Page 148 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

Only now, the Savage Prince sat on the throne.

Expected to lay brutal andbloodyjudgment.

Silas’s neutral face burned into the female. It was only then that Garrik realized why. The reddened skin… The freshly created runes—like Silas’s. Not over her forehead and across her eyelids until they swirled down her neck and chest like the spymaster, but they were runes all the same.

And on her left upper arm—Garrik could have scoffed.

A symbol, much like his ruined death mark, was displayed.

His magic whispered inside him. Warning of treachery the court could not perceive. Normally, Mystics carried a haloaround them, a glowing marker like torches of a city igniting the night sky. This female was dull. Not a single trace of magic inside.

The fucking fools. They had conjured a ruse. He did not think Ladomyr was so stupid, but even so, he would allow them to play this out. The punishment would only be sweeter. The more lies they told, the more pain Garrik felt justified in delivering.

Abyss flickered to Silas. Though his eyes were expressionless, Garrik knew better than to underestimate the male. He had not earned his position at the king’s side for sharing simple secrets. Nothing escaped the male.Nothing.

It made him incredibly dangerous to those he calledenemy.

Garrik suppressed a smirk and willed every bit of malicious hunger to contort his face as they settled before the dais steps. “Silas,” he singsonged. “Did you bring me a gift?”

With his hands clasped behind his back, Silas stepped around the sobbing female as if she were filthy boots. His mouth never faltered from the thin unamused line as he hauntingly scanned up to Garrik’s throne and drawled through boredom, “It’s believed that this Marked One is who crossed our border.”

Garrik arched a brow and flashed an expression of disinterest, tapping one of his rings against the crystal glass that caused members of his court to flinch. “The measly effort hardly pleases me. We are searching for a male,” he stated dryly, but it was still every bit of a threat as the sword draped across his lap.

Silas did not so much as shift his feet, wholly unaffected, and slowly nodded as if time meant nothing. “The mistake shall be remedied.” And carelessly gestured with the sway of his hand to the female. “She’s yours for the pleasure.”

The pleasure of tearing her apart limb by limb until her blood soaked the rugs. A pleasure expected of the High King’s son.

“Is she now?” Though bile burned his throat, the illusion needed to remain. A cruel smile played on Garrik’s face. He slid his sword from his thighs and stood.

Every step, the sharpened tip clanged down the steps until he crossed the barrier of his Shadow Order and stood before the trembling female.

Silas merely side-stepped toward Alora and Aiden as Kyrell tugged the rope harder, forcing the female on her face.

Unimaginable rage surrounded Garrik. Only, it was not his own he felt. He did not need to look behind him to know sapphires pierced the general. And imagined green, golden, and shale ones too.

I do not think you need reminding to keep your emotions buried,he called to each of his Shadow Order. In the corners of his mind, they answered in their own way of recognition, but Alora’s simmering disdain remained. Speaking to her,Clever girl?—

I want to burn this entire kingdom to the ground,she snarled.

Seeing as it is an entire kingdom made from blackstone, I do not imagine that as possible.

She scoffed, and it settled his nerves as he deliberately circled the female on her knees.

Do I need to conjure a reason to excuse you?Not meant as a dismissal, knowing she could handle much more, but if she required a moment… If this revived torturous memories?—

No. Just … get her out of here.

That is the plan. Do you trust me?

There was no hesitation.Never.

He could have chuckled at the sly grin and wink she flashed in his mind. Garrik brushed a shadow along the curve of Alora’s lower back, disturbing the draped chains of diamonds there,feeling her shudder as his eyes stole hers from behind the female.

With a hand on the tattered rags of the female’s shoulder, Garrik finished circling and tilted her chin to glare into his eyes, and said, “Let’s see what you are hiding.”

Her eyes widened instantly as she strangled a breath.

Garrik did not require a display of darkness, though Smokeshadows begged to burst from every inch of him.No. The Savage Prince only searched into the soul of those eyes of fear and betrayal and hatred and spoke to her in one terrifying word.Scream.

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