Page 76 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
“That beast was getting old.” Rasil shrugged. “Thank you for putting it out of its misery.” He let out a whistle, then said, “I’ve conjured myself a new one actually.”
The air fissured, a whiplike crack as giant black wings appeared. The creature was larger than Galen den’ Mora stood tall. With snapping mandibles and a hardened black shell, the beetle-like creature took to the sky in a deep, drumming rumble of beating wings. Haestas roared and shot her fire at the creature, but the flames just rolled over its hard exterior. The dragon’s eyes flickered, flashes of gold in her gaze as she turned tail, arcing out toward the sea as the monster chased her through the night sky.
“No,” I gasped, horrified as I watched our best chance at victory flee. My eyes dropped to Rasil and Kian. “Can I kill them now?”
Navin grabbed a dagger from his belt and choked up on the grip. “Let’s go.”
The Songkeepers laughed as they turned and ran back into the castle, making way for the row of Silver Wolves guarding the doors behind them.
“Shit!”
Already in their furs, the Silver Wolves didn’t wait for any signal, they just lowered their heads and charged.
Briar
NERO WAS A SORCERER.
His terrifying smile was lit up by his green magic, a magic I had come to know so well over the past few weeks, a magic I now understood the intricate workings of. Even Maez wouldn’t be enough to save us now. I saw our violent end unfurling before us. Nero would feed off each and every one of our deaths to make himself stronger and, unlike her, wouldn’t even consider hesitating.
I braced for it, waiting for one single flick of his emerald fingertips that would obliterate us all. This was no idle conjecture, either—lightning zipped overhead, threatening to strike us down at any moment.
But no such strike happened—not yet. Rather, Nero clicked his tongue, and my stomach lurched, acid rising up my throat as his gaze briefly lingered on mine before landing on Grae.
“I should’ve done a better job teaching you what greatness truly is, son.” Nero’s smile stretched as he returned to his throne. He sat slowly, so even-keeled, the eye of a hurricane that belied the magic encircling us now. “Thisis what true power looks like.”
“You’re not even a true Wolf anymore,” Grae rasped. “Look at you. What have you done?”
“What you didn’t have the strength to,” Nero said coolly,static circling from his fingertips up to his shoulders. “What is right for my people.
“I saw what happened to Evres with this dark magic,” the King continued. “One moment he was sitting at our banquet, the next he was gone.” Nero’s cool gaze slid to me, and I straightened my shoulders. I wouldn’t shrink from that magic anymore. “Hours later his body dropped from the sky, splattered across this very floor. You can still scent his blood with every deep breath. That’s when I knew I would not let such power take me next.”
Grae’s lip curled. “So you became a monster to spare yourself from one?”
“He was carved up until there was barely anything left!” Nero roared, his eyes holding mine. The unpredictable oscillation between calm and rage made me further attuned to his every movement, unsteady in my predictions of what he might do next. My silent promise of vengeance bloomed hot in my belly, zipping with its own static energy. “The work of your sorceress, I presume?”
“The work of my own hands,” I growled, glaring back. “I enjoyed driving my blade through him, you moon-forsaken tyrant.” I could feel Calla’s eyes on me, warning me. But what did such a warning mean? Now wasn’t the time for poise or flattery; now was the time for last utterances before we all perished. I knew I probably shouldn’t admit such things, but since these were my last moments alive, I decided to speak true. I decided my last breath would be one filled with all the power I’d denied in myself for so long. I glowered at Nero and said, “I enjoyed making sure Evres knew he had no power over me anymore. He saw only what I had allowed him to see—someone weak. A fatal error. He underestimated me just as you underestimated me, Nero.”
The King threw his head back and laughed. “You underestimateme, Marriel princess. I was being lenient on you before because I needed you to legitimize my claim on Olmdere.” His eyes scanned me up and down. “I couldn’t break you beyond mending, not before you produced an heir. Though once youwhelped, I would have enjoyed it.” His gaze slid to Grae. “Did your mother ever tell you the way I liked to snap her finger bones under the dinner table?” Grae snarled and launched forward. Calla and I barely had a split second to grab him and haul him back. “She got so very good at hiding her pain. I wonder if the Crimson Princess would’ve been able to do the same.” He smiled at me as he tapped his temple thoughtfully. “I bet you could’ve endured a great deal, girl,” he said. “But I know what would’ve sealed your fate. Not the promise of your own pain, but that of your children—”
“I will gut you!” Grae shouted and his father laughed again.
“You never understood, Graemon,” Nero mused. “You and your motherbelongedto me. My property to do with as I saw fit. Such is the Wolf way.”
Nero clicked his fingers and one of his bolts of lightning struck the chandelier above us. We only had a heartbeat to dive out of the way before it came crashing down. Glass shattered, the booming sound filling the cavernous space. Our group fractured in two to stand on either side of the wreckage. A few soldiers at the back started inching away, but with another flick of Nero’s wrist, the doors slammed closed, trapping us in the room.
“Alas, I don’t need anything from you anymore,” Nero said, his faux sadness both terrifying and infuriating. “Not you, Graemon, not you, Princess, and certainly not thatthingthat you call a twin.”
My lip curled and I reached out with my hands as if I could choke Nero from this distance just as Maez had once done to Evres. No one insulted Calla. Flames of anger grew within me.
“I don’t need anything from anyone, and that is what truly makes me dangerous,” Nero continued, so pleased with the sound of his own voice. I almost wanted to throw in his face the fact that truly dangerous people don’t need to say they’re dangerous. But there was no lie in his words.
That said, if Maez were here, she would’ve never let him drone on in hateful monologue even if it killed her.
“All of Aotreas is mine now.” Nero’s laugh was tinged with madness as he added, “I don’t need an heir at all. With this power, I shall live forever.”
I remembered Sawyn’s face, still seemingly younger than my own as if frozen in time. But despite her long life, shehadn’tbeen invincible; Callawasable to kill her. We would have to do the same.
Somehow...
