Page 119 of Queen of the Night
“The absence of a mate bond won’t keep me from you.” I hold her tighter, inhale the sweet scent of her…
Iwake in the dungeon, where the scent of the musty, wet stone is ten times worse for just being with Vera. I eye Jethonan lightly snoring in the corner of his own cell and assume something orsomeonemust have woken her. I fist and refist my hands, feeling more helpless than I’ve ever felt in my life.
Chapter 66
Vera
The dress is made of the lightest fabric, similar to the spider silk the fae use, and the off-the-shoulder design has me concerned that it will simply fall off in a puddle if I move wrong. I look down its black length. A slit in the fabric is intended to bare my left leg to mid-thigh—a height I am more than uncomfortable with, but no longer. With needle and thread snatched in an act of revenge from the seamstress who woke me early this morning from my dream with Ikar, I knot the last stitch. The extent of my sewing skills is replacing the buttons on my jackets, and it shows. The stitches are uneven and loose, the slit still shows a bit if I look close, but it’ll do. I rise and test its strength, confident that if I walk carefully, the stitches will hold.
Now the suns are setting, and I have nothing to distract myself with. So I sit and worry. I imagined my first time in Ikar’s home would be by his side, not waking up from frozen-induced sleep, imprisoned by a horrid gloam king. I press my fingers together and touch my chin as I think. I cannot bridgewith Renton.I can’t.The entire kingdom is at stake. Can he force me? Unfortunately, I don’t know. I blow out a breath.
I jump when two hard raps at the door jolt me from my thoughts. I attempt to compose myself as I stand, my clammy hands at my sides. The door swings open and Renton strolls in as if it’s just another day. As if he’s not about to attempt to take over a kingdom and kill innocents. As if he’s not about to force a woman to bridge with and marry him. I stand so still I fear I’ll pass out as he drags his eyes over my appearance.
“You look ravishing.” He lifts an approving brow, and I feel gloam caress the bare skin of my shoulders, lingering over my mark. So different from the warmth and trust between Ikar and me, when he touched it just days ago. The sorrow must show on my face because he stops before me and stares straight into my eyes.
“Remember, darling, you’ll be worshipped.” He looks toward the window, then back to me. “Not only by them, but by me.” He lifts my wrist and kisses the inside softly, but the only lips I want on my skin are Ikar’s, and I tug my arm away. His eyes darken. “In time you’ll see that I can love you better than he ever could.”
I keep my expression flat. I refuse to argue with an ancient narcissist.
He wraps my limp hand around his arm and guides me from the room, but instead of the throne room where I expect this to take place, I’m led to the main steps of the castle. I hardly have time to prepare myself before we step through the enormous doors, and I find myself before a crowd of people so large I can’t number them.So many people. The low kings stand sullenly in a line to our left, watching. For a moment I try to catch Drade’s eye; he wouldn’t let me marry this deranged gloam monster, would he? But he refuses to look my way. Areall of the kings… all of these people… being forced to see their new king wed and bridged? Or did they choose to be here? When the people see me on Renton’s arm, a wave of murmurs spread. I don’t miss the heated glares, the jeers, the cursing, until gloam guards begin to weed the disruptive citizens out and drag them away.
My cheeks heat with shame. What must these people think of me?
My heart drops even further at the scene to my right. Upon a hastily erected platform is a crowd of dull white. At least twenty originators are cuffed and silent. Cloaked soldiers with swords ready stand guard, prepared to end them at a moment’s notice. Their stark white clothing is streaked with blood and covered with dirt, proving the struggle to capture them. I spot Nadiette near the front, still and stoic.
“How the mighty have fallen,” Renton says near my ear, being careful to stick to the shadows of the castle walls.
“You’re not going to kill them, are you?” I ask quietly, nearly shaking.
“What better gift could I give you?” Renton asks, affronted. “You should be pleased. They are the ones who murdered the Black Tulips for their own gain, forcing you into a life of fear and hiding. It’s a necessary message. That behavior will not be accepted under our rule.”
I can’t breathe. This is never what I wanted.
Soon, there’s silence. I look over the people, wanting to shout that I didn’t choose this, but the only eyes I meet are filled with judgment and mourning. No understanding, no mercy. I wonder then if this is how it would have been either way, whether it was Ikar I would be bridging with or Renton. I admit that, even with Ikar by my side, they may have been afraid, but I had hope that we could change things. With Renton? There’snone. I’ll be seen as one who took over a kingdom, one who fulfilled a dreaded seer vision they’ve feared for hundreds of years.
I swallow as the scene Odella showed me replays in my head. Though it’s not my choice to be by his side, I’m feeling as wicked as they believe me to be. Has it always been my fate to destroy my own kingdom?
My eyes burn, and I look down to blink away the moisture, only to find the perfect Tulip lying on an intricately crafted black iron table beside me. I remember the day Rupi dropped it in Ikar’s hands clearly. Has he already been tried and found guilty? Executed while I was locked in my room? I stare at the flower. Never will I know his magic bound with mine, his warm to my cool. For the smallest moment, it seemed as if I held everything I ever wanted in my hands… and in the next moment, it was torn away.
The flower taunts me. Dark, mysterious, beautiful. I reach out and twist its stem. It doesn’t seem wilted, even days after being plucked.
“I have an eager bride.” Renton smiles.
I don’t correct him, because what’s the use?
“Do you plan to remain in the shadows the entirety of your rule?” I ask, the judgment of his courage obvious in my voice.
He merely offers a lazy grin, unbothered, his focus somewhere else.
I follow his gaze to a procession of cloaked soldiers who lead two men out of a side door and toward the wood stage built across the distance. My stomach heaves.No.
Chapter 67
Ikar
Jethonan and I are pulled from our cells and cuffed before we’re led from the depths of my castle and out to the main entrance, now filled with my own citizens and soldiers. I keep my gaze forward as we pass the crowds who’ve come to witness my farce of a trial and the marriage between Vera and Renton, ignoring gasps and shouts as I pass. I can’t tell if they’re angry at me or Renton or even the low kings who I see from the corner of my eye, but the exclamations don’t sound pleased.
Beneath the dim light of the third sun setting, we step up the short set of rickety wood stairs of an execution platform to find over twenty of my best originators chained in rows behind where they lead me. I clench my jaw when my shirt is torn from my body, and I’m forced to my knees on the rough wood planks. My wrists are locked in short chains that are bolted to the ground, forcing me to bend forward at an awkward angle. A stone chopping block lies ahead of me. I swallow amidst the wave of gasps and murmuring arising from the crowd.
