Page 122 of Captive of the Stolen Empire

I gasped as Emperor Ryszard stepped into the wrecked room. Elaborate metal armor, decorated with gemstones of his signature crimson and grey, guarded his form. His traditional fur cloak hung down his back, dragging along the ground. Though sweat stuck the hair to his face, he still wore his thin crown and jewels about his neck. A hint of mud marred him, but no blood colored his attire. He hadn’t seen battle, not the thick of it. And yet, he’d made it here…

“My emperor?” Kasida stiffened but kept her blades aimed at her targets.

My arms shook. I cut a glance to Warren but could deduce nothing. Was Lucien dead already? His body cooling somewhere in the forest? I bit my lip, holding in the scream threatening to tear its way to the surface.

“I desire to deal with these traitors myself. Hearing a report would simply be…” One ring-decked hand toyed with the pommel of the ornate dagger at his side. “Unsatisfying.”

My world spiraled into darkness deeper than any I’d known. My arms shook, but I couldn’t feel them anymore, nor the heat of the fires cooking the room.

“Put out those flames before you burn us all alive,” Ryszard ordered, waving a weathered hand at Orson.

Orson extinguished his flames and the enchanted swords. Only trails of smoke remained. Some spilled out the shattered windows, others clouded the room and burned my lungs.

“What do you plan to do with us?” I demanded. The question took all my courage, all my cycles of training to be calm in the face of disaster.

Ryszard turned, his cold gaze sliding over me as if I were dirt under his horse’s hooves rather than thehonored guesthe’d once called me. His fingers drummed along the hilt of the blade sheathed at his side just inside the long fall of his cloak. “You’ll see.”

A wicked light glinted in his eyes, unlike any expression I’d seen him show. In a move I almost missed, he slid the blade free, twisted around, and tossed it end over end. No one had time to move before the tip sunk into Kasida’s eye and she tumbled to the ground.

Chapter54

Lucien

Magic pulled at my energy, wearing down my strength and consciousness.

I’d used too much in the forest. Keeping up this disguise, the face of the man who’d raised me, took everything I had left. Sweat dripped down my back. My legs shook. In a moment it wouldn’t matter.

My friends were alive, if barely. I’d made it in time. And Ilya…my heart flushed with pride over her courage. Chin up, eyes clear in the heat of battle. I’d expect nothing less.

“What do you plan to do with us?” she demanded.

Oh, that spit of fire. That brightly burning soul that entranced me from the moment she’d stared me down after I conquered Sorrena. Her look was much the same then as it was now. Scathing. Proud. I loved her for it.

A grin pulled at my lips, and I let the illusion slip just the briefest bit for her to see it. She hadn’t figured me out, none of them had, and now that I’d moved the pieces to my advantage on this playing board, it was time for the final act.

I gripped the dagger sheathed at my side, a real one I’d wrapped in illusion to mimic the emperor’s.Training don’t fail me now.I sent the blade twisting end over end until it lodged in Kasida’s eye.

She didn’t scream, didn’t even drop her smirk before her body went still and tumbled to the ground.

A child’s error removing her helm in battle.

The remorse I expected didn’t come. I didn’t wait for it as I turned to Orson and let my magic slip away.

“You—” he gaped.

Gasps and exclamations poured out behind me, including a strangled squeal in Ilya’s mesmerizing tones.

“Should have killed you before.” I pulled the sword from the scabbard across my back and charged. Orson didn’t suspect a thing when his emperor rode out to meet him on the edge of the battlefield. He’d barely questioned why Emperor Ryszard—who rarely took the field—would choose to join him unexpectedly today.

A sharp keening sounded as my blade slid against his, the tip scraping against his armor where he barely blocked me in time. His physical strength outmatched mine. He moved without the hindrance of injury. He’d been fully healed by magic. How unfortunate.

Warren edged closer in my periphery as Orson’s blade rang against mine once more. The blow pushed me back a step. My muscles waned from overuse. The ache echoed through my body no matter how I pushed it away. Alone, I wouldn’t win.

The moment magic tingled on my skin, I ordered through our bond, “Keep him moving. Don’t let his magic free.” The bond had slipped away earlier when Warren had engaged Kasida and her guards, but not before he’d given me enough information to put my plan into action and follow Orson into the mansion.

If we could keep Orson distracted, he wouldn’t have the chance to unleash his magic and burn us all alive.

Reyna cried out, yelling for Zurina, but I couldn’t turn from the battle.

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