Page 124 of The Rebel and the Rose
‘She’s not a leader,’ said Andreas, turning back to them. ‘I am the leader. Seraphine is our maker.’
‘Looks more like a murderer to me,’ said Lark.
Another barb that found its mark. How could she deny it?
It was Val who spoke up. ‘She told him it wasn’t going to work. It was Andreas who forced her to do it.’
‘It was working,’ said the prince. ‘I felt the hum of your magic. I watched it flow from your hand into Talisa’s chest. You did something to twist it.’
Sera was shaking her head, emboldened by Val’s words. ‘If it doesn’t feel right in my bones, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s notsupposedto happen this way, Andreas. Sainthood shouldn’t be bartered or negotiated. How would we ever know that the right ones have been chosen?’
There was a short, strained silence.
It was broken by the rasp of Lark’s laughter, joined shortly by Andreas’s silky chuckle. ‘You must have crawled out from under a rock before that storm struck you down,’ he said, openly sneering now. ‘Long gone are the days when the simpering saints of old would walk among the people, doling out favours for goodwill and cheap prayers, Seraphine. Ours will be a new era of power. One wherewedo the choosingandthe taking for ourselves.’
At her look of abject horror, his smile grew indulgent. Talisa was barely a thought to him now, the callous suddenness of her death lost to the swell of his own ambition. Like it was only a blip, a kink in the grand tapestry of his plan. ‘How do you think I ended up on top of that clock tower in the grip of Oriel’s storm? If I left the future of this kingdom up to fate, some other cowardly do-gooder would havemymagic right now. Oh no, no, no.’ He clucked his tongue. ‘I knew what I was made for. The moment I found that prophecy, I knew there was a place for me in it. A way to twist the future, to mould it tomydreams.’ He was pacing now, excitement quickening his steps, carelessly smearing the still warm blood of his cousin across the floor. ‘I just had to find the right storm, wait for the right conditions. A hundred times I must have climbed that damned clock tower. A hundred times I waited for magic that never struck. But I did not grow discouraged. No. I becameemboldened.’
He stopped, looking up at the vaulted ceiling like he could see the storm clouds beyond. ‘And when that fated tempest finally struck, I was there, waiting for it. I reached up to thatangry sky and I wrenched my destiny from the splitting clouds and swallowed it down like a hot poker, welcoming every aching, screaming beat of my heart.’
‘You weren’t chosen.’ Sera shook her head in disbelief, as the threads of his plan came apart before her. The portrait of a charming prince replaced by the grasping, power-mad narcissist beneath. She could see it so clearly now she wondered how she had missed it last night. ‘You were never truly made.’
He bared his teeth, a fevered look flashing in his eyes. The gold blood of his sainthood rose to the surface, making a mockery of the old saints, of all things that used to matter in Valterre. ‘I mademyself. Just as I will remake this land.’ There was an edge to his voice now, a dark thrum to the power flaring inside him. Behind Sera, Val and Theo had fallen stone silent, the only sound the careful shuffle of their footsteps as they edged away from the prince. Like that could save them now. They had stumbled unwittingly into the belly of the beast, and it was all Sera’s fault.
Andreas raised a prodding finger. ‘Andyou, my pious little saint-maker, are going to help me.’
Over your dead body.
Sera pressed her lips together, swallowing the rage that had replaced the sharp edge of her grief, wordlessly weathering the prince’s maddened soliloquy. Lark snorted at her poor efforts, but Andreas went on, caught in the grip of his own grand vision.
‘Youwill make who sits alongside us, andIwill keep them under control.’ Again, those eyes flashed – a bright menacing gold. They possessed no sway over her – for it was clear nowthat her strange, mercurial power outranked Andreas. And everyone else in the kingdom. Not that she could use it to help herself out of this mess. Or, more pressingly, her friends.
Andreas took a moment to gather himself, raking a hand through his hair. When he looked at Sera again, his eyes were clear and blue. ‘Together, we will build a kingdom like no other. One where every thought, every word and every knee bends to us.’ His lips curled, that bright, pearly smile bringing a wasted measure of charm with it. ‘And you will like it, Seraphine. Trust me. Absolute power has a way of growing on you.’
Her mind reeling, Sera wiped the disgust from her face and relaxed her shoulders.
Careful now.
She had to tread so very carefully.
‘That’s quite the vision,’ she said, in a stilted tone. ‘It may take me a little while to digest.’
Grabbing her shoulders and squeezing hard, Andreas pulled her close, until she could see the scattering of freckles on his cheeks, smell the cinnamon on his breath. ‘You must bury the ideals of the past, Seraphine. You are not the storm that made you. You are the conduit. The power that thrives here is not yours to claim. Only to gift. Youneedme just as I need you. We need each other.’
She made herself nod.
‘We’ll try again tonight. On another follower. And another. And another. As many as it takes.’
She knew he meant it.
‘All right.’ The words were hollow, her every thoughtscreaming at her torun. Now,fast, and don’t look back. But first, she’d have to play the silver-tongue herself, give the prince whatever he asked for, so they could slip away, unharmed. ‘I’ll do better tonight. Now that I know what’s at stake.’
This seemed to please him. ‘Go back to your inn and rest.’ His eyes turned as gold as coins, as he moved his gaze over her shoulder, to where Theo and Val were standing in muted horror.
In a voice like velvet, he addressed them. ‘You will return to this mill at nightfall. You will not try to escape. You will not inquire after Ransom Hale and his Daggers. You will not leave the Paramour, except to come back here. And when you do, you will defer to me and any requests I make.’
Sera’s heart sank at the prince’s silky command. She could feel the threads of his magic twisting around her, reaching towards her friends.
Standing back, he asked them, ‘Is that clear?’
