Page 126 of Captive of the Stolen Empire

She winced.

I was right. She couldn’t stay. Not with me. No matter how much I loved and wanted her. She had somewhere she belonged. A people to lead, a role to fulfill. That had been her goal all along, and now all that prevented her from returning to the past she longed for was a ride home.

And then she’d be gone.

Back to unreachable heights on the throne of Sorrena, glaring down at me as she’d done the day I took her future away. I deserved the pain that tore my heart in two.

“And you promised to go with Gabriel.” Her words were a death knell. The final dagger.

My teeth ground together. “He’s most insistent that I at least pay a visit.” It might be my last trip anywhere if they put my head on a spike.

Ilya simply nodded. “Your parents will be happy to see you. To know you’re alive.”

I doubt it.

A rider galloped up, dropping from her horse in front of Nyke with expert skill. “Sir.” She leaned in and whispered something in urgent tones.

Nyke’s brows rose. The woman remounted and turned her horse as soon as the command left his lips.

“What is it?” Ilya asked.

“A few more captives caught fleeing the battle,” he answered. “Gather the others. We’ll need to decide what to do with them once they arrive and plot our next steps.”

Next steps…away from Ilya and the future I craved.

Would Warren and Zurina leave with Elin and Reyna too once the fighting was done and Zhine taken? In winning this war, I might lose everything that mattered.

Chapter56

Ilya

Reyna gathered the heirs of the city-states together outside the damaged manor home. Her plans for after the war involved all of us.

“A tribunal?” Gabriel asked.

“Exactly, a trial among all the city-states. We’ll take the emperor into custody, and he will answer to all of us for the crimes he’s committed,” Reyna said.

“There hasn’t been one of those in an age,” Elin said in awe. Warren stepped up next to her, taking her hand in his. He’d nearly died today, and he still walked slowly from the bruises on his body and the seizure of his heart, but he looked like the happiest man alive. He was the opposite of Lucien, who despite our victory today wore a shroud of defeat.

“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. I doubt he’ll just surrender.” My attention slid past him to the group standing in the charred remains of the front gardens. Zurina was up and moving—healed, thanks to Gaius’s magic. Thank The Four for that blessing.

“Perhaps not,” Reyna said. “But the emperor can no longer use us to hinder our homelands from acting. If we rise up and work together, anything is possible.” With the return of Zurina’s health had come Reyna’s joy and optimism. Even now she talked in broad hand movements and high-pitched exclamations. “Our city-states can imprison the governors and the paltry troops Ryszard left in our homelands to watch over things. Then they can join up with us as one combined force.”

Horses galloped into view. Their riders came to halt on the yellowed grasses spreading between the gardens and the forest. Behind them came a horse-drawn cart. No, a prison wagon. A large, wooden cage had been constructed on top of a supply cart and now carried a jumble of prisoners, their clothing giving them away as the emperor’s soldiers.

Lucien and Zurina headed in their direction. More hostages of war to sort through, to decide who’d stay locked up for now and who might be willing to join our cause.

“Traitors,” one man spat. “The emperor will mount your heads on spikes!”

The words cut through our conversation, but that wasn’t what caused fury to simmer under my skin. He aimed the words at Lucien. I could see his form stiffen from here as the accusations slammed into him.

I crossed the garden and slid my arm through Lucien’s—the best support I could think to offer at that moment. Tension pulled his muscles tight. I might as well have hugged a tree for how stiff he was.

The man’s attention slid to me like a snake through the grass. “And now you’ve taken up with some rebel whore?”

Lucien stiffened more before relaxing all at once. His fingers intertwined with mine. Solid. Strong. Warm. “Call her that again and they’ll be nothing left of you to imprison.”

“Imprison!” he fumed. “Like some criminal? The emperor will never—”

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