Page 111 of Phoenix Falling
“She’s waiting in the king’s study off the throne room.”
“Alone?”
“No.” I shook my head. “She has a guard with her. And Lyris will escort her when the time comes.”
Rissa nodded but continued to scan the group as we waited.
“What is it?”I asked.
She met my eyes, her own troubled.“I can’t believe any of these warriors is the traitor.”
Because the Source had said the traitor was on the council. I stared at the males and female that had served me for centuries. Not one seemed capable of such a heinous act as turning on their own clan. Was the stranger wrong?
But when I voiced the question in Rissa’s head, she disagreed.“The Source, if in fact that is who that was, is never wrong. Not in underground circles. If it’s the same guy, he had the correct intel.”
“Anything definitive in your videos?”
“If there was, you would have known immediately.”
Basile signaled for the doors to be opened, and the council began their procession into the room. I took a breath. “Ready?”
“You know I don’t like being exposed,” she murmured.
I cupped her cheek. “I know.”
She sighed, rolling her eyes. “But I’ll do it for you.”
Despite her dramatics, her statement touched me deep inside. This was a big ask, especially without her glamour, but Rissa was doing it anyway.
I squeezed her hand in mine as we moved toward the door.
The crowd began whispering the minute I led Rissa inside. That was all right. I ignored them and moved on. I was king, and no one would harm my mate. That was one of the reasons I’d wanted her with me now—to declare, once and for all, that we were a pair. Whether she decided I was hers or not, I’d made my decision. There would be no other but her for me.
I led her beside me until we reached the dais in the middle of the room. The members of the council, all except Jacob, who was guarding Imogen, and Azrael, currently on a mission to another clan, stood at intervals all the way around, facing outward. In the center, my throne—though I still had trouble thinking of it as mine—sat, waiting for the ceremony to begin. Before I climbed the stairs, I brought Rissa’s hand to my mouth and kissed the back. She stared solemnly at me until I released her, then turned to sit along the front aisle with the other females.
I’d made it clear we weren’t here for a sermon. Grim, as Aomai, would complete the crowning, and I’d told him to make it quick. This was a mere formality; much better to get on with it and get to the good part, Demetri and Imogen’s matebond. As Grim spoke, I barely paid attention, most of my focus on my mate. But as minutes passed, I noticed her eyeing the warriors, a vee of concern dividing her brows. Her body was tensing, her knuckles going white on the arms of her chair.
“What is it?”
At first she shook her head, but then she said,“I need to check on Imogen.”
“Why? She’ll be here any minute.”Grim had to be almost finished by now. He was walking toward the crown waiting on a pillow—a freaking velvet pillow—on the dais.
“I can’t explain, Sun. I just know I need to go check.”
I didn’t understand anything except that my mate had excellent instincts. If she said she needed to go, she needed to go.
“Stay in contact with me,”I warned her.
She nodded, and I watched as she stealthily rose and made her way to a side door.
Grim placed the crown on my head. Bidding me to stand, he began to recite the king’s vows, which I repeated. Half my brain was still on Rissa, though, and when I heard her in my mind, calling my name, my head turned instinctively in that direction.
“What is it, mate?”
“Oh God, Sun. We were wrong; itwassomeone on the council. Jacob. It’s been Jacob all along. We’re under attack!”
ChapterForty
