Page 82 of Forged By Heart and Claws
Vyraetos leaned in then, holding one of the glowing vials near Kaylen’s head. The light inside dimmed.
“She’s telling the truth about one thing,” he murmured. “She hasn’t consumed any essence. Hers are the strands that don’t glow. Calla Lily’s are the ones humming with residual power.”
“So,” Quen said dryly, “she’s incompetent and powerless. Great.”
“I mean, who else would it be?” Kaylen muttered, arms crossed tight. “She’s so conniving; I didn’t even catch a hint.”
“That’s not much of an observation,” Myantha murmured, her tone just shy of scolding.
Thalen arched a brow, smirking. He leaned close and whispered something in Myantha’s ear, and color bloomed across her cheeks.
Exhaling through his nose, Vyraetos set the vial aside. “In some ways, it may be a mercy that our magic has been stripped. If it were to return, Colm and Calla Lily would be nearly unstoppable. Elias confirmed they did this to others as well. This wasn’t a singular offense, and I doubt they’ve shared the full extent of their plans with anyone else.”
“They haven’t.” Siray paced in the center of everyone. “Every Aureline Council member— from the joint or High Council—was imprisoned. Many were executed. They’ve accused Rhielle and Ceana of conspiring with Briar. They’ve already beheaded Ceana. And it sounded like they were going to claim Liya was a bridal candidate too, even though she wasn't involved. They’re making examples of the brides publicly and brutally. If they catch me, my head will be in there as well.”
A ripple of revulsion tugged at the bond. Briar’s expression didn’t falter, but I felt tension in the way her shoulders tightened and her gaze locked on Siray. “Is there anything else?” Her voice was calm… too calm.
Siray shrugged, but her eyes were sharp. “Now that they know you’re still in the palace, they’ll double their efforts to find you both. You and Vad are the prize. They want a spectacle. Dragging the couple responsible for Fate’s silence to the stage, stringing you up as the ones who broke magic—call it justice, vengeance, whatever they need the people to believe. They want the coronation soaked in blood.”
I would die to protect Briar. They wouldn’t lay a hand on her. “Then they’ll be disappointed. Are they keeping the bodies in the Ceremonial Hall?”
“At least the heads are taken there.” Siray's face wrinkled in disgust. “They’ve turned it into some grotesque demonstration.”
“If the shadow beasts are like wolves,” Briar said, her voice low, “they’re opportunistic. Drawn to blood and dead flesh.”
“That could explain the attack locations.” Silus adjusted his position on the crate with a wooden groan. “They’re following the scent and attacking whatever they find.”
“Great.” Thalen chuckled darkly, running a hand through his hair. “Blood and death. What more could we ask for?”
“That doesn’t explain the portals.” Rhielle looked upward like the ceiling might hold answers.
Briar rubbed her wrists beneath the sleeves of her tunic. Her discomfort fluttered through the bond, fragile and fleeting, like trying to grip smoke. “No. But maybe we’ll get answers soon.”
“At the very least.” I reached over and took her hand. “We know where the beasts will concentrate next.”
My thumb traced the back of her knuckles, slow and steady. I didn’t know whether she felt it—whether anything I did even reached her now. I had to figure out a way to bring her wolf back to her. She was struggling, and so was I.
But the coronation was closing in, and with it, our window. That ceremony offered our cleanest shot at taking back the kingdom, despite more blood being spilled. Dozens of guards on high alert and loyal to the wrong throne. We wouldn’t get a second chance.
A plan sharpened in the back of my mind. “You said they’re staying in the royal family quarters now?”
Both Siray and Kaylen nodded.
“They’ve completely taken over,” Siray said, her voice flat. “Liya and I considered striking then and there to cut the head off the snake, but the guards were thick at the entrance. We’d have been torn apart.”
“They brought me to Colm.” Kaylen shuddered. “It was this huge room with a glass dome overhead?—”
“The observatory?” Elara interrupted, her wings giving an agitated flick.
“Sure.” Kaylen shrugged. “He had books, potions, stone orbs, some weird light stuff, and piles of jewelry everywhere, like he was hoarding it.”
A muscle ticked in my jaw, and a pang shot through my heart. That had been my sanctuary, where my mother and I had spent so much time together, and I found peace there. He'd better not have destroyed it, but I had little hope of that. Of course Colmwould claim that very place and twist it into something of his own. Still… that detail, that space, it was an opening.
I glanced toward Silus and Thalen. They caught my meaning immediately.
“Taking the head off the snake might be our best option after all.”
CHAPTER 18
