A heavy bell tolled once from across the city, its chime echoing through the kingdom as it signaled the end of one reign and the beginning of another. The priestesses moved forward in their crimson robes, heads bowed as they walked along the outskirts of the dying blaze.
A glint caught Draevyn’s eyes from within their gathered circle as they halted at the foot of the steps, and then the High Priestess stepped forward, carrying the new royal crown. It possessed an obsidian gleam in the small firelight, cast from blackened iron to represent Atlas’s shadows while its points were studded with blood-red gemstones.
The crowd stood in unison as the priestess began the rites. “Do you, Atlas Rowe, swear to protect the Kingdom of Lephyrin, and to rule it with strength and dignity?”
Atlas gave a dip of his chin, his eyes staring blankly ahead. “I do.”
“Do you swear loyalty to Irah, our God of Rage and War, who blessed both you and your bloodline?”
“I swear it.”
The priestess nodded. “Then kneel.”
Atlas obeyed, and the onyx crown was raised high, its rubies catching the firelight, reflecting the pyre’s dying glow, before it was slowly lowered onto his brother’s dark hair.
“Rise, Atlas Rowe, Protector of Men, and King of Lephyrin.”
Atlas stood slowly, his face hard as stone. The crowd fell to their knees—nobles, soldiers, priestesses, Elowynne, and lastly Draevyn.
Lephyrin’s new king looked down at him, a hundred unspoken words between the two brothers. Then Atlas turned to the people and raised his hand as shadows surged up his wrist in a display of power.
“Long live the king!” someone shouted, and then everyone in the crowd echoed the words.
A sinking feeling fell in Draevyn’s gut as he watched the roaring masses celebrate his brother. He knew one thing for certain, and it was that he needed to break Esmyra’s crew free before anything else happened.
And he needed to find a way to do itnow.
CHAPTER 20
Draevyn
The grand throne room echoed with music and chatter. The crowd of nobles, adorned in luxurious silks and velvets, danced and celebrated at the height of Atlas’s coronation ball as imported wine gifted from Elowynne’s kingdom, Sumnae, flowed freely.
Draevyn watched from the outskirts, feeling so similar to the last time there was a gathering at the castle. The night Esmyra had captured him, and the nighteverythingchanged.
He glanced up at the dais and frowned. Where King Rowe once sat, he watched as the onyx crown glittered on his brother’s head while Elowynne stood at his side.
Atlas didn’t even seem like he wanted to be here. The man who thrived on gatherings—on drinking, dancing, and slipping away with beautiful women to spend the rest of the evening with. So much had changed. The man sitting on Lephyrin’s throne was a shell of the brother he grew up with, someone he thought he knew to his very core. The one person in the realm he thought would never be on the opposite side of where he fell.
He wasn’t sure of much, but Draevyn thought he’d always at least have his brother at his side. And while things between them hadgrown tense, and he ached to fix it, he just… didn’t know how. He knew where Atlas stood on Esmyra, and Draevyn refused to change his stance.
A tightness formed in his throat as it began to settle over him that nothing would ever be the same again.
Before Draevyn could think better of it, he straightened his jacket and forced himself through the crowd, pushing past the nobles whispering with wide eyes as they watched him.
Atlas noticed him immediately, his sharp grey gaze narrowing as he reached the edge of the dais. “Well, Brother,” he drawled, lifting his wine. “Enjoying the festivities?”
“Hardly,” Draevyn muttered. “We need to talk.”
Without another word, he climbed the steps, his heart hammering in his chest. The music swelled behind him, the weight of every eye in the ballroom pressed against his back, but he kept his gaze fixed on his brother. Hiskingnow.
The new crown sat heavily on Atlas’s head, though the proud, tired smile he wore barely concealed the shadows beneath his eyes. Elowynne watched silently from his side, her golden eyes gleaming.
“What about?” Atlas leaned back on the throne. “Is it how you decided to stop sulking in the shadows and join the celebration? How un-Draevyn of you.” He lifted a mocking brow.
His attempt at banter threw Draevyn off, but he was honestly grateful for it, hoping it would ease them into the conversation they needed to have.
Draevyn forced a tight smile. “Something like that.”
