Page 15 of Her King

“There’s something else,” she says. “I can feel them pulling at me. Earth. Runic. Even Quietus. Like they all want me to choose.”

“You can’t choose,” I say. “You don’t belong to one realm anymore.”

She nods. “I know and that’s what scares me.”

I move toward her and kneel in front of her. I take both her hands in mine, pressing my lips to her knuckles.

“Then let’s stop reacting,” I say. “Let’s move first. Let’s stop waiting for the prophecy to crush us and start using it to our advantage.”

Her eyes flicker with light, her gaze colliding with mine. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s time to end this game of shadows. We announce the merging ceremony, and we do it publicly. No more secrets and no more damn delays.”

“They’ll try to stop us.”

“Let them,” I say. “Let them try and fail.”

“And if they don’t fail?”

I rise and pull her to her feet. “They will. And in the process, they will reveal themselves. Then we will know who is against us.”

She doesn’t smile but she does step closer. “I want to do this with you,” she says. “Not just the crown or the ceremony. I want all of it. I want to build something new with you.”

I cup her face. “Then stand with me.”

She lifts her chin. “I already am.”

****

The next day, a royal decree is issued across all three realms. It is sent out on parchment wrapped in magik.

The Merging Ceremony

of

Cassandra Elise Ravenwood

Salem Descendant Witch of Alluvium

&

Nikolas Merrick Maximus

Highborn Fae and Future Ruler of Runic

will be held under the eclipse of the twin moons where they will bind their souls and their realms. Those who oppose the union will not be given mercy.

Chapter Thirteen

The Traitor

Josef

I always knew it would come to this. Not war ... but revolution. Not with swords and banners, but with blood. Quiet, deliberate, and necessary.

They’ve all been so blinded by her—by the light, the prophecy, and the crown promised in whispers. Cassandra of Alluvium. A witch who should have burned, now cradled in our halls like she’s divine.

But I’ve seen divinity. It’s merciless.

---