Page 56 of Vicious Is My Throne

Our princess had come for us, and I cursed her loyalty like I cursed my own failure.

I should have seen the threat. The palace was a honey trap, an easy solution to our problem, and I’d fallen for it. Stormfall would have been safer. Even Blackcastle, where we had Zephryn and Cosimo to back us up, would have offered more protection.

“We have to stop her, Raz,” Tavion whispered, his voice barely audible. “Before Anaria gets here.”

I nodded, jaw clenched tightly as I surveyed our impossible situation. “Agreed. At least Zor got out. And Bexley.”

Not that I held out any hope they’d help us. Zor headed for Blackcastle to warn Torin, and Bex…well, knowing the mage, he was hiding. In the mountains, perhaps, after the Oracle wrecked his life’s work with a violent tantrum of power.

The palace—this entire mountain—trembled beneath her rage, stone and rock rattling as she crushed and shredded, grinding years of the mage’s work down to dust. Bexley’s mouse had skittered away the moment she’d appeared out front and turned her gleaming smile on us.

As if on cue, her low chuckle echoed through the glass chamber, sending shivers down my spine. “Stunning, isn’t it?” the Oracle purred, her voice dripping with malice. “I hope you appreciate the view. That dying forest will be the last thing you see.”

Tavion’s fists knotted, anger flushing up his neck. “You will pay for what you and your brother have done. We won’t stop until you are both dead.” Muscles corded and strained as he fought the pain of her magical bonds, strong enough to lurch to his feet.

Her eyes flared wide before she slammed him back down to the floor, his knees hitting the marble with a heart-wrenching crack, the floor rocking beneath me, his grunt of pain followed by her low, cold laugh.

“Such bravado, wolf, but you always were all talk. Your princess made a grave mistake locking me away inside my own mind. I’m tempted to do the same to her.”

She crouched down so we were eye to eye, those shadows spilling across the floor like the train of a bridal gown. “They have arrived, the wyvern and your precious princess. Let us greet them properly, shall we?”

With a wave of her hand, the Oracle vanished from sight, leaving us alone, the only sound Tavion’s pained groans. Outside, the sky darkened as storm clouds gathered, casting ominous shadows over the ravine below, that constant roar of waterfalls pounding in my ears.

I flexed my shoulders, yanking at my invisible bonds, but couldn’t move a muscle. When I opened my mouth, nothing came out.

Tavion’s eyes met mine, flared wide.

Inside my head, I screamed out warning after warning.

Don’t come any further.

It’s a trap.

Fly as far away from here as you can.

I didn’t know if anything got through. Doubtful, with the Oracle’s power locking me down. We knelt there, shoulders touching, and I squeezed my eyes closed as two sets of approaching footsteps echoed across the marble floor.

21

ANARIA

Tristan and I paused in the doorway of the empty room.

Empty except for Tavion and Raz, hands bound behind their backs, kneeling in the center of the floor facing away from us.

They were so still I couldn’t tell if they were still breathing, couldn’t see their faces because they were staring out over the forest.

Some kind of Old God irony, I was sure, meant to convey some momentous message.

Overhead, my darklings slithered across the ceiling, no darker than the deepening shadows in the room, the billowing thunderclouds cutting off all traces of daylight as the storm swept in.

Her magic coated this room like Corvus’s blight coated the forest, dripping from every wall and puddling on the floor. That same foul power wrapped tightly around Raz and Tav, and I was sure she made them hurt.

If I knew my males at all, they were fighting, locked inside their bodies, searching for a way out. In fact, if I listened closely, I could hear Tavion screaming in my head, warning me not to come any closer.

Soon enough, soon enough I’ll have you both free, and then…

The Oracle appeared before the glass windows, her magic billowing around her like dark robes, watching me with a predatory gleam in her eyes, lips curled into a cruel smile as she raised her hand, summoning the tendrils of shadow to encircle her like a web.

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