Hollis thrust his head forward and a crack split the atmosphere. Breicher touched the blood trickling from his nose, then his fist was flying. Outside of sparring, he’d never struck his brother. For Hollis’s part, the man looked just as surprised, when knuckles cracked across his jaw, despite the fact he’d instigated the fight.
“How dare you?” Hollis demanded, then swung.
Caroline stood, a little perplexed, as the two Ivanslohe brothers traded blows, then tumbled to the ground, grappling. Hollis’s elbow struck Breicher across the temple and blood from his already broken nose sprayed across the room. Then he was on his feet again.
“Caroline, do something. They’ll kill each other,” Jaden said.
Jaden shook her gently. Did he think Hollis would kill Breicher?That he could?
Breicher angled down like he was going to drive his shoulder into the other man’s chest, driving him to the ground as he charged. The glint of metal brought her back to reality. Right as Hollis pulled the blade he’d taken from Breicher and stashed somewhere on his person, Caroline released a thought. Both men froze.
Murmurs erupted in the crowd as she circled the men. Hollis’s hand still tightly gripped the gilded weapon, but she pried it from his white knuckles. Then she spun it, addressing him. “How dareyou?”
The moment she’d seen the weapon, she made her choice. And the former king’s audacity… Caroline edged up to Hollis so close she tasted the wine on his breath. Perspiration formed across his brow as he fought her control. “How dare you come into my kingdom and threaten something that is mine?”
“You have too much power. The Gods failed us when they gave it to your family. And now, with what you’ve become, there’s no stopping you. You claim you want balance, but we all know as soon as we let our guard down, a tyrant will emerge.”
Caroline didn’t flinch as Hollis spit the words at her. “You’ve been watching me rule for a year and you think so little of me? So deeply entrenched in the old ways… it’s a pity. You could have been a part of something truly monumental.” Caroline stepped away from the man and faced Breicher. But not before she said over her shoulder like it was an afterthought, “Go climb into that window.” A lazy hand waved toward one of the few tall openings in the Great Hall. “Somebody help him. And Hollis, stay there until I decide your fate.” She didn’t turn as a flurry of heel strikes rumbled through the space, doing her bidding. Agnes cried out unintelligibly as she clung to Jaden, but she ignored her.
Caroline didn’t dismiss the party goers. She pressed her shoulders back and got control of herself. She wanted them to see her conduct this punishment. See her rule. There were representatives from every territory in the Joined Kingdoms. She’d been spreading the message, but now she had a captive audience.
Walking in a circle, tapping the blade on her palm, Caroline scanned the crowd. “By now you’ve heard the story of the divide which led to the old ways?” Some heads nodded, but some looked at their companions, faces lit with confusion. “What you’ve heard is true. I’m the monster capable of overthrowing, not just one, but five gods. I took Love first. It was easy to destroy, naively opening itself to me until it was too late. Then Life and Death, then Justice. I saved pain for last. You see, we’d become friends of a sort.”
Slowly, Caroline spun to make sure everyone in the room saw her face. “Few know what I am about to tell you. Many looked at what the gods had given my ancestors, our Gift to bend others to our will, as an abomination. What you didn’t know is what we paid for that power.”
Caroline let out a low chuckle, lacking humor. “Imagine, sitting, eating breakfast with your loved ones, then a cool breeze whisks you away to a world of emptiness. A void where five demons wring a pain from you so vicious your vision went white, and fire felt like it would consume your soul. Minutes or hours later, after they exacted their pound of flesh, they dump you back in your home. Sometimes you’d be unable to see you were wrought with blinding pain, other times you’d arrive with the flesh flayed from your bones. If you’d been a little greedy with your use of the Gift, every other bone in your body might be shattered, only to slowly heal over the course of a day.”
She scanned the voyeur’s green and sallow faces. Many with hands covering their open mouths. “And still, for our power, my ancestors and I used it over and over again, accepting the consequences gratefully. Every time I’d come back, I’d think it was worth it—anything to keep my people safe from our adversaries in Veetula. But over time, I grew to hate the Gods and resent them for what they’d done to my family. When I had the chance, I stole their power and ended the gods without a second thought. That’s the type of monster who rules you.”
“I planned to exact vengeance on the Ivanslohe’s and all the frozen northern kingdom, but as Pain died, it let a little secret slip. A thousand years ago, when they bestowed our gifts upon us, they also pitted our people against each other, all for some sick desire for amusement. So many people died because of the Gods’ boredom—it made me ill. But I’d learned a lot from Justice over the years and brought mine down upon them. Now we are free, and I plan to rule the Joined Kingdoms differently in light of their treachery.”
Caroline took a few long breaths, and no one spoke. Walking over to Breicher, still hunched over from where she’d frozen him, she ran her fingers through his hair. Heart aching for what she had to do, she released her hold on him. “You may kneel.” He was fairing far better than his brother, since Breicher was beyond fighting her compulsion.
“Many of you here are from Veetula. The truth is, I grew up hating you as much as you did me. But then, you see, I met Prince Breicher. He drove a rosenwood dagger into my heart, but instead of dying making him a hero, I became this—” She gestured to herself, letting a hand linger where the blade had slipped underneath her ribs. “And we formed an attachment.” Caroline gently ran a thumb over the swelling sapphire eye that was already erupting with an angry purple.
“Unfortunately, there are some royal traditions common in Veetula that I find unpalatable,” she said, shooting an angry glance in Hollis’s direction. As she spoke, she continued to heal Breicher. “And our arrangement could not last. It was to my benefit that Everstal doesn’t hold the same marital laws as Veetula, which we’ll be changing as you would expect.”
“Prince Breicher has worked tirelessly with Prince Jaden this last year to enact many of the new laws, so I will forgive him for our little interruption tonight, but—”
Jaden cleared his throat loud enough to interrupt the queen. Was she going to talk forever? He was going to be in nine kinds of trouble when this was over, but someone had to do something. His nimble fingers fished inside his jacket, pulling the tightly coiled parchment. He slid the ribbon off, letting it fall to the floor, then unrolled it. The queen’s stare beating into him was hard to interpret. Surely, she wouldn’t punish him.
But he knew her well enough now. Caroline prided herself on never going back on her word. She’d ended it with Breicher. In her mind, they were irreparably over, regardless of what she actually wanted. Fortunately, he held the loophole. Or at least he prayed—or hoped, he supposed, since the gods were no more—that she’d see it that way.
Jaden’s voice trembled as he said, “His Majesty didn’t sign the document.” He bowed as he extended it to her for effect. When she didn’t take it, he held it out so other ball attendees already crowding behind him could get a closer look and see for themselves that King Breicher’s signature was nowhere on the annulment. He’d inadvertently boxed her in. His vengeful queen. He hadn’t known she’d give the speech. But this piece of paper was the one chance, should she choose to use it.
Only incoherent utterings came from the now raucous onlookers. Jaden wrestled his hand to stop shaking. It wouldn’t look good that one of her closest advisors was terrified of her. Not that he was… exactly, but this was cutting it close. A gentle hand slipped around his waist and Jaden turned to see his mother reading the document. “This doesn’t seem to be binding, Your Majesty,” she said, bowing her head in deference.
Angus approached, his teeth notably gritted. Jaden gave him a look that said,You better not fuck this up or I’ll find ways to terrorize you endlessly.
Angus snatched the piece of paper from Jaden and gave it a once over. He eyed Jaden, frowning before saying, “They’re right. The document hasn’t been properly executed.”
Caroline’s heart thundered in her ears. She had caught the subtle flick of Agnes’s eye up to her husband as she bowed. Knew what agreeing with her son would cost her. It was only because of her interference that Jaden hadn’t been disowned. If she let Hollis live, what would it mean for his wife?
Time seemed to crawl, though she suspected it was moving much faster outside her mind. Breicher still knelt before her, head raised, like the day she’d left him in her room in tears, surrounded by the evidence of her fury. He resembled a fallen angel as he’d sat there and begged, those beautiful blue eyes pleading. In her black heart, she’d known why he’d done it. The war which had raged inside him: his family and his loyalty to his kingdom or her. Being with her was a betrayal on so many levels to him. But she’d forgiven him long ago and redirected her anger to the dead Gods and his brother for egging his conflicted mental state along.
Still, her pride would keep her from the man she so clearly loved. Who was on his knees before her and all the Joined Kingdoms. Caroline flicked her eyes to Jaden. He knew. So did Agnes beside him, and Hollis, considering how hard he’d worked to keep them apart.
A wayward thought struck her. If she sent Breicher away, Hollis won. Everyone who didn’t believe she could make peace had won. Sure, she could take a Veetula husband, but it wouldn’t be the same. She wouldn’t let them win, Hollis or the Gods, or the many people from her kingdoms who still opposed this symbolic union. Even Angus, who’d been quite ready to act at her side this whole time, appeared to have accepted the inevitable. She, it seemed, was the last tower to fall.
