Page 97 of Vicious Is My Throne

She drew a shaky breath and tears began to fall all over again.

“Where we are going today, know I am right beside you.” I lifted her hand and pressed her palm over my still-thundering heart. “I am with you in every way. You are not alone anymore. You will never be alone again.”

Anaria should never have been alone in the first fucking place, but I couldn’t change the past. All I could do was protect her and keep her safe, never letting her down.

Be her shield.

Be her sword.

“Oh, Raz.” Her fingers flexed against my chest, that light brush sending a jolt of electricity through me. “There were promises I made when I was here. When I was a slave. Promises I never thought I’d keep.”

She swiped at her eyes. “Maybe…maybe I still have time to make them come true.”

I kissed one eyelid then the other, tasting delicate, perfumed salt. “Let me know what I can do to help, because I’d very much like you to keep those promises, princess.” I tugged her against me, drinking her floral scent down like I was parched.

“Today might be hard, seeing things from your past.” I buried my nose in her hair. “I know what it’s like to have bad memories come out of nowhere, when you’re least prepared for them.” I bent down and stared into her eyes.

“At any point today, if the situation becomes too much, say the word and I will take you away. I don’t know everything about your life here…but I know these bastards hurt you.” I brushed my knuckles down her cheek. “But they will never hurt you again. You are stronger than them. Better than them, and you have us by your side. Always and forever.”

“Always, Raz.” Her smile was warm and soft and private as she laced her hand back into mine. “Now let’s go find us some keystones so we can kick Corvus’s arse.”

Despite my promise, Anaria was tense when we arrived at House Rivière, her back stiff, shoulders straining beneath my hand as we made our way up the drive. Bex had remained behind to do research, claiming he wouldn’t be any help in a fight and would probably slow us down.

Tavion, never one to mince words, had told him he was right.

Unlike Ravenshade, this estate was perfectly manicured, a pair of nervous footmen on either side of the entrance, carriage tracks cut into the raked gravel. A series of water nymphs in various poses lined the drive, a fountain covered in an inordinate number of frolicking nymphs bubbling merrily in the center of the sprawling front lawn.

“They sure like their statues,” Tavion grumbled, and Anaria’s mouth twitched.

Yet even with the meticulous attention to detail, Varitus was like a watered-down version of Caladrius.

Smaller, duller, shabbier.

Like an echo of the real thing, and fury rose and fell inside me again like it had been all day as we stalked up the drive, the footmen now scrambling for their weapons, frightened, pale faces peering out of the windows between lace curtains.

Everything about this place was small and cruel.

Filled with sniveling, churlish demi-Fae every bit as monstrous as the two kings, abusing their power, abusing those beneath them.

Abusing Anaria.

The breath went out of me the same time the arrow nicked my ear, blood spraying across my face.

Had I been paying the least fucking bit of attention, I would have noticed the archers crouched on the roof, but I was a distracted, pissed-off fool who’d gotten himself shot. As it was, my ear hurt like a fucking bitch, and now I had blood dripping down the side of my neck.

Tristan and Tavion became an instant, impenetrable wall in front of us, Anaria’s magic humming around us, a shield strong enough none of these weak fucks could get through.

Even with the nulling magic in this realm, even as exhausted as she was, our princess could decimate this entire estate with a snap of her fingers. But I knew Anaria wouldn’t so much as touch a brick of this place as long as there were innocents inside.

“How do you want to play this, Anaria?” Tavion asked softly. “Because right now I’m tempted to shift and start shredding these fuckers to pieces.”

“I second that plan,” Tristan said, scanning the front of the castle a bit wildly. “Can’t wait to see how they react to a wyvern if they’re this threatened by just the five of us.”

“We go up to the front doors and ask to see Lord Eirik Rivière. I don’t remember seeing him or his wife at the ball, but I might have missed them. Even if they’re dead, someone is in charge or this place would look like Ravenshade.”

Three more arrows bounced off Anaria’s shield before we reached those doors, the footmen fleeing when we closed in, and the sound of scuffling from the inside told me they were blockading the entrance with furniture.

“Do you want to find another way in?” I asked Anaria, reaching out to take her hand, pressing her trembling fingers between mine. “Or blast the doors open?”

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