Page 167 of Once the Skies Fade

The surviving advisors and guards all took an instinctive step back, and some looked ready to scurry away like hares preparing to outrun a fox. My shadows swelled in front of me, ready to be sent after the rest of those responsible for this, but my eyes fell on Isa, still caught in the forest’s vines. Silently, I beckoned my powers to me, and they slowly gathered around my feet like a dark fog.

“Guard,” I said, quietly, taking stock of where the remnants of the Assembly remained frozen. The kinder male cautiously stepped closer.

“Yes?”

“Do you have a knife?”

His face twisted as he stammered out, “Yes.”

I shifted my gaze to his and lifted my arm nearest him. “I need you to draw some of my blood and take it to the general. It doesn’t need to be a lot, but she needs a few drops placed anywhere on her.”

He hesitated, as if this was some elaborate ruse to get him to come even closer.

My husband was dead. My parents were dead. Maybe Matthias, too. But I could still save Isa, if he would just listen to me.

Swallowing back my grief, I forced the words out on a hoarse whisper. “Please. Save her.”

The guard studied me with narrowed eyes, and I closed mine. Isa would die because of me, because I’d let myself become such a monster that my own guards didn’t trust me.

A blade hissed out of its leather sheath, and then I felt a sharp sting as it sliced against my upper arm. I opened my eyes in time to see the guard collecting deep red drops on the flat of his blade.Without another word, he jogged over to Isa, leaped onto the still-writhing roots, and wiped the blood on her neck.

He was still standing on the roots when they retreated, along with the vines. Jumping back down to solid ground, he reached his arms forward to cradle Isa as the forest released her.

“Take her to the infirmary, find Jocelyn. If she’s been given any poison, Jocelyn is the only one who can help her.”

The guard transferred her into the arms of one of the others, reiterating my directions and adding the command to hurry. I turned as they carried her away, back through the dense forest.

“I can’t let you hurt the others,” the guard said, pulling my attention back to him.

“I don’t intend to,” I said. “Not yet, anyway.”

Suspicion once again crossed his expression. “You’re not going to slaughter them like you did those two?” He gestured to Ursula, who now lay in a crumpled heap.

I shook my head slowly. “A month ago—stars, an hour ago, even—I would have.” The words surprised me as much as they evidently did the guard, but his eyes still held a hint of skepticism.

“What changed?”

Surveying the faces of the remaining Assembly members, I searched for the source of this shift. Mere moments ago, I was prepared to show no mercy to any of them. Now? The anger remained. They’d been weak, unwilling to stand up to their own and do what was right. Yet, that vengeful urge I’d become accustomed to chasing had dampened.

Maybe it was finally knowing my parents’ fate. They’d been killed by the Assembly, even if not directly. I’d spent months pushing away my memories of them, trying to rule my kingdom without having to see their faces in my mind. When I finally allowed the image of them to surface, it became clear I couldn’t ignore their silent guidance.

“My parents—” I barely got the two words out before my voice gave out, overtaken by a new flavor of grief I hadn’t experienced since they’d died, like I had finally found a small semblance of peace with it. They were still gone, but somehow knowing who was responsible for their deaths had granted me a sense of closure, acceptance. I might not have that with Brennan’s death yet—despite knowing who was responsible—but every step forward was movement in the right direction.

The guard nodded slowly, as if he understood my unspoken explanation. “So, what do you propose?”

“A trial,” I said, once again looking around at those gathered. “While they might not have instigated all that has happened, they appear to have been complicit in the efforts to steal the crown. They will have their chance to stand before the citizens and have their fates determined by the law of our land.”

“You expect us to just release you?” one of the other guards asked, scoffing. “How do we know you won’t rip us apart as soon as we remove the gloves?”

“If I wanted to rip you apart, I would have already done it,” I said. To emphasize my point, I dropped my head to the side as I called my shadows up from the ground. They hovered between the guard and me, swaying with anticipation. His eyes widened, but he clamped his lips shut as if that would help him withstand my powers. I offered a small smile and pulled the shadows back down to my feet, hoping I’d sufficiently convinced him.

He shook his head slowly, but didn’t offer another word of protest as the other guards moved forward to unlock the gloves. Turning my hands over and over, I searched for any sign of damage from the searing pain I’d suffered earlier, but aside from a bit of dried blood at my fingertips from my clawing at the metal and some red, blistered burns on my palms, they were unscathed—far better than the melted skin and mangled flesh I’d envisioned.

My shadows instantly drifted up to my hands, pouring back into my veins where they belonged—where they would wait, until I could find Graham. I might have had a change of heart regarding the others, but if this had all been Graham’s plan, then he deserved the same trial by shadows as Ursula and Warren had faced.

That bastard would suffer.

For my parents…my husband…my friend…and my mate.

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