Page 119 of Of Sword & Silver

The guard shakes as I set him back on his feet.

I step towards him, holding his gaze.

“Th-th-thank you,” he stammers in Lara’s direction.

I run him through.

Blood spills on the fine rugs of the King of Diamonds’ treasury.

“There’s no need for murder,” Alaric says as I turn to him. “I wasn’t going to kill Kyrie. Even if she did try to slit my throat and steal from me.” It’s a feral snarl, and I hear what he really means in it.

He would rather torture her, slowly, casually than end her so cleanly.

I tilt my head, knowing my power is shining through me, forbidden and dark.

Alaric swallows, but he doesn’t back down. “Kyrie was my whole world. Then she took everything from me.”

Caedia sniffs. “I think we should keep him here a little longer.” The vines wrap around the King of Diamonds’ waist.

Morrow, glowing red, steps between all of us. “This doesn’t have to end in more bloodshed and death.” He gives me a meaningful look.

He’s seen my truth.

I stopped hiding it the minute I heard Kyrie scream.

“What is it you offer, King of Diamonds?” I ask him, stepping closer. My necromantic magic swirls and eddies around our ankles, turning the floor black as night. “What is it you offer for safe passage from your crime against Kyrie?”

“You could have bartered with me for the crown,” Alaric says, opening his hands wide. “I am not an unreasonable man.”

“This is the way things had to be done,” Lara intones.

Alaric glances at her, uneasy. “Nakush?”

She nods.

I am barely keeping my rage in check, my need to hurt him for what happened to the woman lying on the ground. My woman.

He clears his throat, running his fingers around his collar, a lock of his gold-blond hair falling over one eye. “I don’t have much to offer. Keep what she’s taken. Or whatever else you want.”

The magic of those words rings through me, and I hold back a sigh of relief.

“A new god will rise,” Lara continues, stepping forward. “You will swear your allegiance.”

Alaric blinks.

The reanimated corpses step closer to him, brandishing their bones.

He laughs nervously, holding up his hands. “Right. I will swear my allegiance to a new god. Apologies to my current master.”

“She would cut off your tongue for sport,” I tell him.

He raises his eyebrows, tilting his head. “That I believe. Tell Kyrie…”

I step closer. “I do not like her name in your mouth.”

Alaric, King of Diamonds, raises his chin, defiant in the face of Death.

“Tell her I am sorry.”

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