Page 179 of Fearless

This cannot be happening.

I must be dreaming, desperately trying to claw myself awake from this nightmare. Because I refuse to believe my life is yet again crumbling around me, all within the span of a single day.

But this is real, and I am standing—shaking—before my husband who used the Trials as a way to kill me. Trials that are typically meant to showcase the Elite powers that were not gifted but created. Elite powers that do not make you a god—they make you a successful experiment.

I don’t know whether to laugh, or cry, or rage.

“Just… calm down, Kitt.” The Enforcer’s arm brushes mine when he takes another step to shield me. “This is insanity. I won’t let you go through with any of it. You cannot ruin yourself for the promise of legacy.”

But the king is hardly listening.

His gaze has fallen to the stretch of skin Kai has pressed to mine. “Even now,” he whispers. “Even now.” This proclamation is louder. “Look at you, protecting her. She has taken everything from us, including each other. We are so much better off without her, Brother.” Kitt reaches out an arm, his fingers curling around the hilt of that ceremonial sword. “Just like old times.”

There is a wildness to his features, his movements. I watch it unfurl down the length of his body, spreading from that crazed gaze. Something sinister seems to have snapped within the king. I see now that those stoic moments with me were simply a repression of everything he felt, a biding of time.

“Kitt,” Kai utters slowly. “Put the sword down.”

“It’s never going to stop.” He waves the blade’s tip in the air as though completely oblivious to the picture of severity he paints. “You are going to keep choosing her over me. Again, and again. But I need you, Kai!” He laughs out the words humorlessly. “I need you with me—your focus, your loyalty, your heart. All of it.”

“Kitt, think about what you are saying,” Kai warns.

“She was only ever a means to an end!” The king’s sword swings dangerously at his side. Those dark veins bulge against his pale skin. “I needed her as queen to draw out the kingdoms, open their borders. But her usefulness is short-lived for us, Kai!”

My stomach lurches beneath a clenching heart. I can’t help the pang of hurt that vibrates through me. I once considered this boy a friend, a confidant I accepted spending the rest of my life beside. But the hysteria in his voice, the sword in his hand, makes me flinch.

A means to an end.

Kitt is not the only Azer I’ve been used by before inevitably meeting the end of their sword. This king is a reflection of the last, whether he sees it or not.

“Enough, Kitt!” Kai’s chest lifts with quick breaths. “This is mad. I won’t help you spread another Plague through the kingdoms. You told me I wouldn’t have to kill Ordinaries while you are king.” He swallows. “And that is exactly what you would be doing.”

“Kai…” The king’s gaze grows eerily sympathetic. “It’s already begun.”

My blood chills. “What are you talking about?”

Kitt swings the sword sloppily at his side. “Fine. The Trials were more than a death sentence. They were useful to me.”

My mind reels as I drift back to each of the Trials.

Mareena’s crown. Mak’s death in the Pit. And—

“The roses,” I sputter. “What did you do to those roses?”

“They were laced, and you delivered them for me.” The damning words slide easily off Kitt’s tongue. Then a rattling cough spews from his mouth. “Izram will be the first infected kingdom.”

Kai’s chest heaves. His words are drowned in disbelief. “What have you done?”

“You will come to understand, Brother,” the king urges. Blood trickles from the corner of his lips. “Just as you will understand why I must rid our lives of her.”

I take a slow step back. “Kitt…”

Kai stretches out his arm in front of me like a shield. “You’re… sick, Kitt. You know this isn’t right.” His stern tone slips into something more pleading. “And you know I won’t stand here and let you hurt your…wife.”

The king’s eyes flash. “Still, you hate that she is mine. Even married to me she holds so much power over you. Look at yourself, Kai! You are wound so tightly around her finger thatyoucan no longer think straight.” He tugs at his hair in frustration, tangling the blond strands. “Things will go back to the way they were without her. You and me, always.”

I glance nervously at his swinging sword. “Why would you want to do this? I… I thought we cared for one another.”

“Oh, don’t take this too personally, Paedyn.” Another step. “I even began to enjoy your company over these past few weeks, despite how desperately I wanted you out of our lives. But you have to understand—I just want my brother back.”

---