Chapter Thirty-Nine

VICTOR

Every hair on my body stood up as though electrified. It was the only warning I received before the rumbling shockwave pulsed through the room. With every bit of speed I possessed, I flung my mate away from me, taking the full brunt of Idris’s attack square in the chest.

Pain exploded throughout my nerve endings, and I flew backward, spine bowed, arms and legs jutting out in front of me.

The room streaked by in blurry shades of gray and crimson.

Ozone’s bitter tang filled my senses. Stones exploded behind me as my frame punched the wall.

The strength of Idris’s blast pinned me there a moment before I plunged to the ground, bones colliding with the unforgiving tiles.

Every inch of me screaming, I blinked up at the domed ceiling, the sudden silence unnerving. Spots danced before my eyes, and a high-pitched, tinny noise filled my ears.

“Victor!” Runa’s scream pierced my ringing skull. Cries from the terrified White Bridge villagers accompanied her litany of curse words .

“Are you okay?” Her face swam in my vision.

“Ouch.” I exhaled the breath I held, puffing smoke from my parted lips.

“Behold your fabled savior, good people of White Bridge.” Idris’s laughter rang out. “Is this the sort of king you’d have on Carcerem’s throne? This impersonator before you couldn’t defend this kingdom from a herd of cottonpelts. It’s no wonder his mortal world didn’t want him.”

“Help me up?” I met Runa’s anxious gaze.

“Of course.” With trembling hands, she dusted bits of crushed stone from my legs, then slung my arm over her shoulder, lending me her strength as I shoved to my feet.

When last I was brought this low, I faced my adversary alone. This time would be different. I just had to hold out for a bit longer.

I turned my face to Runa’s ear. “Focus on getting your people to safety, as many as you can, while I distract him.”

“You sure?” She caressed my cheek, sweeping the dust from my skin.

“Go.”

Runa nodded, releasing me to slip into the crowd of those gathered while I strode down the aisle.

With a self-assured smirk twisting his mouth, Idris watched my unsteady approach, his eyes narrowed in amusement. Once I stood before him in the circle where he liked to incinerate those he believed to be law breakers, I braced my wobbling legs.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Thankfully, my voice was strong, failing to reveal the damage he’d done.

His cocky grin spread. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you, Custodis.”

“Then give me your best shot,” I said, holding out my arms.

Idris drew back his arm and let a glowing sphere fly. I ignited my own magic, coating my palms and knocking the speeding orb skyward, into the ceiling. Stones cracked. Dust rained down on the huddled villagers. Their cries of terror rang out.

Flark. To prevent striking them, I’d need to get closer to my target.

Before Idris could regroup, I rocketed up the steps to the dais and slammed my glowing fist into his unsuspecting jaw.

His head snapped back, and he crashed over the arm of his throne, tumbling over the sacred arbor’s blackened roots.

As Idris tumbled, his queen let out a squeal of distress, abandoning her mate to scurry around the side of the tree and scramble over roots.

The false king glared up at me from where he’d fallen. He swiped the streak of blood from his lip and spat on the ground. Without getting up, he snarled, “So we’re to behave as brutes, fighting with our fists? You really are a gutter rat.”

I smiled in return. “What’s the matter, Brother? Haven’t you ever been in a bar fight?”

Idris lurched to his feet and charged. Skin glowing with an eternal light, he leaped root to root. Body tensed, I summoned a wave of magic to shield my flesh and charged as well.

Crash!

Two mighty forces of nature slammed together. Planets on a collision course.

The impact sent a shockwave pulsing through the realm, rippling across the stones and up the limbs of the sacred tree.

The castle shuddered beneath us, walls groaning, lamps swinging wildly as dust rained from the ceiling.

Cries of the innocents echoed through the throne room.

Their fear was a sharp knife against my resolve.

Above us, the great tree trembled. Its glorious leaves ignited from the amount of raw power the king unleashed. They fell like dying stars, fireflies burning up the space between us.

I barely saw the punch before it landed. Idris’s fist slammed into my ribs. Cracking. Once. Twice. Bone snapped, fire igniting in my side. Pain shot through me, but I refused to fall.

I twisted into the grapple, using his momentum against him. With a sharp pivot, I flipped him over my shoulder, sending him crashing into the ropy foundation of the tree. The impact rattled the branches, sending another wave of leaves cascading down on us.

The pretender rose from the wreckage, his piercing eyes locking onto mine—not with hatred, but something more dangerous. Coercion.

He coughed a laugh. “You and I both know you cannot win this fight. I’ve wielded this power for eons while you’ve toyed with it for a handful of turns. The odds are against you, fallen one.”

From the corner of my eye, I spotted Runa. The hands of two children were in her grasp as she guided them to safety with the assistance of her illusions, urging them to slip out the door.

Good girl.

I picked a careful path over twisting roots, careful to keep Idris’s back turned to my mate.

“You forget. I am Victor Custodis, the lost king who, in his youth, was sent to an unforgiving world filled with mortals. Abandoned by my mother and the land of my birth, I arrived in that place with nothing but the shirt on my back. The odds have always been against me. Yet, I fought. I learned. I plotted and flourished. I will do the same here. On my throne.”

Idris bared his teeth. His eyes burned. Twin pools of magma as magic swelled his palms. “Foolish, leech,” he spat. “Carcerem will never be yours.”

Too late, I realized my error.

I’d let too much space form between us—enough for him to wield his full power. I braced my weakened frame, throwing up a shield as he unleashed a storm of raw energy.

Light exploded .

Searing agony tore through my skull as his magic struck like a divine hammer. The world tilted as I hurtled backward. My spine exploded against the trunk of the sacred arbor, splinters of divine bark slicing into my flesh. Pain flared hot and deep, and the taste of blood filled my mouth.

Fates no. The tree! Thank Hathor, the trunk held firm.

That Idris would be so careless was proof of his unworthiness. Unlike the reckless king, the welfare of every living thing in this room remained at the forefront of my mind. I couldn’t afford to unleash my volatile power so close to them.

“Who are you fighting for anyway?” Idris asked, voice like rolling thunder. “For them?” He gestured toward the gathered innocents, their terrified faces pale. “Or yourself?”

Another blast slammed into me before I could answer. Magic raked over my already battered body, ripping me away from the trunk and hurling me across the chamber. Gnarled roots scraped my limbs, jagged edges shredding my skin.

“Know that if it’s for them, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”

The next strike crashed into me. My ribs caved under the force. I hit the dais steps hard, bones snapping, flesh splitting. My body crumpled onto the shattered tiles, pain roaring through me like wildfire.

“Victor!” Runa’s cry pierced the haze of pain.

Gentle hands caressed my cheeks.

I forced my eyes open, blinking against the blood dripping down my face. “Runa, no. Leave me.”

“Ah, isn’t that sweet,” a higher, venom-laced voice purred. “He fears for his whore’s safety.”

I blinked, dragging into focus the image of Runa’s sister where she once again stood beside the throne, having crawled back out of whatever hole she’d hidden in. Idris limped up the steps to stand before her.

“He should since I’ve been holding back,” he spat.

“I dared to hope you would come to your senses and reconsider my offer. I see now it was a foolish dream.” His eyes glinted with something colder than malice.

“Now you will witness the true strength of this great kingdom—see for yourself exactly why they fear me.”

He turned slightly, peering over his shoulder. “Now, my love.”

“Raelynn, don’t!” Runa’s voice was raw with desperation. “He’ll kill all of them.”

A ripple of terrified voices surged behind us. The people of White Bridge were still trapped within these walls, and their fate now teetered on the whim of a queen who had sold her soul.

Runa’s sister raised her trembling hand. Her coal-black fingertips shook, damaged by the level of obsidian Idris insisted she wield.

“Is this why you dreamed of being royalty? To slaughter innocents?” Runa’s voice cracked.

The queen’s breath hitched. Her milky-violet eyes flickered as if something deep inside her made her hesitate.

“I thought by now you would understand,” Realynn snarled. “It doesn’t matter what I want. It never has.”

Magic coiled around her fingers like a noose tightening.

Runa moved before I could stop her, her arms curling around my shoulders, her body pressing against mine in a desperate, protective embrace.

The air thickened. The magic swelled.