Page 52 of Into the Dawn
“We did not feel it,”Ronan growled.
“Stop glaring at me, or you are going to ruin all of our plans,”Kylie insisted.
Ronan and Dominic immediately grimaced at her, making her want to roll her eyes at them. Clearly, she should have given them a crash course lesson in acting before they had shown up tonight. Every A-list entertainer knew how to mask their emotions in public. It was how they survived the media storm that came with fame. While it was a good thing her mates were honest males, they weren’t exactly great at spy missions.
“You wound us,”Dominic accused, this time gifting her with a real smile.
Shaking her head, she laughed lightly as they escorted her back over to the table. As soon as she was seated between them, a group of servers rushed over and began setting platters of food on the table along with goblets filled with glowing wine.
“Everyone, raise a glass in toast to our new princess,” a male called out.
As most of the people at the table lifted their goblets, instinct had Kylie slapping out, using her magic. The goblets tumbled to the floor with a loud crash, making everyone in the room glance over with a mixture of shock, curiosity, and alarm.
“What is wrong, mate?” Dominic asked.
“It’s laced with noctis poison.”
She wasn’t sure how she knew that, only that she had sensed it. Perhaps it was due to her blood bond with the gods, or maybe it was simply because she’d had a little more time to merge withher dragon spirit. Either way, the knowledge was within her, so she didn’t doubt its accuracy.
Rage filled her as she realized some asshole had just tried to kill off the entire royal family. Her fucking family. Noctis poison was extracted from a rare flower that was found high up in the mountains. The flower only bloomed for a few minutes in the moonlight before it died, making it very difficult to harvest.
The poison was odorless and tasteless, making it the perfect secret weapon against beings with enhanced senses.
She shared the information with her mates through their bond, and Dominic slapped his hand on the table as he surged to his feet.
“Coward,” he snarled. “Your plan to have the rogues kill us failed, so you resort to poison? Have you no honor?”
“What is wrong, Prince Dominic?” Brel Varko called out.
Brel, Galron, and Timus Varko were the Commanders of the Guard as well as the Karos family’s most trusted warriors. They were the brothers of Ronan and Dominic’s first mate and their best friends.
And they were fucking traitors.
“Why, Brel?” Ronan demanded. “Why have you betrayed us and our people? Did you think we would not know you have been secretly training the rogues? That you have set up ambushes by giving away our locations? You have disgraced the entire kingdom with your actions.”
Timus Varko, the male who had initially made the toast, slowly rose to his feet, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. “It is you who have betrayed us,” he said slowly. Lifting his other arm, he gestured toward the other warriors in the room. “You have had two mates, and yet how many males have you condemned to a life of loneliness by harboring the females within our city?”
Kylie let out a mocking laugh. “Harboring? Get real. You are saying you’re pissed that you can’t just claim any female you want, even if it’s against her will? That makes you as bad as the rogues.”
“You have no say here!” Timus shouted, pointing at her. “Your mates didn’t even save our sister! They do not deserve another mate!”
“And you are working with the ones who killed her,” she slapped back. “This isn’t about your sister. It’s about you being entitled, misogynistic assholes.”
Galron surged to his feet. “The rule of the Karos family has come to an end. It is time for someone new to lead this kingdom into the future. Warriors, rise up!”
It was sad to see dozens of males stand up, brandishing their swords.
Kylie shook her head. “Did they forget we have magic now?”
“Apparently, they did,” Dominic said in disgust.
“Enough of this,” Ronan growled.
He waved his hand toward the crowd, and in an instant, all the standing males, including the Varko trio, crumpled to the floor as if their strings had been cut. Their swords slipped from their grasps, clattering to the ground with a resounding racket that echoed through the hall. The suddenness of their collapse left a palpable tension in the air, as the onlookers gasped in shock and disbelief.
Waving his hand again, all of the bodies disappeared.
“Did you kill them?” Axis asked, sounding more curious than alarmed.
