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“Mutts, you mean,” he arches a brow.
Rage flares up within me, so fast, I can’t stop my eyes from flickering into obsidian voids. “I meant, the most powerful elves in existence.”
The king's gaze shifts to Valeria, then back to me, a silent calculation behind his cold silver eyes. He rises, the air thick with anticipation.
“If you say no, I’ll ensure my brother finds a loophole in your treaty,” I tease, stepping up to Valeria’s throne. The guards in the room grow restless, but Elcrys makes the smart decision, demanding they stay put. I swoop a lock of her silver hair around my finger, tugging on it ever so slightly as I move behind her. “And I’ll be here the day he declares war, raising the dead. Everyone your people have laid to rest will join my army. Then I’ll take what I want anyway.”
Letting my demon half take over, I search for the origin strand of the glamour she’s wearing and snap it like a twig. It melts away, her hair turning dark, her eyes becoming that emerald green I love. Gasps ring out, but silence the moment I glare through the crowd.
Valeria plays the part, grimacing at my touch, flinching even, but I can hear her pulse racing. I can see the subtle shift of her dress skirts as she squeezes those pretty thighs of hers together, so desperate to be touched that I catch myself licking my lips.
Soon, my love. So soon. I promise.
“What will it be?” I say, dragging a bloodied knuckle over her cheek, right beneath the edge of the golden mask she wears, leaving a crimson streak in its wake. “And if I were you, I’d make your decision quickly. Every minute that passes, one of your people die.”
He starts to speak, the words jumbled as he shoots from his throat. “I… You can’t…”
But I can.With a snap of my fingers, one of the men in the front row of the pews jerks, his head swivels around twice, shattering his neck, and his body slumps to the ground.
Screams shatter the silence in the crowd, some rush for the door, but my magic seals it shut. No one is getting out of here. Not a damn soul. Not until I get my way.
As I glance at Elcrys, his eyes narrow, the intrigue battling with disdain. "Stop this, this instant.”
“Or what?” I let out a dark chuckle, shaking my head. “You’ll kill me? Then your treaty really will be all for nothing. My brother would storm these islands so fast, you wouldn’t be able to escape as the walls of this castle tumbled down around you. I’m offering you a way out.”
Raising my hand, fingers poised to snap again, I feel a tug on my other hand. I turn to meet Valeria's eyes, a storm of emotions swirling in their depths. Fear, hope… and an unspoken plea.
Death is unsettling for her… I know that. She’s so kind and empathetic, that seeing this has struck a chord. But it’s what must be done.
Death has become a comfort to me in the oddest way. It’s power, raw and unyielding. I’ve sworn to myself that I’d never chain myself to a wretch king again. I’d promised to never put myself at someone else’s mercy, to never bargain my own freedom. Yet, here I am, agreeing to serve someone who murdered my people in cold blood, who embodies everything I hate, that I wish was rooting in the ground.
I never wanted Valeria to look at me with fear in her eyes, but I’ll be the monster everyone believes me to be. I’ll be the traitor, the villain. I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect her and ensure her happiness.
Because she is the very thread that creates my own.
And this is the kind of monster it will take to save her from this fate.
“Don’t. Please don’t.” Her voice is but a whisper, but if I cave, there is no saving her. This is what it takes to convince a moralless man… Her father has to see it, feel his people dying in this chapel to veer from his most time-honored tradition. I’m not an elf. Even then, he’d never marry her to someone that wasn’t a pureblood, not without having no choice.
“I’m sorry,”I speak the words into her mind, cupping her face.“I won’t lie to you and say you haven’t been promised and bound to darkness. I’m the Prince of Death and the title fits me well. But I swear to you, Valeria, you are my brightest light. I’ll be better with you at my side. I’ll become the man you deserve; I just can't be him today.”
I snap my fingers and two more bodies drop. Cries and screams envelope the space around us, and she tears her face away from my touch. My jaw tightens, the muscle feathering over my cheek as I make my way to stand in front of Valeria’s throne. “Tick Tock, My King.”
My eyes become voids, talons pushing from my fingers as my magic swarms around me. Palms up, I push my awareness out, focusing on the bodies on the floor. They jerk and spasm. Bones and muscles flex in the empty husks of his people, and slowly, they begin to stack, one limb after another, until all three of them have been reanimated. Glassy clouded eyes scan the room.
“Eyes on me, Starlight. Don’t look away.”Without glancing over my shoulder, I know she’s listened. I can feel that stare on my spine, like a bead of water trickling down it.
Right as I’m about to give the command to attack, Elcrys shouts. “She’s yours!” His voice slices through the air and I let the magic dissipate.
The bodies drop lifelessly to the ground as I turn my head toward him. “I’m glad we have a deal.”
THE END
