Page 176 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

He touched you.Tears welled in her eyes. Not of sadness, but something much deeper.He touched you,she repeated, barely hearing her thoughts as she stared into those vile eyes, which were becoming more and more lifeless.

Ladomyr belongs to Magnelis. We cannot kill him today. His time will come.

Ladomyr dropped to his knees, face growing a pleasing shade of crimson, matching his tallest wife’s shimmering gown.

Alora followed him there. The knife still embedded in the outer layer of his jacket as Jade circled behind, gripped her nails into his bald scalp, and wrenched his head backward.

Smokeshadows danced around Alora’s hand. Their velvety kiss was enough to draw her back from staring at one of those responsible for Garrik’s suffering.

Fear locked the court in a chokehold. Those gathered didn’t mutter a single word. Ladomyr’s wives stood with unreadable faces, as if seeing the male who warmed their beds dying didn’t affect them.

But … one in particular. Her skin a glimmering shade of burned gold with a gown made entirely of rubies and silk… Her face flickered with pleasure for only a moment, exchanging a glance with a High Guardsman in the corner.

Alora. Garrik’s stern warning drew her attention to the sagging king calling upon Death.

I … can’t.The king deserved to die.

In her mind, Garrik wrapped her in his arms. He released a healing breath and whispered,Thank you, my… darling. But you need to release him now.

It felt impossible …impossible, but somehow, she loosened her power against her soul’s every protest. With a forceful jerk, Alora’s dagger found its home in her hair.

Then curling her lip in a snarl, she shoved her pointed heel into Ladomyr’s chest, pushing him on his back to the floor while Jade released him. Her veins smoldered as she relinquished the choking hold from the king’s lungs and allowed her fire to return the air.

Garrik contained his shadows simultaneously, like the two were of one body, a bond that nothing could break, and dropped his fist. He didn’t need to utter a single threat. It lingered in the air as Ladomyr choked on the marble stone.

Garrik’s maskof cruel indifference hadn’t wavered. Seated on his dragon throne, scanning the roaring lull of the court, he sat motionless. Reclined back as Erissa poised herself on the armrest while they waited for her father to finish the welcoming ceremony and stir excitement for the Cullings in three eves.

Stop staring. You are making me uncomfortable.

Alora silently scoffed and rolled her eyes. When they leveled, her attention settled on his chest, and she may have frowned unknowingly at it, imagining the way his heartbeat had felt so dangerously normal.

Garrik’s sigh snapped her out of it.I am fine, clever girl. You need not worry,he insisted.

Only she was worrying. She hadn’t stopped sinceshehad dawned them from the cliffside.

A tendril of shadow formed a likeness of his hand and squeezed hers.I am fine.

Alora swallowed her concern and squeezed the shadows back, subtly nodding.

From then on, his eyes were all that moved. As if he were locked in a distant world until that blackened abyss landed on Ladomyr.

Erissa dangled her wineglass over Garrik’s lap and batted her eyelashes. Ignoring her father below the dais who finished his speech, bowed, then disappeared through a side entrance surrounded by High Guardsmen. The form-fitting bright red gown plunged deep down her neckline. The fabric on the back even lower. But none of that compared to the gemstones aroundher neck or the golden-rubied crown woven into her gleaming sunset hair.

She looked like a queen laying claim to her throne. To her male.

Chin raised, Erissa leaned back and crossed a leg over her knee. The silken fabric of her gown slipped enough to reveal the slender length of her porcelain thigh as she draped her arm on Garrik’s shoulder.

Alora steadied a breath. Two. Three. Kept breathing until her pulse returned to a tolerable thrum.

There needed to be more red in the room—Erissa’s blood preferably.

A shadow curled around Erissa’s arm, and Alora didn’t miss the panic in the princess’s eyes as it began to squeeze. She jerked away, nearly spilling her wine on Garrik’sblackjacket.

Garrik still didn’t move. Scanning and scanning.

Are you truly okay?she asked.

Garrik swallowed.Lad—memories.And added,Enjoy yourself, clever girl.

---