Page 98 of Of Nine So Bold

“Yes?” he replied.

The duke’s eyes narrowed, and I suspected I knew why. No honorific accompanied the short response. His tone was utterly neutral, not offensive but not obsequious in the slightest.

No matter what the duke called himself, clearly some of the Erenlians weren’t as comfortable with appointing him as their king as he would have liked.

But the duke also didn’t force the issue, which was intriguing. Whoever the older giant was, Deter seemed to need him enough to allow the transgression to pass. “Can you use their power?”

Ignatius nodded. “Potentially.”

“Good.”

Deter started to turn away as if that settled the matter.

“I would note,” Casimir spoke up, “you have yet to answer my question. And we have agreed to nothing.”

The duke turned back with a cruel and poisonous smile, and my vampire side surged again. I already distrusted the man, considering he reminded me of some of the lords from my father’s court, the ones more interested in power than in helping their people.

But learning that he’d hurt Clay and Lars when they were children…

My vampire side made my lip spasm with the urge to pull back from my fangs. That part of me whispered about swift justice that would be well deserved.

It was difficult to disagree.

The duke never even looked my way. “It would be easier to show you than to explain. If you and yourZeniryancitizens will come this way?” There was so much condescension in the word, it made my blood boil. With an ingratiating smile, he gestured toward the far end of the cavern.

Thanks to years of training, I managed to get my reactions under control while Dex and the rest of my men shared a wary look. In the space of minutes, this man had gone fromthreatening to kill us all to suddenly wanting our assistance and expecting us to wander deeper into the cavern on his word alone.

I didn’t trust it for a second.

But on the other hand, we were trapped. Or as good as trapped, considering I refused to abandon them down here.

Dex glanced at me, and whatever he saw in my eyes, it only made him sigh. With a twitch of his chin, he motioned the others to go on ahead. “The previous plan is still on the table,” he murmured to me. I opened my mouth to argue, but he continued before I could. “You’re getting out of here. That’s not up for debate.”

Irritation rose in me, but then I noticed the look in his eyes. There was an edge to his gaze I hadn’t seen before. A determined sort of desperation that gave me pause.

He looked like heneededthis. Needed to hang onto the idea that, no matter what happened, I would escape. My men were surrounded by people who, even if they hadn'tpersonallytried it, were from the nation that had attempted to kill them when they were younger. Moreover, some of them would almost certainly try to kill me now.

He had to believe I would survive. Otherwise, he’d never be able to focus on getting us out of here.

I exhaled, my breath shallow from how drained I was, and nodded.

Relief flickered through his eyes, and it made me want to reach out to him. But we were still surrounded by potential enemies, and so I settled for a tiny smile that hopefully conveyed my support. Together, we trailed the other giants deeper into the cavern.

The duke strode ahead, his head lifted like he really was a king.

But I refused to call him that. Not unless his people proved they actually wanted him to rule. But wherever the duke went,a space cleared around him like the other prisoners were frightened of coming too close.

My teeth ground. People shouldn’t be afraid of rulers. Not like this. Rulers should earn their people’s trust and respect because they made choices for the good of the nation and its citizens.

Admittedly, not every ruler succeeded at that. I highly doubted my stepmother had much interest in anything besides instilling fear. But from all I could see, this man thought the position of king was meant to servehim, not that leadership was about serving anyone else.

I knew he wasn’t the original Erenlian king, the one the country had possessed when my people started the war. King Archerias was dead, as far as I knew. So how the hell this man had gotten the position, I didn’t know. But I could already tell it wasn’t going to be easy convincing him to work with me in restoring peaceful relations between our countries, if I succeeded in reclaiming my throne.

If anything, I suspected he’d just want to restart the war.

And if I failed, if my stepmother kept the throne…

I shuddered at the thought. Between Deter and Melisandre, I suspected they’d each burn the world down just so the other couldn’t have it.

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