Page 16 of Conflicted Fate
I frowned. What was Kiel getting at?’
“No?” the great beast of a creature, who I realized was the prince, asked. I had no idea what he was, but with two upthrust tusks and a mane of thick black hair that fell to his waist, he certainly was … impressive, in a way. “Who do you claim as your enemies, then?”
“The Death Tyrants,” Kiel said bluntly, surprising me yet again with his honesty.
“Really?” The pair of dark, beady eyes narrowed thoughtfully as the prince sat down, leaning hard on his right elbow as he stared at both of us. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” Kiel said. “The seven of them are our sworn enemies, and we won’t rest until they’re dead.”
The creature stared, then began to chuckle. “Unwise, it is, to make enemies based on false information.” His dark laughter was so deep I could feel its vibrations on my skin.
Kiel snarled loud enough to draw the room into silence. “None of what I have said is false, and I do not appreciate my honor being impugned as such.”
CRACK!
The creature’s fist came down on the arm of his throne so hard the wood snapped. Fires of billowing fury awoke in the depths of his eyes, and the jolly giant persona was washed away as the prince revealed his true self.
“You accuse me of lying?”
“You started it,” Kiel pointed out icily. “Show me where I have stated a falsehood.”
“Come now, wolf,” the prince said, spreading one sausage-fingered hand wide. “It is widely known to all that there areeightof the bastards.”
Kiel smiled evilly, so dark and nasty was the look on his face that even I shivered, glad I wasn’t on the receiving end of it. “Therewereeight,” he said quietly.
If the room was quiet before, there wasn’t a peep afterthatstatement.
Even the prince reared back in surprise.
“You claim to have killed one?”
Kiel shook his head. “I cannot claim that honor.”
The princep-fahed, a rude noise, then waved his hand at us. “Then you talk in lies.”
“But she can,” Kiel said calmly, lifting his arm to point at me.
Oh.
The prince’s eyes snapped to me, along with the stare of every other being in the room.
I stood firm, looking right back into the black pits of his eyes, instinctually knowing that if I backed down, it would doom us. So, instead, I forced my spine straight and made sure I wasn’t the one who looked away first.
“How?” the prince demanded.
That wasn’t information I was willing to give away. If Kiel wanted them to know, he could tell, but I wouldn’t. The prince must’ve seen that promise in my eyes because he relented and asked another question instead.
“Who do you claim to have killed? And how do you know he’s dead? They have a knack for not dying, you know.”
“Arcadus,” I said, speaking loudly enough to be heard in every corner of the throne room, knowing those nearby would spread the word. “I ripped his throat out. And I know he’s dead because Lycaonus himself announced it to his entire city. And because I know how to make them killable.”
The prince took his time before speaking again, watching us closely as he did, clearly trying to make up his mind whether to believe us or not. “Why are you here, then?”
“Accident,” Kiel said, taking control of the conversation again. “We didn’t intend to be. In fact, we’d rather not be, but as fate would have it, we found ourselves in the path of your men.”
“You want to go back there?” the prince asked. “They will try to kill you.”
“Not if we kill them first,” I said.
