Page 46 of My Princeling Brat (Tales from the Tarot #2)

Some portion of their ire was due, for as their sovereign, I had failed them, had allowed this malefactor to work in the shadows these past ten years.

No more of that. But did they truly believe their lives would be improved with Bethel Kane at the helm?

He couldn’t even properly care for the people in his cult.

Goddess forbid what atrocities he might inflict on an entire realm.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for many, many years,” Kane said. His voice echoed like a howling wind that sent a chill up my spine. Had he always sounded so sinister?

“I thought you were dead,” I responded, still in shock over the revelation that my former mentor was alive and plotting against me. Had he been trying to kill me since my youth? More importantly… “Are you the one who poisoned my parents?”

He smiled, but the expression didn’t touch his dull, deadened eyes. “Poisons were always a specialty of mine. The harder to trace, the better.”

Apothecary had been a passion of his. He’d told me he was making medicines and healing salves, but I was never allowed in his laboratory. I should have asked why he kept everything behind locked doors. I should have alerted my parents to his questionable behavior.

“Was it in their wine?” I asked, for the chemist's report had come back inconclusive.

“It was in the air they breathed. A powder I blew into their faces along with my parting words to them. Would you like to know what they were?”

I braced myself, knowing this was a losing game, but curiosity got the better of me and I nodded.

“I told them, ‘I promise to take care of your beloved son.’”

Kane smiled again, and it was as if a blade had carved his face with cruelty. Had he always been this way? Mocking, yes, condescending, always. But malicious? I was forced to recall every memory of him through this new lens, wondering if I’d been played for a fool all along.

“So, why didn’t you kill me at the ball?” I asked.

“I couldn’t find you. You were in the gardens showing off your sorcery to the fae prince, the other one,” he said snappishly.

“Paralysis was already overtaking your parents. They were on their last few breaths. I didn’t wish to face the inquisition that would follow, so I gave myself just enough poison to make it look as if I had died.

A day later, I awoke from my death-like slumber, retrieved a corpse to replace mine, and escaped to the mines. ”

“Why not come back and kill me then?” I asked.

“You were too protected. I thought the realm would fall into chaos, allowing the Keepers to take control. My grandfather was Master Keeper, then. His was a much smaller operation.” Kane said it with arrogance.

Clearly he was proud of what he’d accomplished here in the mines, the subjugation and control of so many people, their slow starvation, the kidnapping of fae children, and turning innocents like Galen into assassins. Despicable.

“Was that the plan when you became my mentor?” I asked. He’d sold us a lie, just as he was doing to these people, and with such nonchalance. No guilt or shame whatsoever.

“It was my father’s plan, but I agreed wholeheartedly.

For the elvish to be ruled by a half-vampyre is an abomination.

A stain on our legacy of excellence. I could have killed you alone, made it look like a tragic accident, but as long as your mother warmed the king’s bed, there would be more mixed breeds to contend with. ”

At the mention of my mother, my hands began to tingle with the need for retribution. For violence. And for justice. She was innocent, loving, and kind. She didn’t deserve to die so young, and at the hands of this fanatical bigot.

“And in the meantime, you decided to teach me some sorcery,” I said bitterly.

“I gave you impossible tasks, and while you were piddling, I was mixing poisons and gaining the trust of your servants.”

I glanced over at my beloved prince, gripping the bars of his cell and watching this exchange with a pained expression. I hated that my dark legacy had brought him to this place. I’d thought I was cursed. Now I knew, it was this man orchestrating my doom all along.

“Well, Kane, it seems there is only one thing left for us to do,” I said with resignation. I removed my cloak from my shoulders while gripping my vanadium rod tightly.

“And what’s that, apprentice?” he asked as if this hadn’t been his plan all along.

“The only way your reign will be legitimate is if you defeat me, in front of your followers and mine. To have my kingdom, you must prove you are the better sorcerer. That’s the prophecy after all, isn’t it?”

Was it madness in his eyes or just the anticipation of besting me at last? How many nights had he fantasized about this moment? Our final showdown. How many crimes had he committed in his attempts to achieve this goal?

“Vasil,” whispered the queen, still at my side. “Shouldn’t you stall him until your guards arrive?”

“I’ve been avoiding this confrontation for the past ten years, whether I knew it or not.” Directing my next words at Kane, I added, “I do have one condition.”

“I’m listening.”

“Whatever happens to me, you release the fae prince back into the custody of his mother.”

Kane’s shrewd gaze swept over my betrothed, perhaps calculating what it might cost in terms of his future relations with the fae realm if he decided to harm their cherished wayward prince.

“Fair enough,” Kane said. “The fae queen can have her brat, so long as you agree that the victor is the lawful ruler of the elvish realm and that your own guard will stand down.”

“I can’t predict what they’ll do when they arrive, but if you defeat me, I won’t order them to arrest you.”

“Then we have a problem, Mercier,” Kane said with another maniacal smile. “This is a duel to the death.”

“Vasil,” Cedrych shouted. “Don’t give him this. This is exactly what he wants, for you to legitimize him so he can steal your throne…”

I tuned out Cedrych’s words of caution, however valid.

There was only room for me to concentrate on the duel at hand.

My one regret was that I had not told my prince that I loved him.

I’d been holding back and for what? Pride?

Stubbornness? No, it had been fear. Fear that I’d love him and then lose him.

But I wouldn’t let fear rule me any longer.

Whether I confessed it aloud or not, my feelings were the same.

I only hoped Cedrych knew that he had well and truly captured my heart.

“As you wish,” I said to Kane.

The queen retreated to her company of attendants and guards, and the robed figures who’d gathered around us now moved to the edges of the cavern as Kane and I squared off.

Sparks danced from the tips of my fingers, energy amassing that was part adrenaline and part cold, calculated fury.

This battle had been a long time coming.

Kane raised one hand, his long, bony fingers snapping into a claw.

From the ground, bits of rusted metal sprang upward and hovered there in midair–spikes, bolts, and sharp metal plates used to secure the railway.

Kane grinned and with a twist of his wrist, the metal shards formed a swirling serpent.

It hissed, eyes glowing ember-red, and lunged at me.

I spread my arms wide to ward off the attack, sending the serpent careening to one side, but it quickly circled back around, gaining momentum.

From my vanadium rod, I conjured a thousand razor blades, spinning in a vortex.

I aimed the tornado at the serpent, clashing with the rusted bits of metal to render them ineffectual.

Sparks lit up the dark cavern like fireworks as the shrieks of metal echoed off the stone walls.

Kane stomped his foot and the steel rails erupted from the ground beneath me, an attempt to cage me in.

Too late to pivot, I moved my arms rapidly, threading my vanadium into a long metal whip.

With a sharp crack, I shattered one pillar of the cage, then another.

I slid between the gap, my whip curling like a comet, and struck at Kane.

The whip tore through his robe and coiled around one of his forearms.

“You’ve mastered vanadium,” Kane said begrudgingly. The rare metal had been just out of reach when he’d mentored me, but I’d stuck with it. At the time, it had been to honor his memory; now it was to spite him.

“I have,” I said simply. Considering the sloppy job he’d done on my bedchamber window, I concluded that he had not.

“Of course you would choose something so lavish,” he said snidely. “So rare.”

“Something befitting a young lord,” I said, to remind him of my station and my birthright.

Then I yanked on the whip, intending to drag him to the ground and incapacitate him.

Kane grunted, and with a guttural word in an ancient tongue, his cloak suddenly rippled into form-fitting metal armor with long spikes protruding from his back.

The metal scales had a reptilian look about them, a skill he must have mastered precisely for a battle such as this.

He tore the whip free from his arm and letting out a belligerent roar, lunged at me.

Dodging his attack, I transformed the whip into a spinning disc and let it loose, aiming for Kane’s armored body.

The disc struck his upper thigh, cutting through the metal armor and leaving a flesh wound.

I smelled his blood, freshly spilled, and my canines descended.

I wanted to best him with sorcery, but I would use whatever tool was at my disposal.

The ground beneath us trembled and groaned. The magnetic force of our battle attracted the discarded metal, bent nails and steel shavings, all of it rising into a growing storm, circling us both like a waterspout. But who could control it?

Kane snapped both arms forward and the thundercloud of debris obeyed, spiraling downward like a whirlpool of knives, headed straight for me.

But I’d anticipated this attack.