Page 70 of Our Vicious Oaths
If they were in a less perilous situation, she would’ve informed her arrogant husband that she hadn’t expressed any thanks. “Samira and Zayvier are among those infirmary patients,” she said instead. “The two of them and all the other civilians need to be evacuated in case—”
“That fucking outcome is not happening.” Again, the ground shook from the force of Malachi’s voice.
The innate sense of self-preservation hissed at her to tread carefully … which she ignored because Malachi and his usual dominance crap could kiss her ass. The risk at hand was the only thing that mattered. “Ifthe palace finds itself under a true siege and falls to Rishaud and his forces, then nearly three hundredinnocent people will assuredly be slaughtered. That’s how Rishaud operates.” She’d seen it with her own court. “As the first order of business, we need to get them out of the palace before Rishaud arrives,” she stressed to Malachi.
The shadows around the room and those covering her body grew inkier and more glacial with every fresh mention of the Hyperion king. “That is not our first order of business, wife, if we’re undersiege.” He sank enough annoyance into the word to make it clear how incensed he was that Rishaud had beat him to leveling that particular strike. “Is the rest of the Cadre already marshaling our troops?” he asked Shionne. “I want them in formation just outside the portcullis and ready to meet Rishaud’s army when they arrive.”
Shionne raked a hand through her slender braids. “Don’t insult me or our brethren with that question.”
The left corner of Malachi’s mouth quirked upward in a smile. “I figured they were dispatching orders as we speak. I was only providing a demonstration to our queen.” He angled toward Kadeesha and imparted, “Readying your assault isalwaysa monarch’s first order of business. If we and our army fall, then there is nobody left to protect the larger court.”
She raised her chin and stabbed him with a glower. They had a lot of disparate ideas they would need to work out so they didn’t kill each other since they’d decided to stay married and bring a child into this realm together. “If you have no faefolk left behind because you didn’t make securing their safety a priority, then you ultimately will end up fighting for literally nothing and nobody,husband.”
He studied her for a moment, still nude, and then inclined his head toward her. “I did vow to work at compromising,” hemuttered. Then, he told his cousin, “The first thing you do is ward the interior of the palace against teleportation, so any enemy who slips past the gates needs to navigate through the palace via a much slower and exposed route on foot and can be more easily intercepted. After that is done, carry out our queen’s wishes. Gather a contingent of guards, round up all the civilians, and use the tunnels beneath the palace to lead them to safety. Don’t tell anyone in your party where you’re going beforehand,” Malachi warned, “in case—”
“You don’t need to waste time by relaying the rest,” Trystin said dryly. “I remember Nychelle’s orders from the last go-round.”
The last go-round.He was talking about when Rishaud had instigated the uprising and massacre that killed Malachi’s parents and everyone else in their inner circle except Nychelle.
Trystin’s mention of the Cleric’s Rebellion plainly changed something within Malachi because he held his cousin’s stare with more gravity. The cocksure arrogance was gone from his tone when he impressed his orders upon his cousin, who was the duke prime and second in line for the Apollyon throne. “Get everyone to the same location Nychelle gave you back then. Your orders remain the same too. If I don’t make it …” He paused to slice a look at Kadeesha. “Ifwedon’t rip that fucker limb from limb, then you pick up the mantle of Apollyon king, protect what’s ours, and rebuild. The Apollyonfolk created a flourishing court out of the bare minimum once before. We have our ancestors’ blood, pure ingenuity, and resilience. You and the rest of the court can do so again. Do not, ever, kneel to Rishaud nor any other monarch who is not of Apollyon blood by either birth or marriage.”
“I really wish you’d put on some clothes or wrap shadows around your waist, for skies’ sake,” Trystin muttered. Then, hestepped closer to Malachi. He reached forward as Malachi did at the same time. The cousins seized each other’s forearms and clasped them.
Malachi grinned. “Now do you want to hug?”
“Absolutely not,” Trystin said succinctly. “I’ll hug youwhenI see you next. So put that huge-ass ego of yours back on, cousin, and don’t bloody damn die. If you do, I will find a rune capable of snatching your soul away from Nyaxia and depositing you back among the realm of the living just so I can kick your ass for being a prick and leaving me with the burden of ruling. Got it?”
Malachi snorted. “Even if I were the reanimated dead, you’d never kick my ass, cousin.”
Shionne, who was leaning against the open door’s frame, placed a hand over her heart. “That’s how they’ve saidI love yousince they were like five,” she told Kadeesha. “Aren’t they adorable?”
Adorablewas certainly one word to describe the dynamics between Malachi and the cousin he actually liked. She recalled him and Nychelle both mentioning how they had been raised like brothers. Pitying Nychelle, she internally winced at the absolute pains they certainly had been growing up.
After Trystin departed, she returned to her own room to dress quickly in flying leathers and then notify her Nkita of Rishaud’s imminent assault. While the majority of her sisters hurried to fetch the kongamatos from the aerie, she and Leisha joined Malachi, Nychelle, and his Cadre for a strategy meeting in the war room.
“You never mentioned if any of the vassal kings were spotted among Rishaud’s forces,” Kadeesha inquired of Shionne as soon as she arrived. She should’ve asked the question back in Malachi’s room. Now that the initial shock of an early assaulthad worn off, she was thinking more clearly. More like the general of a squadron. More like the high queen she’d become.
“That’s because none were spotted,” Shionne answered tightly from where she stood on the opposite edge of the war table. Dedrick, Kiyun, and Jakobi all stood beside her clothed in the same fighting leathers that were a merciless black. Malachi, who stood to Kadeesha’s right, wore them too, along with ceremonial war regalia. A metal breastplate that also gleamed black was locked into place over his chest. The coat of arms of the Apollyon Court—a silver crescent moon with a silver star cradled inside it—was emblazoned in its center. Ornate silver trimmings framed the moon and star. His shin and arm guards matched the breastplate. Plus, the dazzling platinum grille flashed every time he spoke, nearly blinding Kadeesha. He’d tried to insist she don the same ceremonial armor that would mark her as his fearsome counterpart and the Apollyon queen—a warrior queen, as he’d said—but if she was fighting this battle, then she’d do this one thing the Aether way. Once she mounted Zahzah for flight, the armor would only be a nuisance.
“The absence of a sighting doesn’t mean the vassal kings are not present,” Dedrick spat. “They have not sworn vows yet and this isn’t how we planned for events to go. I don’t trust them to not go back on their word, which was never good for shit from the start without a binding oath in place, in my opinion.”
“Are your shadows still not telling you anything on that front?” Malachi asked Jakobi.
The male closed his eyes for a moment and then uttered a vicious string of curses. “Still nothing. When I try to home in on any of the other monarchs, it’s like looking into the Void.”
Kiyun scrubbed a hand along his clean-shaven jawline. “They could be using masking runes. Perhaps they’re attempting tostraddle both sides and bow to whichever is victorious to save their own necks in the end.”
“I’d say I’m confident about that,” said Malachi. “It reeks of guilt that they were just at the wedding last night and uttered no warnings of what was to come at dawn. Rishaud would’ve needed a handful of days, at the very least, to pull six separate armies together.”
Kadeesha inhaled a slow breath while cursing the monarchs because she’d handed them such a better alternative. She then mustered the stomach to ask, “What portion of Aether soldiers are among the advancing force?”
Jakobi held her stare. “As infantry? A shit ton.”
Kadeesha didn’t look away. “That’s not usually the numbering convention we use in the Six Kingdoms, but I think I can do the math. What about kongamatos? Have war serpents been spotted in the skies?”
“There’s a squadron of twelve,” Jakobi gritted out.
Dread became a sentient thing breathing cold on her neck at the news that a full thunder was headed toward the palace. It wasn’t about the kongamatos. Her squadron was well-prepared to meet them in battle since it’d come to that. But the sheer amount of power it took to actually cloak even a few of the giant beasts who were saturated in staggering magic of their own … it showed just how strong Rishaud was and how difficult the Ancient king would be to kill.
