Page 115 of Clash of Storms
But now it was too late. He was broken, and beaten, and alone. Always alone. How could he fight when the veils had finally been lifted from his eyes but his body was broken?
Sirius didn't know how much time had passed, but he began to realize he'd been awake and aware longer than expected. His unnatural body was slowly healing him, though it could not regrow what had been taken. An eye seemed a small price to pay for his blindness.
Skirts swished in the darkness, the rasp of mesh hissing over the floor like the end of a whip. Perhaps the sound of another entering the room had woken him.
Sirius slowly lifted his head, squinting through his swollen left eye. His vision in that eye had sharpened, but with it came an ache resting just behind it, as if the strain fatigued him.
A figure emerged from the gloom, though he had to turn his face to see her properly. A chill ran through him.Don't think about it....
He might be on his knees.
He might be in chains.
But he refused to let the queen see how closely she'd come to breaking him.
"Come to admire your handiwork?" he rasped, as Queen Amadea slunk toward him. The hem of her shimmering gown of golden meshwhishedacross the marble, and a ruff of filigreed gold around her throat made her look like she wore the frill of a lindwurm.
"Ah, Sirius." Lips pressed thinly together, Amadea knelt in front of him, her fingers gripping his jaw as she turned his face from side-to-side. She wore a set of gold-filigreed claws linked to a bracelet, and the points dug into his chin.
Beautiful. Vicious. Poisonous.
She'd woven her way into this court—into King Reynar's heart—before striking like an asp.
"It was a choice I did not wish to make," Amadea murmured, her green eyes glowing with wisps of Chaos magic. "You forced my hand, dear nephew."
"So this is my fault? You tainted bitch, you always did like to sweep the guilt off your shoulders."
Amadea's claws dug into him, and she hissed as she let him go and turned away, running her gold-tipped fingers over her mouth. "You condemned thosedrekiguardsto death the second you opened your mouth about the king's murder. We are weaker now, without their numbers."
"You condemned them," he said coldly. "You're the queen. You gave the order, didn't you? It's on your head. Just as his death is too."
Her shoulders rose and fell with her breath, the metallic gold scales of her dress cut low enough in back to see the top of her spine.
With a violent swish, she spun toward him. "I would have spared you. You were always my favorite."
"Favorite. Is that supposed to mean something?" Sirius swayed up onto his knees, his voice strengthening. "Was Rurik your favorite when you blamed him for his father's murder? Was Árdís your favorite when you lured her into a trap on that battlefield, with her end in mind? And Marduk? When he fled this court, because he knew he was the only remaining threat to your reign... and he knew what you did to those who threatened you?"
His voice softened. "And what about the fourth child you bore? Wasityour favorite when you saw its Chaos-blighted shape the second it left your womb and gave it over to my father to dispose of?"
Instantly, her face went white. "How did you—?"
"I was there, Amadea." Sirius grew a little bolder. "It was the night my mother left the court. You were still in the birthing chambers with sweet, precious Marduk, your perfect child. I was sitting at my mother's feet listening to her read a story to me, when father burst in with the other twin, your abomination, in his arms. He was to kill it before the king ever knew it hadn't died in childbirth. I heard it all. My mother raged against him for daring to defy the Goddess's will, but there was no stopping him. My mother told him if he carried out your bidding, then it was over between them. She meant it. She put me to bed, and by the time I woke the next morning she was gone. Forever. And so was the child. I could see it in his eyes. The guilt. The shadows. The blood. Oh, the secrets I could share."
He'd struck a blow.
The queen paced across the dais, worrying at thesvartálfarbracelet on her wrist, the one that trapped her in this form.
And suddenly he needed to know the truth.
"Why?" he demanded. "Why did you use me?"
She knew instantly of what he spoke.
"To kill my husband? I could never use Stellan." Her whisper slithered into his ear, and a wisp of faint green glowed in her eyes. "The king would never have let him get close enough. Nor Magnus. But you? Thedrekiwho fought his heritage? Thedrekiwho yearned to beZini? It was time you made your choice, Sirius. Them. Or us."
A broken sound echoed from his throat. "It wasn't a choice."
"No?" Her eyes began to glow. The manacle bound her elementaldrekimagic, but it was no match for Chaos magic. She could still wield it. "Are you so certain, Sirius?"
