Page 107 of Clash of Storms
"What did he promise you?"
"Nothing. That's what you don't understand. Rurik promised me nothing." He took a menacing step forward. "He is his father's son. He believes in honor. He stood against you believing you would grant him a fair fight, and you let the jaws of the trap close around him because you were frightened of him. Do you know what I saw when I looked at that fight? Poison. You and Amadea and all your cursedZillittubrethren seeping through this court and blighting it. I am done trying to be what you want me to be. I renounce your clan. I renounce yourZilittuname. I amZini, and I will stand with honor."
"Remember who you are,"the king had whispered.
It was the very last thing the king had ever said to him, as Sirius crouched over him, blood welling through his fingers as he tried to stop the bleeding.
He'd never understood what the king wanted him to remember.
Until now.
I amZini.
The words set some part of him free that had always struggled to fight.
"Then you will fall with your precious honor," Stellan hissed. "Guards! Take him."
Steel rasped as they circled him. Sirius looked for Roar, but there was no sign of his bastard brother.
"Wait," the queen cried. Everyone froze. "There's no need for bloodshed."
"Morebloodshed," Sirius pointed out, for he was leaving bloodied tracks with every step he took.
One of the guards near him visibly swallowed, his spear held in unsteady hands. Not all of them wereZilittu. Some had been members of King Reynar's court, forced to bury their previous loyalty when Amadea took the throne, and named Rurik as his father's killer.
"Dea, he's dangerous," Stellan hissed, his eyes becoming cat-slit as thedrekirose within him.
"There are twelve guards in here," she returned, as cool as a glacier. "And if Sirius wanted us dead, we would be dead. No." A smirk. "I think he's here to talk."
And that was precisely what his father was afraid of....
Sirius smiled.
"She's right. I am here to talk. You want to know the truth?" he told Stellan. "Yousent your heir to die because you feared you could not stand against Rurik yourself."
This time, it was Stellan who flinched.
"Youshould have died inMagnus's place," he told Stellan. "I think you know you cannot beat the prince. Magnus's blood is on your hands. And that of... others."
Alarm flared in Stellan's eyes as he gestured to the guards. "Cut him down. Now."
"Wait," said the queen.
Blood dripped from the tips of his swords as Sirius stalked toward the queen. He could sense something glowing in the air beside him as he advanced. "I have stood in your shadows as you slaughtered your way across continents. I have heard the whispers you and my father made. I knoweverythingyou have ever done.
"To take. And to hold. It's theZilittuway, isn't it? And in the old clan, back in Norway, it's a way of life. There was no room for the pair of you there, with your brothers and sisters seeking to tear you down. But you saw opportunity here, didn't you? A king searching for a mate. An honorable court you could corrupt. And poor King Reynar didn't know what he'd brought into his home. All he saw was a beautiful face, and all he heard were your lies. You gave him the heirs he demanded, and when your hold on this court was strong enough to stand against those loyal to him"—he saw his father tense—"you sent me to murder him."
There was a faint gasp to his right.
It came from the guard who trembled.
Two others exchanged glances.
"Do you think your lies will sway my guards?" Amadea mocked, but Stellan had paled. "There were eyewitnesses who saw my son, Prince Rurik, leave his father's chambers smelling of his blood."
She couldn't afford for Rurik's name to be cleared.
"I'm certain those guardsdidsee what they thought was the prince leaving his father's chambers. It's rare, but not unknown for adrekito be able to shift forms. Ask my father. It's a gift in his bloodlines."
