through the motions of a woman whose lover has been ripped away from her, but I notice no tears escape her eyes. They are just as dry as the eyes of the man holding her against his chest.

“You said you would let him go!” I spit at Erebus with what energy I have left.

His smile only widens at my obvious distress. “I said I had no further use for him, not that he is free to leave. I wanted to test my newest contraption, I’d say he performed very well.”

“Anyway,” Erebus waves his hand in the air, “as you know,” His voice drowns out the sound of Rein’s boots dragging against the floor as the door slams shut, “it’s your darling sister’s birthday in two days.”

He’s right. It’s the second week of fall. Diana will be turning twenty-four.

“I plan to throw her a spectacular party. All the kingdoms in the realm are invited, except your father, of course.” He picks at the nonexistent dirt under his nails as he turns his head to the side. “Aren’t you excited, Diana?”

Diana balls her fists and straightens her back, holding her head up high. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Lars stiffens in his throne, his gaze locked on something behind me. I feel nothing from him, no emotions. His face is the picture of indifference.

“Excellent. It will be a masquerade!” Erebus leans forward, elbows resting on his knees as his gaze locks with mine. “Those were your mother’s favorite, you know.”

Motion out of the corner of my eye catches my attention, and I spy Odious discreetly interlocking his pointer finger with Diana’s pinky as he pulls her tighter to his chest with his other hand. To my horror, she accepts it. They think no one is watching them, but I am taking in every detail of the interaction out of my peripheral.

Something is happening here, something she isn’t telling me. I feel as if I am the only person in this room who does not harbor a secret.

Erebus interrupts my thoughts as his raspy voice cuts through the air. “Tarron, show the princess to her room.”

A mid-sized goblin man walks out of the same door Diana entered. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Tarron shuffles to my side and gestures to the large double doors. “This way, Your Highness.”

Why the special treatment all of a sudden?

“Dinner is in two hours. Do not be late.” Erebus rises from his throne, and Tarron bows before he roughly grabs my arm and leads me out of the room.

“Keep your door unlocked,” is all I hear in my mind before I am escorted through the doors.

I most certainly will not.