Page 109 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood
A hand tugged at my arm, and I twisted around to see Elara. She shook her head with wide eyes. “Vad, please calm?—”
I jerked my arm free. “She deserves death.”
“The Shadow King is correct that Kaylen is not the choice of the councils.” Bryn's voice rang out across the Ceremonial Hall, sounding more tremulous than I’d ever heard it. He moved out from the benches into the center aisle.
Unlike the council members in the front, he was not wearing a hood that obscured his face, and his usually wild hair had been neatly combed back.
Kaylen gasped. “What? But?—”
Bryn silenced her with a look, and her shoulders sagged as if he had struck her. Two of the wingless Aureline guards approached her. Where had they even come from? My guards approached more slowly, seeming to exchange looks as if to ask who took precedence.
He’d better have Briar, or I would slit his throat here, happily.
“The Aureline choice is in accordance with the winner of the trials. There was an error in formalities and procedures, for which we are truly apologetic, but Fate’s choice is…Calla Lily.” Bryn gestured to his right.
My stomach twisted, and I froze again in pure rage. More blood dripped into my eyes. He had to be behind this.
Calla Lily rose, one hand rising to her chest as she demurely curtsied. “I am at the service of the Shadow Kingdom.”
The feck she was. My shadows expanded, searching for Briar and for vengeance.
The council members exchanged glances, most looking between one another, though a few simply stared straight ahead.
“Calla Lily not only survived all three of the challenges, but she was the gold winner of the third and final trial, in which character was tested.” Bryn didn’t glance at Calla Lilly and sounded as if he’d rehearsed the line over and over again.
“Liar!” Veralt stood, towering over the seated guests. “That pink-winged girlie didn’t win shit in the last competition. That was Briar, through and through. She won it fair and square, and there were folk sent in there trying to kill her too.”
Briar’s friends jumped to their feet around him.
Shocked murmurs rippled out among the crowd. “The king’s assassin?”
“The girl from the other world?”
“The outsider?”
“The weird shadow-beast woman?”
Bryn paled. “I do not know who you are or why you think you have the authority to speak against the will of the High Aureline Council, as well as the Aureline Councilmembers who participated in the oversight of the bridal competition.” None of the Aureline councilmembers at the front moved.
I wanted Bryn’s blood. Had he been involved in my father’s death as well? Rage boiled within me, seething as my shadows lashed out. The stone railing cracked, and one of the spokes shattered.
Calla Lily’s gaze darted around the room as she took a half step toward me. “I am Fate’s choice as well as the choice of the Aurelines involved in this test, and I am willing to serve. I mean no harm.”
“Noharm?” Something hot flared inside me that I didn’t understand, and my shadows gripped the railings harderand tighter. More spokes shattered and splintered, exploding outward.
Vyraetos held out his hands, looking around with pure confusion on his aged features. “No one informed the Shadow Council that Calla Lily was the winner. To my knowledge, there was no determined winner because of the disruption with the earthquake. Is this not so?”
Bryn cleared his throat. “It was clarified?—”
“You are part of this conspiracy!” I snarled. It would mean instant war if I murdered a member of the High Aureline Council, but I didn’t care. Not anymore. “Are you among the traitors who sought to destroy my beloved and frame her for the murder of my father? Were you involved in his death?” Darkness loomed within the hall. My madness was on full display as my claws lengthened. They cut into my palms, but I didn’t care.
He had fooled me and taken Briar from me. That sin alone meant death.
Bryn fell back, and his liquid gold eyes widened even more.
Elara gripped my arm again. “Vad—” Panic filled her voice. “Vad, please?—”
I looked at my sister, a desperate plan forming in my mind. I could pass the crown and the throne to her. Let the magic transfer to her. Then I’d find Briar. I’d give all this up for her. Every shred. Every moment. Nothing mattered as much as Briar did.
