Before I knew it, I landed in front of his dais, glancing up at the man who granted me life in this realm, sprawled atop his crimson throne. Nestled just a few steps down sat a woman with a colorless bob, her ember-like eyes flicking to me with amusement. There was something familiar about her presence, but something equally dreadful.
Something…inhuman.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I held the king’s stare. “Father.”
“Kaelivan,” he huffed, disgust clinging to the three syllables of my name. “How were your sails?”
Glancing out of the corner of my eye, my attention landed on Caspian, who stood with his hands behind his back. Tension lingered in his posture, seeping into his demeanor. Frame unmoved, he stood by one of the many pillars that kept the space intact. Just when I thought he wouldn’t pay me any mind, he gazed at me for one short second, and within his crimson irises glinted a mix of caution and what looked like sorrow.
It almost looked as if he were apologizing for something.
“Can we cut the bullshit?” I snapped, my patience fracturing beneath the billowing tension. “What do you want? To berate me for my decision to leave? To disown me for my criminal behavior?”
My father drummed his fingers along the stem of his wine glass. Taking a greedy sip of the liquid that mirrored both the hue and textureof blood, he smacked his lips once before electing to speak. “Neither of those things.”
“Thenwhat?” The question came with heightened ire, my fists clenching at my sides with enough tension that my knuckles whitened. “Get on with it.”
He merely shrugged. “Percival,” attention shifting, the corner of his mouth curled, “you brought the sword you are required to carry, yes?”
My brows furrowed as I watched Percy retrieve the blade from its sheath on his back. “Yes, your Majesty.”
“Perfect. You may pass the steel off to Caspian.”
My stomach sank, and I struggled to draw in a breath. As Percy stepped forward to do as my father commanded, I tried to follow, but the men responsible for guiding us into the room pulled me back.
Hands curling around my arms with bruising force, they yanked me into submission. As I thrashed against them in an attempt to get away, the king grinned with unsettling satisfaction, and the sight alone was enough to earn a guttural cry from me.
“Stop!”
Halting briefly, the man I loved looked back at me. “I’m sorry, Kael.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I kicked my legs, my glossy glare settling on the throne once more. “What the fuck do you want?! What do you want?! I will do anything—anything.Just… don’t.Please.”
“You are well acquainted with how I feel aboutmychild entertaining another man, especially when he has a kingdom to run and children to bear, which is impossible without a woman on your arm. Your willingness to oppose me, to continue to taint yourself while sharing a bed with one of the same sex, has led to this point. I warned you, Kaelivan, and you chose not to listen. Which, in a power-based society, is worthy of punishment.”
Ripping against the soldiers’ vice-like grips, I tried but failed once more to free myself. “Then punish me!Iam the one in the wrong.Iam the one who went against your command.Me.Not Percy.”
“You see,” he pushed himself up from where he sat, traveling downthe steps like a predator sizing up its prey, “a man is only as strong as his gravest weakness, and in your instance, that happens to be Percival.”
“Please,”I forced out on a shuddered breath. “I am begging you, father. I will do whatever you want, no matter what it entails. I will wed that woman to strengthen the lands, to solidify things for your ruling, just… leave Percy out of this.”
“You see, this exchange would’ve been far more influential if you had come to me instead of leaving the kingdom. Word spreads quickly, and now the people of Serevalen believe I am weak because of your lack of drive to succeed me.” His soulless steps halted as he came to stand before me, brows hooding his cold, dark gaze. “Frailty is something to be exploited, and I refuse to havemyson weakened to such a state. There are duties to uphold and roles to fill. Youwillbe marrying Olliviera, just as youwillbe taking over this throne. Perhaps this moment can serve as a reminder of those things.”
Stepping off to the side, he gestured toward Caspian with his chin. It was an unspoken command, an inescapable order, and it was then that I understood why his expression seemed to be carved with such apologetic lines.
The pirate reached forward, taking the sword from Percy. Settling his hand on the shoulder of the man who held my heart, striations danced across his jaw. There was a flicker of consideration there, a flash of contemplation that carried with it the fire of rebellion. Yet, instead of acting on it, he offered two words that drove a stake through my chest.
“I’m sorry.”
With one thrust forward, blood and flesh squelched. Crimson-stained, the tip of the sword that once belonged to him jutted from his back. A rasped breath followed, Percy’s knees threatening to buckle. Before he could collapse, Caspian retrieved the blade and aided him in his descent.
“No… No, no, no!” I sobbed, my attempts to escape becoming just as harsh as my breathing. “P-Percy!”
All it took was one wave of my father’s fingers, and their grips loosened.
Already lunging forward, I barely caught myself before I collided with the shadowed marble. Crawling forward, I pushed myself to standing and rushed toward the man who had become my everything. The man I wanted to spend the rest of my years with.
My knees slammed against the blood-soaked floor, a guttural scream tearing itself from my throat as I pulled Percy into my arms. Stroking my fingers through his curly onyx locks, my bottom lip quivered. The rhythm of my inhales and exhales splintered further.
