Page 82 of Crowned A Traitor
Lucifer walked past Mila and Klara without a glance, his shirt white and creaseless under his signature black blazer. Abadan stood with her head slightly bowed.
“I ordered you to summon me once she came through the portal,” Lucifer’s words were laced with anger.
“I know how unpleasant this is for you darling, so I thought I would handle it myself.”
“I will handle my daughter’s trial.”
A trial? Where was Frendall’s trial?Klara looked at the sword at Lucifer’s side and saw the Fae Queen’s reflection in its sheath.
“Speak. If you want any chance of saving your neck?” Lucifer roared at Klara as Abadan offered him her throne. Klara opened her mouth to speak, but his aura was wrong. There was a shimmer to his skin that didn’t belong. Klara’s eyes drifted to Abadan even if the King had chosen to take her side. She would never be this easy in his company.
“Don’t you think I know a glamour when I see one?” Klara ignored Lucifer. She pressed her hand to the floor, focusing her energy on her Father’s eyes. The glamour blurred and stretched and what was once her Father slumped forward. The glamour lifted and there sat a shackled and bloodied Lokey.
“I see you aren’t too weak to reverse a glamour of my own creation,” Abadan said.
Judging from Lokey’s raw wrist, he had been strung up since the battle. “Lokey?” Klara called. Lokey’s eyes rolled back in his head as Abadan clicked her fingers and Guards appeared at either side of the throne.
“Let him go!” Klara ordered as the Guards in Crimson pulled Lokey’s limp body from the throne.
“Why on Malum would I release a traitor and a powerful one at that.”
Abadan reclaimed her seat, wiping away Lokey’s blood with her sleeve.
“I forced him to help me. My death will send a strong enough message to those supporting me.”
“If only that were true, plus my Torturers haven’t dealt with one so powerful and ancient. It will be decades before Lokey is broken.” Abadan was practically salivating at the thought of revealing Lokey secrets.
“Stop dragging it out and just take her head,” Mila said, leaning against a pillar.
“Patience,” Abadan snapped at Klara’s half-sister.
“Where is my Father?”
Abadan fixed her crown. “Away.”
“Did you cage him?” Klara dreaded the answer. If Lucifer was caged, Klara wouldn’t be able to keep her promise to the Fae Queen.
“Sadly no, the King fled from his council. He did as he desired and left. He never once stopped to consider us. Lucifer wanted to hand my land to you as if a child can handle Malum. When I tried to make him see reason, he told his council that you would be inheriting Hell in a mere decade. I couldn’t stand by and watch you ruin everything. Now he can play with the Humans for as long as it pleases him.”
“All of your problems would have been solved if you had let me leave for Kalos.” Klara almost laughed at the irony, but Abadan clenched her fists.
“The King would have blamed me, us. There is no winning with the King. We had to be rid of you.”
“We? Look around Abadan. It’s only you and your puppets. When Lucifer returns, not even God will be able to save you.”
Klara jumped to her feet and pulled a dagger from Mila’s belt. Abadan flung Klara against one of the six pillars that held up the ceiling. Klara didn’t know if it was the pillar that cracked or her ribs. Klara hit the ground with a sharp intake of breath.Ribs, definitely ribs.
“Is a little conversation too much to ask for?” Abadan snapped, flinging her hair behind her shoulder. “Since you insist on fighting, I will allow a trial by combat. Defeat your sister, and I will free you. You can go to your Father or Kalos,” Abadan said.
Klara looked to Mila, and it was apparent that this was a turn of events for her. Mila hadn’t expected Abadan to make her fight to the death.
“This was not part of our deal,” Mila frowned, and Abadan shrugged.
“Prove you deserve to be by my side.”
The Fae Queen wants Father dead, and the Demon Queen wants my half-sister dead seems everyone wants a piece of the Lucifer family.
Klara rolled out of the way of Mila’s stomping boot and sprung to her feet. “Stop following her orders. How could you betray the King? At least he raised you,” Klara said and jumped back as Mila came at her with her bow. Without the string, Mila used her bow as a blade.
