Page 114 of Once Upon a Crown
“This was more than I expected,” he admitted with glee.
Where are you, Cai?I needed him. Things were already bad before and they were becoming increasingly worse.
“We had a deal,” I reminded Aries. “I tell you where the caves are, you free Lady Cordelia.” If Cordelia was let go, she could make her way to Mistwood. She could tell the others what she saw of the camp and that Aries knew the location of the mines.
“Funny.” He scratched the stubble on his cheeks. “I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
My heart dropped.
No.
“You liar!” I called out, yanking myself away from Frederick, but his grip held firm. “You told me you’d let her go!”
Of course I shouldn’t have trusted him. Why did I for a second believe that he would actually free Cordelia? Nothing about Aries suggested he was a man of his word, unless, of course, it came to his love for violence.
“She serves no purpose here. She doesn’t have anything to do with this and you got what you wanted,” I said, with a voice full of panic. “Let her go.” And then I added, “Please.” I would beg for her life if it meant he didn’t hurt her.
Aries slowly walked over to Cordelia. I watched with disgust as he cupped her cheek, forcing her to look up at him. His thumb slowly brushed her jaw, soft whimpers escaping her.
“You’re right.”
I hadn’t seen him pull out the knife.
“She doesn’t serve a purpose anymore.”
Bright red blood spilled from her neck.
My screams echoed through the cave.
I watched Cordelia’s body drop to the ground, the life slowly slipping from her eyes.
Blood began to pool around her.
“I’ll kill you!”
Frederick’s grip tightened on me.
“I’ll kill you for this!”
“Now now.” Aries tried to hush me, wiping the bloody blade on the sleeve of a nearby guard. Her life and the lives of all those he took meant nothing to him. He truly was a monster. “There’s no need for that.”
He came to a standstill in front of me. Cordelia’s blood had spattered onto his face. I was going to be sick.
“I gave you the option, remember. I told you that I would kill everyone you loved, and you chose not to listen to me.” His tone was that of a parent lecturing a child.
Aries flinched only slightly when I spat in his face.
The world around us seemed to go quiet for a moment, anticipating what he would do next.
Pain erupted in my cheek as his hand collided with my face. The force of his strike was strong enough that it wrenched me out of Frederick’s grasp, and I fell onto the cave floor.
“I’m growing rather tired of your temper tantrums, Queen Elara,” Aries said in warning.
I tried to catch my breath, my ears practically ringing from the impact of his hand.
“It doesn’t matter if you know where the cave is. Cai and his army are coming for you and you will not live to see the end of the battle,” I said through deep breaths, thinking about all the ways I wanted to end his life.
Aries sank down to his haunches next to me. “Even if Cai is foolish enough to try and kill me, we both know he would never succeed. Nor would the Norrandish army.”
