Page 21 of The Chains You Defy

Narrowing my eyes, I zeroed in on my uncle and glared at him. Lately, he was treating me like a faelingin need of education much too often, and my breaking point was approaching fast.

In search of a distraction, I turned away from Antas and observed Fig instead. My general paced back and forth across the room, irritating me to no end. Antas’ grip on my shoulder tightened, and he pushed me into a chair. Before I could snap at him, movement to my left alerted me to a door being opened.

“Mr. Bryon Saestila?” A man in livery sauntered into our waiting room. “If you and your men would follow me? His Royal Majesty King Pritatus and Her Royal Majesty Queen Anneria are ready to receive you.”

The boy appeared as if he was going to throw up his breakfast, and he was wringing his hands, but he rose to his feet and nodded. Good for him to get a grip in time, else I would have pulled him up and hauled him with me. Every second of delay was one too much, and despite my magic being basically non-existent, the remnants were agitated, pressing to the surface. If I weren’t pushing my powers down, they’d emerge, and I would be in danger of spending all my energy without giving my darkness permission to act.

Because wrestling with my unruly powers took me some moments, the others were already following the boy. I hurried up, pushed past my comrades until I reached his side, leaned in, and whispered against the shell of his ear while avoiding breathing in the smell of mediocrity clinging to him. “You’ll state your request first, and only after you get the confirmation that your boon will be granted, I’ll take over. If your king asks for an explanation of who I and my company are and why we’re accompanying you, simply tell him you have torepay a debt. Best to keep his attention away from us as long as possible.”

“You demand that I lie to my king without even explaining your motives.”

“Yes. Don’t act as if I have unreasonable expectations.” I gritted my teeth, and as the boy didn’t stop glaring at me as if I were his nemesis, I growled low under my breath before remembering why I tolerated him in the first place—for Nayana. So I felt compelled to add, “For that,Iwill grant you a boon.”

“Great. Swapping a major favor of my king against one of an arrogant nobody who wants nothing more than to steal my girl. So much better.”

My head snapped around, and my body was tense like a coil as the sudden impulse to tear his head off his shoulders shot through me. Lucky for him, another dizzy spell shook me this very moment, and so as to mask my condition, I only narrowed my eyes at him, my chest vibrating with anger.

Again, it was Antas—suspiciously, he walked directly behind me—who grabbed my wrist to keep me from strangling the boy, which I would have done after my world had stopped spinning.

But what was the pathetic human thinking?

As if I’d stolen Nayana from him—that claiming her as mine could be classified as thievery would mean she’d been his in the first place. And if he believed that, he was even more delusional than I’d presumed.

Still, I dragged up my upper lip and bared my teeth at him, bristling at the mere thought of such audacity, and I noticed with satisfaction how the boy flinched.

He averted his gaze, muttering something inaudible under his breath, and the friend of Nayana fell into stepnext to him. She patted his back reassuringly, most likely consoling him about what a miserable human being he was.

However, I couldn’t stop scowling as we followed our guide, especially because the waste of space called Bryon had outright dismissed the worth of my favor. But should I be surprised that he wasn’t able to detect greatness even when splendor was standing right in front of him? After all, he wasn’t able to notice his own inferiority, although his flaws were obvious for the entire world to see.

My musings were interrupted when our guide stopped in front of the doors leading to the throne room.

Nothing had changed since my first stay at Ivreiana Castle. Back then, I’d been a cocky young faeling, far from adulthood, visiting the human royals with my mother and father. The opulence of the hall became visible as the doors finally opened, and the herald announced Bryon. I stalked directly behind him into the grand room, examining the ornamental decorations and furniture in royal gold and red. A satisfied feeling spread in my chest, as my plan had worked perfectly so far.

Although…I’d rather storm the merchant’s base and rip apart everyone who dared to stand in my way—and even those who didn’t—until Nayana was safely back in my arms. Feroy himself, I wouldn’t instantly kill. No, I would keep him alive long enough to torture him endlessly. I’d ask my tiny woman what he’d done to her and then pay back everything a thousandfold.

“Dion.” Antas’ voice dragged me out of my revenge fantasies, and with widening eyes, I yanked back the clouds of darkness leaking from me. My next stepfaltered as the world spun, and if there hadn’t been hands at both my elbows, I would have kissed the floor.

How embarrassing.

Nodding to Antas first, I swung my head around only to realize that Thain had stabilized my other side, and all reason left my brain once more. A vicious growl escaping through bared teeth had him instantly drop his dirty paws, and he was shrugging in a very unapologetic way. And if he thought his touch had been justified, he was wrong.

Apart from being a giant pain in the ass, there was still the fact that he’d tried to steal Nayana from me before we’d shadowwalked to Amalach, and—even if nothing else would have been off between us—this crime was already enough reason to get rid of him permanently.

Dealing with Thain was another topic on my to-do list once I’d rescued Nayana.

I clamped down harder on my power. The longer finding my woman took, the more agitated my magic reacted, to a degree that confused me. I’d never heard of powers developing some kind of sentience, but here we were—mine tried, and I couldn’t deny this minor inconvenience any longer. Even now, depleted down to a mere drop, I could sense how the darkness within me was bidding its time, waiting to erupt.

But this wasn’t the time nor the place to dwell on my wayward shadows or the fact they sometimes felt like another entity entirely. Forcing my thoughts to return to the here and now, I allowed my gaze to roam.

The throne room was grand and surrounded by balconies that were mostly empty, except for a handful of guards standing watch with rather bored expressions. Not a single sign of alarm or concern was written on themen’s faces, so it was safe to assume that my little slip-up had gone by unnoticed.

Fucking fools.

If I wanted to harm their king and weren’t as weak as a kitten, I would be able to kill Pritatus faster than anyone could scream.

Down in the throne room, more wardens puffed out their chests, pretending to be vigilant and crucial, but not one of them glanced my way. They were letting their guard down, pun intended.

The herald stayed close to the entrance doors, and I spotted a couple of courtiers playing some card game—ah, Gods and Godlings, of course—in a far corner. If they’d paid attention to us when we’d first entered, I couldn’t discern, only that none of them was deeming us important enough to monitor our upcoming interaction with their king.