Page 73 of Crowned A Traitor
“After everything, you are giving up at the end?”
A peace came over her as Klara accepted her fate, “I’m harder to kill then you think.”
Frendall had part of her soul, and with it, he would return her Father to Hell. Klara didn’t need to fight, but she had led Abadan to doors of Kalos, and cost how many lives in their hunt for her. Lilith hadn’t protected her wife as she should have, and Klara wouldn’t make the same mistake. “I need you both away from her,” Klara said, walking through the ankle-grazing grass.
Klara worried the Fae Queen had sealed the door because of Abadan’s presence, but as she stared at the wall, the stones shifted, and the portal to Kalos opened.
~17~
“Leave!”Frendall’s desperate distant cry turned her blood to ice.They must have gotten his body while he projected himself to me. Wolfgang followed Klara’s gaze to the figure in the distance and frowned. Abadan stood with two Demons at her side, while her Crimson Guard shoved forward a shackled and beaten Frendall. Klara noticed he was bleeding from his hairline, their shared bond should have told her how injured he was, but something was blocking her senses.
“Don’t fall for their tricks, the High Queen is trying to lure you in,” Wolfgang said.
“We have to go,” Klara lied devoid of any emotion, and Wolfgang let out a sigh of relief as she stood before the portal. She placed a hand on Lottie’s and Lottie beamed. “We can go see mummy again?” Lottie smiled, and Klara moved behind them. Before Wolfgang could look back to the army of Demons, Klara shoved them through the portal.
“I’m sorry,” Klara said as a pulse of raw energy soared through the gap. She needed them safe and out of the way. She stepped away and let the stones fill the gap between them.Why had the Demons not taken Frendall’s side?
With her soul running through his veins, the Demons shouldn’t have been able to overpower him and yet here he was, forced to his knees in the grass, weak and beaten.
With the portal closed, she couldn’t do any more for Wolfgang and Lottie, but much to her relief, they wouldn’t end up in a Malum dungeon or at the bottom of the River Styx.
Abadan’s forces gathered behind her and Klara searched the Higher Demons at Abadan’s side, recognizing some from the banquet. Lokey was nowhere to be seen, Klara hoped he hadn’t been imprisoned for aiding her.
Abadan clapped her hands as Klara stilled in the middle of the field and the armour-plated Demons stood at attention, their weapons drawn while Klara stood alone. She was close enough to see her enemies but a safe enough distance from Mila and her arrows.
“How much trouble you have caused us, my child,” Abadan said her voice drifting effortlessly toward Klara. “Drop your axe, and we can put all this nasty business behind us.”
“How do you see this ending?” Klara asked, and Mila’s sharpened smile greeted her with a response. “Sister, I’m afraid you will be executed for your treason. There is nothing I can do to stop it.”
“You thought I would hand myself over without a fight? Put all of Lilith’s training to no use.”
The mention of her fellow Queen’s name caused Abadan’s mask to slip as the veins in her neck bulged. “How dare you mention her name? You corrupted her very essence.”
“Lilith respected her King and her duty to me,” Klara snarled, “Respected her place, something you have always failed to do. You have no right to command Lucifer’s army. My army.”
Klara let all Demons hear her words, “If you stand with a false queen, then it will be a fate worse than the Maze.”
Abadan had Frendall, and maybe she had even managed to cage her Father. Klara clutched her axe, if taking Abadan’s place meant saving them, she would.
“Impudent child,” Abadan said, raising her hand and Mila gripped Frendall’s throat. Klara lurched forward on instinct and laughter rippled through the air. “It seems there is someone you care about more than your freedom.”
“He is your blood. You would sacrifice your blood to rule?”
“Do you want to find out?” Abadan ran a crystal talon down her son’s cheek.
“Drop the axe or I will spill his blood on the field.”
“If blood is spilt on this ground, the Fae Queen has every right to break the treaty,” Klara warned, and Abadan scoffed.
“That ancient Creature doesn’t care about this land. Aemella cut off Malum and this land like a dead limb for her precious Fae.”
The crashing of swords against shields echoed through the army as Abadan’s army split apart. A portal opened at Klara’s side, and half a dozen Giants emerged, with Gratide leading the group. “A pleasure to see you again so soon,” Klara said. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” the Giant winked as they formed a line behind her.
Demons with eyes of yellow and uniforms of black and emerald broke away from their compatriots. Klara couldn’t believe her eyes as the leader of the Crimson Guard removed himself from Abadan’s side.
The High Queen’s head snapped back and forth as her army moved without orders. Confusion rippled through the ranks as her soldier’s didn’t know whether to stop those leaving or to remain in formation.
Out of fear, Abadan’s remaining army stood still as statutes. Klara readied herself for an assault from those advancing, but instead of raising their weapons, they marched across the field chanting so quietly Klara couldn’t make out what they were saying. The Giants grumbled as the Demons joined them at Klara’s back. Demons and Giants were hardly natural allies.
