Page 28 of Once the Skies Fade

Calla

Iheard them before they entered and sensed their apprehension before their cautious, fake smiles came into view. Isa and Graham approached my dais slowly. My shadows surfaced at my hands in anticipation, but I held my magic close, not allowing it to do more than dance in the creases of my palms. Straightening in my seat, I crossed my legs slowly as I opened one of my hands and watched my magic swirl.

“Your Majesty,” Graham greeted me, and I shifted my eyes to glance at my two friends. Isa didn’t speak, but her sharp gaze scrutinized me, as if searching for the madness I’d unleashed in this room weeks before.

“Are they leaving?” I asked, my tone rigid and cold like the icy heart that beat in my chest.

Isa’s shoulders stiffened. “Most are.”

I ground my teeth and stiffened my lips to keep from sneering. That wouldn’t fix anything.

“And those who refuse?” I asked. Graham shifted uncomfortably, but Isa ignored him as she answered.

“Awaiting their trial, Your Majesty,” she said. “All set to begin next?—”

I lifted a hand to stop her, granting enough slack to my powers so they could weave among my fingers, but Graham interjected before I could speak.

“It is what’s right, Your—” He stopped short when I pressed a finger to my lips, instructing him to quiet.

“Did I not instruct all humans to leave Arenysen?”

Isa and Graham answered in unison. “You did.”

I waved my hand lazily in the air, my shadows dancing along with it. “And did I not explain the consequences for ignoring this command?”

Isa—smart female that she was—immediately clamped her mouth shut. Graham, however, chose to answer me. “You did, but?—”

This time he stopped himself from saying more, but I wasn’t about to let his insolence slide.

“But what?” I asked. “What were you going to say?”

“But trials have always been?—”

“Not anymore!” I hissed through my teeth. “Death. Death was the consequence for staying. I was quite clear about that, and I gave them ample time to leave. Theychoseto ignore it, and thereforechosethe consequence. There is no need for a trial. There is no reason—no excuse—they can give that would save them from the judgment theyknewwould happen.”

For a long, tense moment, my general and advisor simply stood there, watching me cautiously like prey waiting to be pounced upon. Neither of them seemed apt to break the silence. Slumping in my chair, I rested my elbow on the armrest and dropped my head into my hand, where my shadows massaged away the tension at my temples.

Without looking up, I lowered my voice to a calmer tone and said, “It’s for their own safety. Yes, I know the absurdity of that statement, but they need a ruler who can protect them and serve them. It can’t be me.”

For the past two weeks they had asked why I suddenly had some vendetta against the humans, why I could no longer rule them. I couldn’t explain it. Stars, I couldn’t even explain why I wasn’t able to tell them; Minerva’s magic seemed insistent on no one knowing I’d even made the bargain with her.

But this wasn’t the question Isa asked. Not that I had an adequate answer to this either.

“Why kill them? If you want to protect them, let us escort them to safety.”

Safety.

My nerves went taut, sending a million pinpricks over my skin as the word drowned me in images of Brennan choking on his own blood. What about his safety? Why hadn’t anyone protected him? Why should the humans be granted what he had been denied?

“No!” I boomed, and Isa and Graham both flinched.

Slamming my hands down on the armrests, I stood. They didn’t retreat even as I stepped down from the dais, coming to stand an arm’s reach away from them. My shadows spilled from my palms and pooled around our feet like a dense, black fog.

“Those who defy the crown will face the consequences. I will not suffer such disrespect. These deaths will serve as a warning to any who remain.”

Graham remained still, except for his eyes, which surveyed the room and my shadows that encircled our legs. Isa, however, didn’t seem nervous at all. She held my gaze confidently, not in defiance, but as one whose loyalty came first above all else.

“Very well,” Isa said, and Graham’s head snapped around to look at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. He opened his mouth, but Isa spoke first. “I will issue your orders to the warden and have the executions carried out as soon as possible.”

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