Once the doors to the throne room were completely closed, the two of us were sealed off from the rest of the realm. Taking a single step toward the dais, my chainsrattled against the floor, the cool touch of them biting into my skin.
“You have the floor, Kellan Adler.” She gestured to the empty room. “And my undivided attention. Now tell me before I lose what very little patience I have left—what did my guard have to say to you that no others could be privy to?”
“My queen, it’s not what your personal guard demanded of me…but what yourmaterequested of me.”
The veins bulged from her neck as her eyes widened in horror. Her grip on the wine she held in her hand shattered the glass, raining tiny shards down atop her gown and floor.
It took every ounce of self-control I had mastered throughout my life to hide the smirk that was aching to spread across my face.
“What did you just say?” she asked in a hushed, desperate tone.
“Your—”
“No.” She held up a hand to halt my answer. “Do not repeat yourself. What I should have asked waswhy. Why would Callius tell you what I am to him?” she snapped, but then her eyes softened slightly. “What Iwasto him,” she corrected herself, her voice barely audible.
“Callius feared for you, Queen Idina. For he knew you would rule with an iron fist, but with who to protect you at your side? He told me everything between his dying breaths.” Her lips curled back. “Your mate begged me to protect you when his soul entered the vale. To guard you and see that you remained upon the throne that youbothworked tirelessly to attain.”
Her lip trembled for a fraction of a second, and if I had blinked, I would have missed it.
I took another step toward her. “Callius watched his son die.” Her eyes flared once more. “He knew he was entering the vale in the same moment as his son, leaving his mate and queen alone in the realm. Your Majesty, Callius wished for me to watch over you in his place. I swore to him that I would guard and protect you from any threat that presents itself to you or your claim to remain on this throne.”
Her dagger-like gaze remained fixated on me as she stood from her seat, her heels stepping on the glass she had destroyed, shattering the pieces further.
“Braynon!” she boomed, and the main entrance doors to the throne room burst open.
He rushed in. “Yes, my queen?”
Her eyes roamed over me as if looking for the lies that effortlessly rolled off my tongue. “Remove the shackles from Captain Adler’s wrists.”
“But, Your Maj—”
“Now,” she demanded, the word clattering through the chamber.
He huffed out a breath and shot me a look of pure hatred, but all I could do was grin. It was too gods-damn easy.
The key turned in my cuffs, and they clanked down to the marble floor beneath my boots.
Queen Idina lifted the front of her maroon gown and gracefully took the steps down the dais, unaccompanied.
“Braynon, you are relieved of your duties as head guard now that the captain has returned. Your last assignment is to inform him of the structural changes set in place forthe citizens. After that, you are dismissed to return to your previous assignments.”
Our gazes lingered on her as she exited the room.
“You’re a real fucking prick; you know that, Adler?” he growled at my side.
I rubbed my wrist in my opposite hand as a sharp smirk inched its way up my face. “Braynon, it has always been a pleasure dealing with you, as well. Now tell me…what does the future hold for Velyra under the reign of our queen?”
Chapter twenty-five
Elianna
My eyes fluttered openas the song of birds filtered through the crisp morning air. The air that escaped my lips with each breath was accompanied by a slight fog from the chilled wind. I lifted my head from Jace’s chest and snorted, realizing we had fallen asleep in the middle of the small woodland area set back from his family’s estate.
I poked his chest. “Oh, Commander,” I half sang to him. “It’s time to wake up, handsome.”
He answered with a groan, his hands lifting to rub his eyes as sleep lazily left him. “What happened?”
“I was chased through the woods and seduced against a tree by a primal predator and then fell asleep atop his chest beneath the moonlight. And well…here we are,” I joked.
