Page 154 of An Empress of Fire & Steel

Her stomach flipped in trepidation.

“That is where you are lying to yourself.” Her cold eyes widened. “Your mother hid too many secrets, one of them being that she didn’t truly belong to the House of Air.” The Supreme looked over Emara, and she tensed. “But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

Emara clamped down on her lips even further, so much so that it became uncomfortable.

“You knew that you had fire in your veins like your mother, didn’t you?” The venom of threat darkened Deleine’s eyes until they were almost entirely black. “You lied in front of us all. I could see it on your face, especially when your hunter came to defend you.”

Tears stung in Emara’s eyes, but she choked them back. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing formed.

“I wonder what the Empress of Fire would have to say about that. Or the whole of House Air, if they knew that a dominant fire-bearer was an empress to their coven. Would Rya Otterburn let you live?”

“I am not dominant in fire,” Emara denied, her voice low. She hoped her lie sounded like truth on her lips. To be honest, she wasn’t sure if it was a lie; she wasn’t confident which one she was more dominant in.

Air or fire?

It seemed she was able to heal and connect with souls from the Otherside, too, but that didn’t mean she was dominant in earth or spirit magic.

“At least your mother had the decency to bow out and not ascend like an imposturous little bitch.” The Supreme’s true fury shone for a second before she collected herself. “I wonder what everyone would say if I informed them about you and your duplicitous mother. Would they still want you to wear their crown? Would they exile you? Would you be stoned to death for the treason you have committed against the witches?”

“Stop talking.” Emara’s nails dug into her palms, her head buzzing.

“Oh, certainly not; I am not done.” The Supreme’s hand flew out again, and it was like a punch to Emara’s abdomen. “I am just getting started.”

Winded by Deleine’s magic, Emara wrenched forward, clutching her belly. Just at that, the queen of the five covens turned her wrist, and Emara’s legs were swept out from under her. Her back and head hit the hard floor in one swift smack.

Sick crawled up her throat and dizziness almost stole her sight.

“I wonder what your little love match, your betrothed, would say if he found out who you really are. A lying fire witch who took any opportunity to get her claws into the social ladder of the covens.”

The words of the Supreme circled the room in one vicious swirl, reverberating off the walls.

Emara tried to roll onto her side again, but she was whipped back, her spine slamming into the marble by an unseen power. The air around the circle was beginning to build into something fierce and threatening, and Emara’s hands flew up unwillingly, taken by the power and pinned against the floor above her. A frustrated scream finally left her lips as she struggled against it. She tried to break her hands free, but the magic was too strong.

“When Torin finds you, he is going to kill you,” Emara said to the high ceiling, hoping that the words drifted from her mouth shaped like a sword and stabbed Deleine in the heart.

“Maybe he will be on my side when I tell him who your father is.” The Supreme’s words cut through Emara’s body like an arrow.

Her father.

“Maybe he will want to slit your throat himself when he finds out who, or should I say what, he has been lying in bed with.” Pleasure ran through her words, and it sickened Emara.

“Shut your mouth.” Emara grappled against the unseen power of the restraints. “My father was…my father was—”

“Your father is the reason you are still alive in all of this,” the Supreme admitted as the phantom wind pulled around them, swirling the black smoke into a beast of death. “If he hadn’t promised me my wishes, I would have snuffed you out at the Uplift.”

Emara stilled against the cold floor. A sudden flush of burning rage engulfed her body. “You,” she breathed. “It was you…”

The Supreme let out a snarling laugh that broke from the back of her throat. “It really is concerning how long it has taken you to work it out. Sometimes the answers are right in front of your face.”

It was her the entire time. She had been behind all the deaths.

“Why?” Emara screamed, unable to understand. Cally had been amongst the dead that night, and it was Deleine’s fault. “Why would you kill all of those other witches? You know what happens in the fate of the Supreme. Your crown and powers will eventually be passed to someone else. You are a fucking monster.”

Tears crawled into her eyes.

“I didn’t kill them with my own hands, dear; I just sent in my minions to do my dirty work. After all, you can never be too careful. I had to make sure I ended all the power that threatened to take mine. However, I do admit, it was my mistake to underestimate what you meant to the Blacksteels. It took me by surprise to learn that both of them had grown an attachment to you. Especially the second-in-command. But I won’t be making that mistake again.”

“Why?” Emara cried again, wishing she could break free from the invisible shackles and dive for her. She had been the one to order the deaths that night, order the killings.

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