Page 6 of The Rivaled Crown (The Veiled Kingdom #3)

CHAPTER 6

DACRE

T he rebellion was a curse, one I’d been shackled to since birth. Every breath I’d taken had been in service to a cause that felt more like a cage with each passing day.

The realization hit me hard, winding through my chest until it made it difficult to breathe.

How had I never seen it before?

I had spent my life fighting for this rebellion, for my father’s war, and suddenly, it was hard to remember what we had been battling for at all.

I shifted slightly, and the walls of my cell pressed in on me. Despite the chill seeping into my bones, I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of familiarity.

My fingers traced over the rough stone, over the walls that had surrounded me since I was a child. These caves had always been my home, the only constant in my life, and yet, I wasn’t safe here anymore.

I tilted my head back, gazing toward the faint glow of lanterns reflected on the cave walls, casting an orange and yellow hue. If I concentrated hard enough, I could almost conjure the sensation of the sun’s warmth on my skin, reminiscent of my childhood days when I roamed these caves, enveloped in darkness with not a single ray of light penetrating through.

I allowed that imaginary sun to envelop me in its gentle embrace, and I could see Verena, her skin kissed by the same sun, her eyes sparkling with the same warmth.

My chest ached painfully at the thought of her, at the uncertainty of where she was. I told myself she was safe, tucked away in the comforts of her gilded prison, but that was a lie.

She was his captive, and yet, I clung to the hope that she had found some sliver of comfort in her imprisonment.

But hope was a dangerous thing, a double-edged sword, the only weapon I had left, and I wouldn’t let it slip through my fingers. Without it, I had nothing left, and I refused to stop fighting.

I had been too late to protect her from all the harm that she had already endured, but I would fight, knuckles bloody and the word traitor branded into my skin, to make sure that she never suffered again.

Footsteps echoed in the hall, heavy enough to pull me from my thoughts.

I didn’t move. I kept my head tilted back, eyes closed, waiting for whoever was coming. I prayed for Kai or Wren, but I knew better. It would be foolish to let either of them near me, and my father wasn’t a fool.

The cell door groaned open, and I didn’t allow my eyes to blink open until the sound of his familiar, measured voice reached me.

“You’re making a mistake.”

Eiran.

He stood just inside the cell door, arms rigidly crossed, his piercing gaze locked on me. I didn’t meet it. Instead, I focused on the cracks in the ceiling above, anything to avoid looking at him.

“I feel like I’ve heard this from you before,” I muttered, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Perhaps it’s time to try something new.”

“You’re choosing her over us,” he accused, stepping farther inside. His words should have struck deep, just as he intended them to, and there was a time when they would have.

But now, it was just another reminder of how much we had changed.

“Over the rebellion,” he continued. “Over the people we both swore to protect.”

I finally met his gaze. Unflinching. Unapologetic.

“And who exactly have you protected, Eiran?” I asked, my tone sharp. “Being my father’s mouthpiece doesn’t make you a warrior. It makes you a puppet.”

His jaw clenched, his composure faltering before his mask snapped back into place.

“This isn’t a joke,” he spat. “The council is done indulging your recklessness. You’ve endangered all of us, and you know it.”

The mere mention of the council sent a wave of fury through me. My hands tightened into fists at the thought of those self-righteous cowards. They claimed to speak for the rebellion, but they were no better than my father.

I had once trusted them, but I didn’t anymore. It didn’t matter that our people had come together and voted for them as our head, that we had chosen to give them the power they now held.

This world had been cruel, this rebellion isolating, and the people I fought beside had long since forgotten what they were fighting for. The council had forgotten. They claimed to hate the king, the man who had stolen power from the masses, draining them dry with his tithe.

Yet, they were willing to let his daughter suffer under his cruelty.

I cracked my neck, trying to rein in my rage.

“What I know,” I said finally, my voice low, “is that you’d sell your own father for a seat at the council’s table.”

“You mean my father that you attacked?” he sneered. “The man can’t even walk without a cane now because of you.”

A slow smirk curled on my lips. “I did you a favor then. One step closer.”

Eiran’s nostrils flared. “You fucking…”

“Let me be clear,” I said, my voice like a whip. “I will choose her over every one of you.”

Eiran’s eyes darkened, his stance shifting slightly.

“Verena, Wren, and Kai are the only ones who have my loyalty.” I took a slow step forward, the weight of my chains dragging across the stone floor. “I have spent my life fighting for this rebellion, but it’s a rebellion that has forgotten what it’s fighting for.”

His jaw tightened until I feared it would snap, but I didn’t stop.

“It’s full of people like you who would rather watch the world burn than stop for a second to think…” I narrowed my eyes, letting the next words strike deep. “That Verena may be the very person who saves us all.”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “You think she’s our savior?” His voice was laced with mockery. “She’s born of Marmoris, born of the king.”

His lips curled in disgust. “Her blood is poison, just like her father’s.”

I cocked my head, studying him, and I wished like hell that my hands weren’t bound. “And in the forest?” I asked, my voice deceptively calm. “When you were helping her?

Eiran stilled, but I saw it, the flicker of uncertainty.

“Was she poison then, too?”

“I know my place, Dacre.”His voice wastight, his knuckles white where they curled into fists.”It’s you and the heir who need to learn yours.”

He took another step forward, chest heaving.”You were born to fight for your people, and she was born to die for that same cause.”

His wordstore through me, and before I knew what I was doing, Ilunged. Thechains snapped taut, yanking me back just before I could wrap my hands around his throat.

Eiran stumbled back, his face paling, and for the first time since he entered my cell,he looked truly afraid of me.

Good.

“Don’t ever speak of her again.” I growled out the words. “You do not decide her fate.”

Eiran’s eyesnarrowed, but I could still see the fear in them as they flicked from my face back to my fists. “You may have forgotten your duty, Dacre, but I have not.”

“You can cling to your delusions all you want,”he continued, his tone turning to ice.”But the reality is that in choosing her, you have become our enemy.”

I let out a low,humorless laugh.

“And you will regret it.” I looked him over, and I smiled when I noted the slight tremble in his hands. “I am not an enemy you want, Eiran, but for her, I will become whatever I have to.”

His eyes narrowed, a glint of his hate for me cutting through the bitterness that clouded his expression. He took a step back, his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his sword. “You think you’re invincible, Dacre.” His voice was quieter now, but no less venomous.”But you underestimate the lengths your father will go to in order to ensure the rebellion’s success.”

Itilted my head, voice cold. “No.” I let the word linger. “I know exactly the lengths he will go to, and I refuse to allow Verena to be another casualty in his war.”

“Her blood in our soil will do nothing but strengthen our people,” he spat out, and it was almost like looking at my father.

“Get out of my cell,” I growled, and I could feel my power swirling in my veins begging for me to spill Eiran’s blood across the very soil he spoke of. But I had no control here, not with these shackles wrapped around my wrists.

Eiran didn’t budge. “You’re not in a position to give orders, Dacre. You’ve thrown away every bit of power you once had here.”

Slowly, he motioned toward someone outside, and I braced myself as two others entered my cell. Both of them were men I had helped train for the sake of this rebellion.

“Good afternoon, boys.” I nodded toward them as I watched them with wary eyes, taking in their hardened expressions and tense postures. One had a scar running down the length of his cheek, and I had been the one who tore off a strip of my shirt to stop the bleeding when one of the King’s Guard had given it to him. Grady. “Are you coming to visit?”

Grady had enough decency to keep his eyes downcast, his brow furrowed and a slight frown on his lips. Neither of them answered me, instead moving closer with a sense of purpose that I recognized.

“No?” I looked back and forth between the two of them. “Neither of you missed me?”

Each of them took one of my arms and pulled me forward as I heard the jingle of keys behind me. I tried to remind myself that they were here on orders, not by choice. I had been in their exact positions so many times over.

They were rebellion soldiers just as I had been.

They unlocked my wrists from the chain that was bolted into the stone, but they left the shackles around them.

“Take him to the council,” Eiran commanded abruptly.

I didn’t fight them as theydragged me forward. Whatever the council had planned,it didn’t matter.

BecauseI knew what I had to do.

The hidden city sprawled out before us, itsstone-carved pathwaystwisting through the underground cavern like veins through flesh.Homes carved into rock, the low hum of lanterns floating above them, casting golden light acrossa city built in secrecy, in survival.

I hadlived and bled for this place, and nowI walked through it in chains.

The river thatcut through the citywas calm, too calm. I had never seen it so low, so dormant. People lined the streets, theirvoices hushed, their gazes darting toward me as I passed. Somewore pityin their eyes. Others, something colder.

Butnone of them looked surprisedto see mebound and being led like a traitor.

A sour taste crept into my mouth. They had expected this.

The weight of theirsilent judgmentpressed on melike a hand around my throat, but I refused to bow beneath it. They didn’t know the truth. They didn’t knowVerena.

Our footstepsechoeddown the corridors, growinglouder, heavier until the council chamber loomed ahead. Its towering doors were etched with the rebellion’s sigil, the symbol of a cause I had once believed in, a symbol that was branded on my skin.

The guardshalted, forcing me to a stop. One of them reached for theiron ring of keyson his belt, his fingers fumbling slightly as he worked the heavy lock.

I exhaled slowly,forcing myself to stay calm. Because once I stepped through those doors,everything would change, and I would do everything within my power to make it change in my favor.

Thecouncil chamberwas carved deep into the stone, its wallslined with torches, flickering flames that brought it no warmth. At the center of the room, along, curved tableloomed, surrounded byfigures that I knew too well.

The council. The leaders of this rebellion.

The same people who hadonce trusted me, who hadtrained me, raised me, now sat in judgment, theirexpressions unreadableas I wasdragged before them.

My father sat at the head of the table, hisbroad shoulders rigid, hisweathered face unreadable. Hisgaze followed me, and I could feel his anger simmering beneath his skin.

Waiting.

One of the council members,Aelira, was the first to speak.

“Dacre.” Her voice wascalm, almost gentle, but there wasno kindness behind it. “You stand before us today accused oftreason.”

Treason. The word should haveshaken me, but I feltnothing.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” she asked.

I lifted my chin,meeting her gaze head-on. “Where is my sister?” I asked simply, ignoring her question.

“Wren is not your concern,” my father answered, and I let my gaze slam back into his.

“We all see how you are willing to treat your son.” I lifted my hands slightly, letting the rattle of chains ring out around us all. “I need to see with my own eyes that she’s okay, that you haven’t harmed her.”

His jaw ticked. “My daughter did not betray her people. She simply made a poor decision to try to save her brother.”

“And all I’m doing is trying to save my mate.” I met him head-on even as murmurs rippled through the council.

The word settled hard into the room, and it seemed to draw the very breath from each of their lungs as they stared at me in disbelief.

“Mates are from storybooks.” My father cocked his head slightly as if he could see through me, see the lies he believed I told. “And we have grown tired of your lies.”

“She is my mate.” I said each word slowly, letting them land as hard as I intended. “She is bound to me as I am bound to her.”

“She is a witch.” My father’s voice rose. “Look how she has tricked your mind.”

He motioned to me, and I felt the weight of all of their stares.

“You think she is your mate?” He laughed bitterly. “She is a weapon just like her father. She was created to destroy us all.”

“I am bound to her,” I said the words again, and the truth of them hummed within every inch of me as I raised my wrists. “I am tethered to her in a way that even these chains cannot stop.”

My father ground his teeth together, his dark gaze tearing into mine. “The heir is a liability. She is not your mate.”

Despite his words, you could hear the doubt crawling through the chamber. And doubt was a weapon that I could wield.

My father raised a hand, silencing them.

“You are here because you’ve betrayed us all. You’ve put us all at risk by allowing this foolish obsession with our enemy’s daughter to cloud your judgment. You thought with your cock instead of your head, and you not only helped her get away, you attacked one of our council members to do so.”

I saw Eiran nodding his head out of the corner of my eye, and for the first time since we walked in, I noticed that he had slid into one of the seats at the table. A seat that had been reserved for his father.

“And what of your obsession, Father?” I looked back at him. “You put us at far more risk than I ever could. This rebellion has lost what it used to stand for. You claim to hate the king, but I fear that you envy him.”

My father stood suddenly, his chair scraping loudly against the ground as he slammed his hand against the table.

“That man ,” he spat the words, “killed my wife.”

“And my mother,” I reminded him.”And now, he’s going to hurt my mate. He’s going to torture her until he can make her into a weapon.”

The silence that followed was deafening. My father’s expression didn’t falter, but his chest visibly rose and fell with each harsh breath.

“You’ve been blinded by a girl who will destroy everything we’ve built,” my father growled, his voice thick with anger. “She turned you against your own blood.”

I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my composure as the murmurs of disapproval rose from the council members around us.

“She didn’t turn me against anyone,” I said firmly, and looked away from my father to meet the gazes of the council members I had known my entire life. “She showed me the reality of our actions. All she wanted was freedom, yet we couldn’t allow her to have that. Instead, you hunted her like she was a fucking beast to bring her back for the highest bidder. You are no better than the tyrant that we’re fighting against.”

The murmurs rose again, and my father slammed his fist down on the table once more, but it didn’t silence them this time.

“You’ve made your choice, Dacre,” he said through clenched teeth. “And now, you’ll live with the consequences.”

One of the guards pulled at my chains, as if he was readying to throw me back in my cell.

“You need me.” The words shot from my lips.

“And what is it,” Aelira asked, her voice drawing my attention back to her, “that makes you so sure of that?”

I didn’t hesitate, didn’t falter. “Because I know how to get into the palace.” The silence stretched long and taut, a thread pulled too tight. This was the weapon they needed. “I know the location of the tunnels we’ve spent years searching for.”

I could feel every gaze in the room land on me, some of them turning to look at each other in disbelief before they erupted. Murmurs turned tosharp whispers, voices clashing as theydebated my claim, as if I weren’t standing right in front of them.

My fathersaid nothing. He simply watched me, and despite having to endure that look all of my life, it still unnerved me.

Eiran’s voice cut through the noise. “And why,” he asked,leaning forward, “should we believe you?”

I looked over at the fucking coward. “I have no reason to lie. You have me in chains, and I need to get into that palace.”

Aeliraexchanged a glancewith my father, somethingunspokenpassing between them before my father spoke. “Enough.”

The roomfell silent once again. He stood,slow and deliberate, his hands pressed flat against the table.

“You claim to know the way in,” he said.“Prove it.”

I held my ground, refusing to let himsee even a flicker of my unease. “I will,” I said. “But not before I get something in return.”

My father’s jaw tightened.“This isn’t a negotiation.”

I tilted my head, meeting his cold gaze with unwavering defiance.“Then kill me. Because without her, I am no use to you, no use to this rebellion.”

My father’s expressiondidn’t change, but the flicker of doubt in the council members’ faces told me I had struck where I needed to.

Aelira’s eyesnarrowed.“And what, exactly, is it you want?”

Ilet the moment stretch, ensuring they were listening, then, I spoke the only demand that mattered. “I will show you the location only when these chains come off my arms.” I looked around to each of them. “I will get Verena back, and you must promise that she is not to be harmed.”

The tension in the chambershifted.

Eiran scoffed.“You expect us to agree to that?”

I turned my head toward him, my voicesteady as steel.“You don’t have to agree to anything.”

I looked back at my father.“I’ve spent my life bowing to the whims of this rebellion, and I finally have the intel you need to get to the king, to get what you’ve always wanted. Are you so willing to sacrifice Verena for this cause that you are unwilling to save her for it?”

My father’s eyes darkened, the room seeming to constrict around us as his rage simmered. “Sacrifice is the foundation of the rebellion,” he growled, his fists clenched at his sides. “Your mother, my wife, died for it.”

He opened his mouth to finish, but I spoke before he could. “And if Verena dies for it, the way into the palace dies with her.”

Aelira folded her hands on the table.“And if we spare her?”

I considered my words carefully before I said them. “If you let me save her, if you help me, then I’ll take you inside. I will help you defeat the king.”

My father watched me, and for the first time, he hesitated. It wasn’t hesitation born of weakness. It wascalculation. We both knew what I was worth, and we both knew whatshewas worth.

Even if he couldn’t see Verena as I saw her, he knew the truth. She was the king’s heir.

Eiran scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.”You expect us to believe you’ll just hand over the tunnels once she’s here?”

I looked at them all, slow and deliberate. “Kai, Wren, and I will use the tunnel to get Verena back. I will show you the tunnel before we go in. I will trust your word on what will await us when we return.”

Torrin finally spoke, studying me carefully from where he sat at my father’s side, a place he had been most of my father’s life.”And if you betray us?”

I didn’t blink.”Then you’ll have every opportunity to kill me. Send as many warriors with us as you like until you get the information you want.” I let my gaze slide back to my father. “But not him.”

The roomseemed to shudder at my demand.

Aelira exhaled, her gaze flickering between my father and me. “Your father…”

“I can’t trust him,” I answered honestly. “He would rather see Verena dead than at my side. He will betray me to get what he wants.”

The smallest smile slipped over my father’s lips, and I could practically see him calculating his next move.

“The council is meant to make decisions for this rebellion. Not him alone.” I looked over each of them. There were only two left who hadn’t spoken, and one of them had been one of Mother’s closest friends. The only one who didn’t bow to my father.

Liya.

I let my gaze settle on her as I spoke. “My mother would be ashamed of what we’ve become. She would be outraged that her death had meant nothing.” I let my words sink in hard as her gaze shuddered, but I didn’t look away. “Help me save my mate, and it will not be for nothing. Help me save my mate, and I will help us win this war.”

She looked at me, truly looked at me, and there was such sadness reflected in her eyes. Liya had loved my mother, and in turn, I knew that she loved both Wren and me. And I was counting on that connection, on her loyalty to her friend. I was betting everything on it.

The whole room seemed to hold their breath with her before she finally looked away from me and stared at my father. “This council would never make any decision that wasn’t in the best interest of our people, and if he truly knows the location of the tunnels as he says he does, it would be detrimental to us to ignore that.”

“But…” Eiran started but clamped his mouth shut as she shot him a look.

“This is a risk, but it is one we have to take,” Liya finished.

Eiran let out a low curse, shoving away from the table.“This is a mistake.”

“And you are not on the council,” she corrected him. “If your father is unable to vote then we will do so without him.”

My father remained motionless, his face unreadable, but I could see the way his fingers still curled around the edge of the table. The tension in his jaw.He hated this.

“There isn’t a single member of this council who would vote against the possibility of saving our people in a way we have fought for, for years.” She turned back to my father, and she didn’t look away from him as she said the next words. “And if Camellia were here, she would remind you that our children are why we fight. Her children are why she was willing to sacrifice everything.”

My father stiffened, but his chest heaved.

Liya looked at me carefully. “You think Elis, your grandmother, followed your mother into this rebellion blindly? Why do you think she stays in that damned city.” She pointed up toward the ceiling, and I knew what she meant.

After all this time, my grandmother had never moved to the hidden city, she had been unwilling to leave the capital.

“Your grandmother was not from Marmoris, Dacre. She came here as a young woman, a handmaiden to the princess of Veyrith. The princess to the last kingdom that stood against Verena’s father.”

The air seemed to thicken, pressing against my lungs. I had never heard this, never been told.

“She served Verena’s mother,” Liya continued, her voice steady. “And she watched firsthand as the King of Marmoris burned her kingdom to the ground.”

My stomach twisted.

“This was never just our war, your mother’s war,” Liya whispered. “It was your grandmother’s too.” She paused, and nobody said a word. “And it is Verena’s.”

Her eyes searched mine, and I hoped she found what she was looking for because I would have given anything for them to give me what I was asking, for them to help me save her.

“All those in favor?” Her voice rang out, and I watched as four hands raised in the air, all except for Eiran and my father. But I didn’t need either of their votes.

“We will move before the next moon.” Liya looked away from my father, shaking her head. “You will take us to the tunnels, then the real war begins.”