Page 116 of Renegade Kings

The sword was lodged deep in his stomach as he looked at it grimly before turning to me.

“I never thought it would end this way. I stupidly thought I had until the end.” He coughed, grimacing in pain as he did, ruby red blood now coating his lips.

For a second, I didn’t know what to do. I stared at the sword in horror, knowing there would be no healing from this, even if we weren’t currently in the middle of a battlefield. I frantically looked around for Ryder. For Tank. For anyone.

I was pulled back to my senses as Rhidian pushed a dagger into my hand. “You have to kill me, Maddox.”

I stared at him in shock, shaking my head even as Rhidian moved the dagger’s point to his chest, holding my hand clasped around the hilt for me.

“No. What? No. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get you help. Ryder is…”

I looked around desperately. There had to be someone. Someway to do anything that could stop this.

Rhidian laughed, the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth now as he struggled to breathe.

“I’m dying, Maddox, don’t insult my intelligence. But you have to be the one that kills me. Arik will take control of the royal line for the Summer Court if I die by this hand. The Endless is just as much him as if he’d done it himself. You have to kill me and take the line for yourself.”

I shook my head, my mind not wanting to believe what he was saying. I couldn’t. I just… I couldn’t.

“Look after her, Maddox. There was always a part of me that knew she could never love me. Maybe I deserve that for putting her on this path. But with another court at her side, she’ll be stronger. You’ll get the full strength of the Summer Court. The others have to do the same.” He coughed again as his body rebelled over him trying to talk too quickly. It didn’t take a genius to realise that he was trying to say as much as he could before it was too late. “It’s the only way. I wasn’t supposed to say. You were supposed to work it out for yourself, but I find myself not giving a shit right now. The Autumn heir is in hiding. You need to find them, and if you can save the court here, you will. Remember how many thrones are in Nymeria and how many kings you need to fill them.”

Rhidian suddenly sat up, impaling himself through the chest with the dagger. A look of peace swept across his face, and he smiled sadly. His mouth opened to say something else, but instead, Rhidian took a gasping breath, his hand grabbing the collar of my shirt as he pulled me closer.

“Nothing is as it seems. Arik isn’t…”

Rhidian never had the chance to finish his sentence. His eyes slowly closed, and I saw every regret he had pass over his face as a single tear slipped free from one eye. Then he sagged forward into my arms as the life drained out of him.

I clung to the man I’d never had a chance to know better and tried not to think about the burning sensation sweeping across my skin as the royal mark for the Summer Court was branded onto me.

He deserved so much more than to die in the mud. He deserved to be a king. A king with the queen he’d loved all his life by his side.

Chapter 47

Alyssa

The battlefield was changing so quickly that it was hard to keep up. Blood dripped from the blade of my sword as I panted to catch my breath, surveying my surroundings.

The plan had been to make my way to the centre of the camp and break Arik’s control, but it had all gone to shit as soon as we’d realised that most of the soldiers were not asleep in their beds as we’d assumed, but already standing and armed.

There were so many here. We’d all heard the stories of how Arik filled his training camp by tearing children from their beds in the night. But seeing it in front of us now, seeing the sheer number of people who’d been given no choice but to become a weapon for him, it was hard to not feel a righteous anger and need for revenge.

I ducked beneath an axe aimed for my neck and felt the hairs on the top of my head move in the breeze it created. Fucking hell, that had been far too close for comfort. I couldn’t afford to get distracted out here.

I came up under the soldier’s swing, twisting the hilt of my sword in my hand so I could slice deep across his bicep. He dropped the axe with a shout and then dived for me. We both tumbled to the ground as we fought for my sword.

The temptation to reach for my magic was strong. But I couldn’t risk it. There were far more Endless here than we’d expected, and I needed to make sure I was strong enough to break the connection on them all.

“Is that a royal mark? I wonder what Arik will give me when I take one of the thrones for him,” the soldier spat in my face.

“The pointy end of a sword, you stupid fuck,” I screamed as I finally got control of the sword and drove it up through his chest. “He’d kill you to take the line for himself.”

I saw the look of disbelief on the man’s face just before the light faded from his eyes. Whether it had been because he was dying or because in his last moments, he realised he was following a man who didn’t give a shit about him, I didn’t really have time to care.

I pushed the dead body off me and clambered back to my feet, dodging to the side as another soldier swung for me, only for one of our own fighters to step into his path and meet the sword with his own.

As I looked around, my field of vision was filled with so much gold armour, and I realised that The Endless were focusing their attack on this part of the battlefield. Not only that, but they were quickly closing in.

They were coming for me.

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