Page 137 of Merciless Is My Crown

“Tavion,” Anaria scolded beneath her breath. “We talked about this.”

“They are a bunch of soulless monsters,” Tavion growled back, and I tended to agree with him.

“Zor and I will take control of the guards, then we’ll tackle the army. We’ll try to ensure the transfer of power is…peaceful.” I locked eyes with Lyrae. “Care to tag along?”

“You do know the guards despise you. They think you are shite on their boots since you’ve had so many run-ins with them over the years.” Her light blue eyes brightened. “Yes, I’m coming. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“Then they’re about to be sorely disappointed in their choices, aren’t they? Either follow the orders of a slave and a traitor…or die.” I grinned at Zor, suddenly feeling better about today. “Let’s go stir up some shite.”

“Stay with Tavion.” I squeezed Anaria’s arm in warning. “Tristan will be back soon, once he gets past the crowds. Torin and the others are on their way. A few more minutes and this bullshite will be over. We can get to the next part.”

A few courtiers shouted insults, Tavion snarling the same right back at them, and I almost felt sorry for the poor fuckers. They had no idea what they were in for.

“Bullshite, indeed.” Anaria threaded her fingers through mine and gazed at Tavion and Zor with a soft smile. “I’m not sure we’ll have a royal court after today if Tavion has anything to say about it.”

I smiled back, but my chest was locked in an unforgiving vise.

We’d nearly died for real today, and I was going to kick Tristan’s arse when he did turn up.

One more second…

If Anaria hadn’t come up with about a hundred ways to delay the proceedings, if Zor hadn’t started that fight with Crux, those would be our corpses lying on the dais, not Crux’s and the king’s. Lyrae wouldn’t have risked her life to save us, that I knew for sure.

And we still weren’t finished.

Once Cosimo figured out how to remove the iron from the soil and the magic was reborn, we were going after the Oracle and Corvus. The vise around my heart squeezed tighter.

I could protect Anaria from a lot of things, but I couldn’t protect her from what was coming and fate had a way of fucking us over.

A young girl emerged from the back then crept through the crowd, eyes dancing over the disbursing royals, the wrecked throne room, and finally, the two bodies sprawled behind us. A savage, wild smile split her face.

Then she caught sight of Anaria. And burst into a run.

I stepped forward to block her, but Anaria gripped my arm. “No, it’s okay. I know her.”

The girl slid to a stop and cocked her head. She was in a servant’s uniform, her hair pulled back in a severe bun. “My lady?”

Anaria absolutely beamed, then the two of them were hugging then laughing before they pulled apart. “Look at you.” Anaria’s smile was brilliant. “It is good to see you, Sophie. I told you I’d be back.”

Sophie’s eyes were big as saucers when they fell on the king. “I have to admit, I didn’t think your return would be such an…event.”

“You know me, I’m big on grand entrances.”

“Will you be wanting your old room back?” Sophie pursed her lips at the destroyed throne room. “We might need some time to clean things up, given today’s…” She tried to stop her grin. “Festivities.”

“Why, Sophie, you’re quickly reminding me why you were my favorite person in Blackcastle.”

I cleared my throat and Anaria rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. My second favorite.”

That’s when the shout went up outside.

“Oh gods, what now? Are we under attack?’ Sophie asked quickly.

“No.” Anaria and I traded a look. “That’s the rest of our court making their grand entrance.” We linked arms, then Anaria held out her hand. “Let’s go outside and welcome them to Blackcastle. Come with us, Sophie. I have a feeling you’ll really appreciate what comes next.”

57

ANARIA

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