Page 71 of Between Fear and Favor

I said nothing, waiting impatiently as Nereza approached. She stopped, just far enough that I wasn’t confident Lux’s flames would reach if I needed them to. “Closer,” I commanded, and Nereza merely crossed her arms. It wasn’t her worst idea, because I suddenly contemplated testing the limits of controlling the divine fire. If she stepped nearer, could I make it avoid me and Rain and Ryo?

She used her shadows to deposit her prisoners on the ground between us. The Supreme still stood beside me, while Nereza and her daughters weren’t far behind my loved ones. Allowing the shadows to drop from Rain’s body, Nereza beckoned toward the Supreme.

I allowed myself a respite to take in my husband’s face. Weary, it seemed as if he’d aged ten years since I’d last seen him. He panted, and sweat beaded his brow. If he was still this poorly, certainly those in the pit were faring worse. He watched me with parted lips and wide eyes as he stumbled closer.

“Send Zaphus back, and I will unhand your monstrosity!” Nereza called, and I could understand her fear. With me and Rain and a dragon beside us, we might have easily overpowered the Supreme.

“Go,” I ordered, and the man who’d nearly sacked our city, who had committed terrible atrocities against us, moved forward unharmed, nodding toward Rainier as they passed one another. I huffed a laugh, distaste and hatred heavy on my tongue.

The Supreme had nearly reached her side, when he held up the vial of my blood, drawing celebratory cheers from his soldiers. It seemed Nereza wasn’t so pleased with this arrangement because the breath was knocked out of me when she crushed Ryo once more with her hateful divinity. My dragon writhed in pain, his cries gone hoarse, drawing tears to my eyes. Between my pain and his, I wasn’t sure what was worse. But I could barely walk, and neither could Rain. There wasn’t much we could do.

But it wasn’t me they had to be worried about.

For in that moment, Irses intervened, drawn by Ryo’s cries. Darkness engulfed us, and I could no longer see. Irses’ shadows,myshadows, purred as they wrapped around us.

“Oh gods,” I gasped, as I summoned divine fire into my palm. Rain stumbled forward, though I wasn’t sure what he intended to do either. Lux growled behind us, and the ground shook as she launched skyward. The gust of wind from her wings threw us to the ground, and I watched in horror, praying to the gods for the protection of these great beasts of mine.

Backlit by Lux’s fire as she decimated the Supreme’s soldiers, I watched as Irses dipped low, mouth agape. Roaring, he dove for Nereza—the woman who had tortured Ryo, who had brought endless suffering to Astana, who had threatened me. She stumbled, shocked by his approach, and fell to the ground, but Irses was undeterred. The Supreme stood just beside Nereza, arm outstretched as if to defend himself. Irses’ open mouth snagged the Supreme, lifting him into the sky.

“Divine fucking hell,” Rain murmured from beside me, though neither of us moved to intervene.

Nereza screamed, scrambling to her feet. As Irses’ powerful wings propelled him upward, the Nythyrian queen used her shadows, wrapping them around the Supreme’s lower half. With a guttural howl, she pulled with all of her strength.

Though everything had been thrown into chaos, I thought I heard the ripping of the Supreme’s flesh as Nereza tore him from Irses’ grasp. Lifelessly, the man tumbled to the ground, and within an instant, Nereza’s daughter had rifted them away.

Eyes wide, I watched as Irses slowly circled high above. The screams of the enemy soldiers nearly drowned out Lux’s roar as her divine fire rained down upon them. Veering sharply, she headed toward the city walls, in fierce pursuit of everyone who had brought such unthinkable harm down upon us.

My body was throbbing, and my arms gave out. I groaned as I pitched forward to the ground, only barely catching myself from slamming my face into the cobblestone street. Rain grunted, crawling towards me and pulling me into his arms. As he placed a soft kiss on my brow, we both flinched as something fell from the sky in front of us.

I adjusted, lifting my head to see, and I felt Rain’s surprise through the bond at the same moment I realized what it was. The Supreme’s arm, still clothed but covered in blood, laid in the street before us. Wrapped tightly in his fist was the chain which once held my vial of blood. I could only hope it had been destroyed in Irses’ maw, but I was certain we hadn’t been so lucky.

“You get whatever you put your mind to, don’t you?” Rain asked, and I collapsed into his embrace once more.

Deception

Upon his terrible throne,the king looked down his long nose at the man sprawled on the marble floor before him. Talk of his sister’s smile and the boy’s eyes did nothing to convince the king of anything except that the man before him was a pitiful mess.

It didn’t matter that the child resembled his sister in some ways, not when his ears were sharpened points, indisputable evidence of her wanton behavior. Though he found it unpalatable to think of his kin as a whore, the war he now fought would not have come to pass otherwise.

The vicious king told the man as such, and it only prompted the wailing to begin once more. Waiting for some sort of explanation to emerge between all the sniffling and hiccuping, the king grew irritated. The entire conversation, filled with all the dramatics of a theater production, had been a waste of his time. He had a war to plan for. He certainly did not want to entertain the thought of raising a half-elf bastard, let alone elevating him into the position of heir.

At least, that was what he thought—until the mumbling began. Stories of wardens and gifts, of treachery and deception, tumbled from the man’s lips. Guilt and grief were so entwined in his story, the king was certain there must be more to it. Why else would he weep so openly over a whore? It was nonsense to view anyone else as responsible for his sister’s death except the man who’d broken his promises time and again. And yet, the robed figure who knelt in front of him did just that.

“I didn’t mean for it to happen this way,” he said between heaving gasps. “She just didn’t listen,” he snapped, lifting his furious gaze. To speak so fiercely about the king’s own blood was a risk the man clearly didn’t mind taking.

“And this gift…You say it is his birthright. Why shouldn’t we kill him like the rest?”

The answer nearly stopped his heart.

After listening to the explanation, the king sat back, steepling his fingertips beneath his chin. The power he longed for—more than that—could be passed down his family line, if only he engaged in this one act of artifice. To keep the boy alive was a necessity more than it was familial responsibility.

“And what do you gain from this arrangement?” the king asked.

The man stiffened, eyes darting around the room. He opened his mouth to speak before shutting it abruptly. Frowning, he seemed to ask a question more than offer an answer, when he said one word.

“Power.”

The king’s brow furrowed as he studied the man whose eyes still watered and breaths still shook.

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