More ruckus comes from the side gardens. The sounds of hooves, weapons clashing. Ezkai Cassandra and Ezkai Xander both appear from the sides of the estate, and the rest of my men pour through in perfect formation, filling every gap, cutting off every exit.
Reizei’s men turn, recalibrate, and find nowhere to go.
In mere moments, he’s completely surrounded.
Thirty of my most loyal Ezkai at every angle, blades drawn, rain running off their leather armor in rivers.
I allow myself to take it in for exactly one breath.
My plan.
My army.
My moment.
But when I look back at Reizei, a ghost of a smile is still present on his face.
Uneasy coldness seeps through me. I push it down.
“Ezkai Reizei Talbot.” My voice cuts clean through the rain. “You stand charged with the kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and torture of Vera D’Argent. With coordinating a blackmail operation against the noble House Dzuni and the Order of Ezkai. And with conspiracy to assassinate Ezkai General Kitajo Hiromasa.”
Silence except for the rain.
“Anything to say?”
Reizei looks at me the way Daegel used to right after he manipulated me into believing what he wanted me to believe.
The reign of these men ends today.
When he doesn’t say anything, I turn to my unit. “Arrest him.”
A heartbeat passes.
Silence stretches.
And none of my men move.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
PHOENIX
My pulse spikes.
No fucking way.
“I said, arrest him!”
My voice is harder this time. A command with no room for misinterpretation. Around me, thirty Ezkai stand motionless in the pouring rain. Blades drawn, yes…
But nobody moves toward Reizei.
Nobody moves at all.
My gaze sweeps past their faces. Some are confused, looking at their comrades while others…they look at Reizei with determination.
The cold that seeped into me moments ago spreads through my chest now, reaching my fingers, my throat.
Looking me straight in the face, Reizei speaks. “Stand down.”
