Kallias
My dagger had plunged through the Velli’s jaw, straight into his brain. Blood flowed over my hand, sticky warmth spilling into my sleeve. With a snarl, I yanked it free and let the body crumple onto the thick carpet lining the corridor.
“Lynx, make it known that the Velli are to be killed on sight.” The command tore out of me, rage coiled tight beneath my skin, a beast straining for release.
They were in my palace.
My home.
The Thresher moved without a sound, his steps muffled by the rug as he obeyed. I nudged the lifeless body aside with the toe of my boot just as Fallione rounded the corner. His face looked drawn, stretched thin over bone. I’d sent him on too many errands. There was too much to do, all of it urgent.
“Clay?” I asked.
His mouth pulled into a hard line; the answer delivered before he spoke. “Not to be found.”
At least we hadn’t found his body.
“Fyrn?”
“Also missing.”
“Who else?” The growled words scraped my throat. “How many could he have taken so quickly?”
My advisor inhaled, steadying himself. “It will take time to know for certain.”
“Fallione.” I stepped closer. “Where did he go?”
“We’re scouring the city as we speak.”
My teeth ground together. The urge to demand we move faster burned hot, but I swallowed it. I knew what this took. Order didn’t reassemble itself overnight, and that was the priority. I had retaken the capital of Radaan. Tallon was named traitor now, stripped of refuge, yet I wanted to hunt him down myself, sate my bloodlust.
A servant rounded the corner behind Fallione, then shrieked, dropping her bucket. She clamped a hand over her mouth, staring at the corpse at my feet and the blood coating my hands. Water seeped across the hall.
Fallione’s tone remained calm and clear as retrieved the bucket and said, “Go on, this will need to be refilled.”
Her skin drained of color, and she fumbled with the handle, eyes locked on the body.
“Quickly now,” he urged.
She sucked in a ragged breath, gaze snapping to me. After a hurried bow, she clutched the bucket to her chest and fled.
No. My people didn’t need me chasing Tallon like some feral bandit. They required security, stability; The kind only I could provide.
They needed to see Nienna in her power—not as a princess, but as a queen.
Their queen.
And that would take time.
“I want everyone accounted for,” I said. “Final death count. A list of traitors and everyone missing. By tomorrow morning. The council shall gather at first light, and every nobleman in Reem will attend. They will answer for what they allowed in my absence.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Fallione lingered, studying me, then turned and disappeared down the corridor.
The Velli at my feet was dead. He’d rushed us, as if we hadn’t spent two decades killing his kind. I had no idea how many still lurked in my halls, but I didn’t need him breathing to find out.
That information I could pry from the nobles who stood by and let them in.
His mouth hung open, filed teeth exposed; a repulsive display meant to intimidate. To them, it was a symbol of their power.
