Page 159 of A Crown Without Mercy

“No pain at all.” He winked.

Riordan stepped face to face with Kundar. “Who the fuck told you to bring her here?”

Sylvana cupped his forearm in her hands. “Rio, please. I insisted,”

“You insisted?” He replied as he looked down at her. He then looked back at Kundar. “So she insists, and you decide to disobey a direct order?”

Kundar nodded respectfully and placed his fist to his heart. “Yes, milord. I will not try to defend my actions.”

“Rio, look around. I showed him the powers I possess. He has been by my side the entire time,” Sylvana explained.

Riordan, Nicolai, and Kieran glanced around. “So this is you? Not the Faye?” Riordan smiled.

“Yes, and that’s not all—”

Kundar’s voice interrupted her when he called out. “Swords!” Except for Sylvana and the brothers who circled her, they spanned out and met a dozen Faye blade for blade.

Sylvana spun around and the brothers watched as a wave of iridescent-blue mist radiated from her palms like a wave of water, stopping the Faye mid-stride. Their feet froze to the ground and a thin layer of ice crawled up their bodies, like creeping vines, freezing them inch by inch. They flailed their arms and one of them brought his sword across his legs and they shattered beneath him; his body hit the ground, and he frantically clawed at the dirt, and pulled himself across the ground. Sylvana stepped forward and with another wave of her hand, a thin layer of ice consumed the remainder of his body.

“Holy shit,” Nicolai said as he looked at Sylvana. “We had no idea you had ice in your veins.” He winked.

Sylvana looked at Riordan with pleading eyes. “Kundar had a good reason for his actions.”

After a moment of contemplation, Riordan placed his hand on Kundar’s shoulder. “My mate speaks the truth, and your actions were admirable. However, I expect this won’t happen again without our permission?”

Although Kundar’s face remained stoic and expressionless, a wave a relief swept over his body, and he felt as if he could breathe for the first time since deciding to return with Sylvana. “Without question, milord.”

Sylvana placed her hand on Kundar’s forearm and winked, and she noticed the subtlest hint of a smile when he looked down at her.

“Enough small talk. We need to finish this,” Nicolai said.

Riordan bent down and whispered in her ear. “Darling, we will be right behind you, but if you ever pull something like this again without our permission, you will be punished insomany ways, some of which you will enjoy and some of which you won’t.”

Sylvana pulled back. However, before she could speak, Kieran bent over and his mouth fell to hers. She cupped the back of his head in her hand and, after a heated kiss, he placed his forehead on hers. “Let’s do this.”

“Klyn, open the gates,”Riordan said telepathically.

“Open the gates? Why?”

“Look over the wall,”Riordan replied.

Klyn leapt over onto the parapet above the main gate and looked across the field.Holy shit.“Open the gates!” he called out.

The field was a graveyard of frozen statues in various positions and facial expressions, as if time had suddenly ceased to exist; warrior after warrior fell in line behind Sylvana and her mates while Faye and Lycan retreated into the forest. The sound of shattering glass replaced the sounds of the battle, and the iridescent-blue light flickered and flashed like lightning against the blackness, revealing the fertile fields where slaughtered Faye, Lycan, and Nosferatu bodies littered the ground.

The doors leading onto the marble veranda swung wide open and Marius Acheron and Lucinda Ascelin stepped onto the veranda and lunged, attacking whoever was within reach. They sunk their canines deep into the flesh of the Faye warriors’ necks and fed with a pent up blood thirst rivaling any swing of a sword; after which they tossed their drained bodies to the ground and grabbed another and then another. It was not long before both Faye and Lycan retreated over the walls in a disorganized and chaotic frenzy.

Marius spread his arms out to his sides, lifted his chin, and let out a thunderous roar which diverted everyone’s attention away from the battle, essentially bringing the fighting to a temporary halt.

Vispera heard a roar reverberate through the air, embodying a promise of death; she spun around and her warriors, along with the Lycan’s, were being tossed aside as if they were nothing more than flies being batted away. She took a step back and stared at the most formidable looking opponent. His yellowish eyes were fiery, aglow with rage and determination as he attacked his next victim; with each fresh kill, the blood flowed through his veins and his thin, skeletal body transformed little by little. His gray hair became thick locks of shoulder length chestnut, the concave features on his face filled in, the muscles on his body strained against his skin, and verged into defined, well-built curves.

Diaspor and Mascuriel ran to her side and Diaspor grabbed her arm. “We must leave.”

“No! We have come too far and are much too close,” Vispera protested.

“It is far too dangerous! It will be impossible to accomplish this now,” Mascuriel stated.

“We have one chance. Do you still carry thy ethereal binds?”

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