Page 141 of A Kingdom of Shadows

They come head-to-head, both the same towering height, both kings in such different ways.

"You might have my powers within your grasp, my life at your hands, but if you so much as touch her or do anything, I will personally revel in severing your limbs until you are nothing."

Aurum studies Darius, a shot of anger passing through his eyes before he puts on a tight smile. "Beautifully said, Darius. Now." He leans forward. "Kneel." A command, like Darius, is a pet to him.

Darius tries to fight it, his muscles taut and fists clenched.

"Kneel!" Aurum bellows in his face before shadows form around Darius's wrists, pulling him to his knees and leashing him there.

"Stop!" I get up, my hands fisting as Aurum's eyes land on me. "It is Sarilyn you want, not him."

Aurum cocks his head to the side, deciding to make his way to me as Darius fights against his restraints. I don't back away as Aurum stares down at me like he owns and can control me too. "I do not want Sarilyn," he croons. "I want something else." His fingers caress my hair, and I turn my head in disgust as he adds, "Something I figured I could have thanks to what the Seers showed me."

"Uncle, this has gone too far," Arlayna urges. "We have already distanced ourselves from other kingdoms thanks to the treaty. Why would you help someone who only wishes chaos against our world?"

Aurum's hand stills on my locks, his eyes on me even as he says, "Because your uncle figured out I could help him too."

Dusan surges forward. "I only wanted to bring you back to your original vessel so I could lift the curse, nothing more."

The king's curse.

He had just doomed us all for the need to break free from what Sarilyn did to him.

Aurum rolls his eyes, twisting to face Dusan. "You're right, Dusan, but there is a reason I said lifting this curse might bring consequences."

Dusan stares at him warily as Aurum brushes the lapels of the king's emerald coat.

"See, bringing me back may aid in lifting the curse, but I also made a deal with someone else. After all, I never much cared for you three centuries ago. Why should I now?"

Too much happens in a matter of seconds. None of us are fast enough to prevent it as Aurum's shadow magic materializes into two blades and impales Dusan's neck from each side. The guards draw their weapons out, but Aurum's power pushes them back with a shadow shield around us as Dusan's eyes bulge, and he clutches onto his neck with both hands. He looks straight at Aurum once more before he slumps forward onto the ground in a mess of his blood. Faye and Meriel come rushing toward him with horrified cries while Arlayna's chest heaves with fury as she looks at Aurum.

"You have no idea what you have just done," Arlayna says in a deadly threat as she settles Tibith on the ground, and vines begin wrapping around her fingers as she raises her hands to each side.

Aurum chuckles. "On the contrary, princess, I have fixed your little issue. You were the one who had shared her vulnerable feelings with Aias on how you did not want to be the next queen of Terranos."

Arlayna's magic freezes, and her eyes momentarily meet mine in abrupt confusion.

But Aurum waves a hand to the guards, dropping the shield as he declares, "There's a new king of Terranos!" He looks to his left, where Thallan walks through the sentry, grinning from ear to ear.

I shake my head, not wanting to process any of this.

"That is not possible." Meriel shoots up from the floor alongside Faye, their gowns smeared in Dusan's blood. "It is Arlayna who is next in line."

Faye's eyes are on Aeron as tears stream down her face. Her uncle is dead. No Elven healer magic can bring him back.

Aeron goes to Arlayna's aid, but it is not her who needs him right now. It is Faye.

"That was before the king trusted me with all the paperwork," Thallan answers, looking all smug. "All he had to do was sign and put me forth as the next ruler."

The paperwork.

That night I saw him snooping around Dusan's study. He was scheming, as was Aurum in Aias's body, and I had fallen for it all.

"Now." Thallan claps his hands and looks over at Aeron with a shark-like grin. "Everyone, kneel before your new king."

Arlayna takes a protective stance before Aeron, making Thallan's brow rise in amusement. Other guards glance at each other, hesitant about what to do, but Thallan commands them to kneel once more, and they start to obey one by one.

Aeron does no such thing, neither do I, Faye, and Arlayna but Meriel, yes, with not a single fight. Thallan then waits for the rest of us, Aurum proudly by his side as if he tolerates him when he is likely using him like he does with everything else.

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