Zaela pulled Veli to her feet, but her gaze flared as their skin touched. She eyed her as if trying to understand what she felt from her, just as I was.
Their stares were locked on each other, and while Zae looked skeptical, Veli was giving her an almost mocking, knowing look.
“You’re different,” Zae announced.
Jace came up to my side then and wrapped his uninjured arm around my waist as if he would need to move to protect me from my own aide. I shot him a look with a raised brow.
“I am,” Veli answered her.
Shadows came out from beneath her silver hair, dancing around her face as if in answer. “They are the same, though. The shadows will not harm you unless I will them to.” Her grin was wicked.
The realization of it all hit me then. “You’re…” I started.
“I am High Witch,” she finished for me. “The coven, even when dissipated, needs balance, and the power transferred to me upon Azenna’s death.”
My mouth popped open and a nervous giggle left me as I remained beneath her stare. Despite being nearly half a foot shorter than me, Veli always had a presence that made her seem significantlytaller—even more so now.
“Wow,” Finn let out from behind us all, where he stood with the others as they watched. “Well, isn’t that just the most terrifying thing I’ve heard all day…” We all gave him a look. “And we went towar,” he added with a half laugh.
Avery slapped her hand over her mouth to hide her own giggle.
“Heir of the Realm,” Bruhn’s voice broke the brief span of silence after his joke, and we all turned towards its echo. “Your prisoners have been taken and are lined up throughout the city. We await your orders.”
I blew out a breath and turned to my mate.
“Are you ready?” he asked, and I looked to my court, whose bodies were bloodied and half-broken, but I couldn’t have been more thankful that we had made it through.
I looked up into the sky, where the sun had been setting, slipping the realm into darkness.
“It’s time. They will be given a choice to take a knee to my claim or meet their end in Nox’s blaze,” I answered, and then turned back to Bruhn. “Bring them to the battlement gates.”
Chapter seventy-nine
Elianna
Nox sat perched atopthe castle’s stone battlement, overlooking the soldiers that waged war against us only hours ago. Thousands of soldiers stood before me, their faces dimly lit by only the light of the moon, and torches that lined the cobblestone streets.
The Islan army stood in disciplined rows, looking terrified and full of exhaustion, just as my own men had.
I held my chin high as I stood before them, commanding the attention that some of them had refused to give even when I was their appointed captain.
Choosing my words carefully, I made sure they conveyed a sense of authority. “I stand before you not as a tyrant, but as the rightful queen who seeks unity for all creatures under her reign.”
My eyes drifted over them, surveying their faces as their eyes flickered with a blend of dishonor and curiosity. An intense silence filtered through the air, and while I craved acceptance from them, I was determined to show that if they were not willing to abide by my law; they had no place in Velyra.
“You have known me for decades—therealme, not the usurper the false queen whispered lies about into the tips of your ears. You knew my father and who he was as your king. It is important that you know you stand here not as prisoners but as subjects of a new reign. For a better realm,” I declared.
Pride flowed down the bond from my mate as he stood off to the side along with the others. Each of them wore faces of pure steel, letting any wandering eyes know that, while benevolent, we were not a court to be fucked with.
A growl rumbled from Nox as his head levitated directly above my own—showing his approval to me and his deadly temper to those who stood before us.
As I spoke, the soldiers’ expressions shifted. Any lingering defiance waned into hesitant acceptance.
“Every soldier standing before me now faces a choice,” I continued, my tone more assertive. “You can resist the inevitable change of reign, clinging to the remnants of what had once been…or you can choose to kneel before your new queen, whose birthright is to rule over that of your realm. And if you refuse, well…my wyvern stands behind me for a reason.”
There was a tense silence as the soldiers before me exchanged wary glances. I unsheathed my sword from my hip and placed the tip onto the ground before my feet, standing tall and proud before them. Not only would I be their queen, but I remained one of them—a fighter, a warrior by choice. It was who I was and always would be.
The weight of their decision hung in the air around us like an invisible force. My stare locked onto theirs, gazeunwavering in a challenge to them to defy me—but then my eyes softened.
