“The rest of you,” he said, projecting his voice to fill the chamber, “will listen very carefully to what I have to say next. Because your lives depend on it.”
He paused, letting the moment stretch, letting them understand just how completely they were at his mercy.
“I could kill you all.” His voice was matter-of-fact. “Every single one of you. It would be easy. I could command you to stop your own hearts. To tear each other apart. To eat your own eyes in lieu of the feast. I have that power now, and you are utterly helpless to stop me.”
Behind him, Ebiti’s arm was reaching for a spoon. The sounds she made were getting worse.
“But I’m not going to do that.” Raziel spread his hands in a gesture that might have been magnanimous, if not for the cruelty in his eyes. “Because you haven’t wronged us. Not yet. You came here tonight expecting to witness an execution, yes. You came here to celebrate our deaths. But you didn’t plan them. You didn’t orchestrate them. You were simply…guests at the party.”
He began to walk among them, running his fingers along the edge of the table, pausing to examine a frozen face here, a motionless hand there.
“Now that I have made myself very plainly clear.” He smiled, as if he were welcoming everyone to an afternoon tea. “Shall I begin?”
Nadi could not help but stare at the man who she had married.
Raziel Nostrom.
The Serpent.
And watched him simply take control of his new empire.
As she did, she wondered if she had simply stopped pretending that the monster was anyone other than herself.
Because she didn’t know if she had ever loved him more in her life.
EIGHTEEN
Raziel pushed Ebiti’s still-twitching body from the chair and let her slump to the ground. The old bitch didn’t even finish half the spoons before she lost the ability to complete his task.
Sitting in her place at the head of the table, he beckoned Nadi to his side. She walked up to him without hesitation, an unreadable expression in those black opal eyes of hers.
However, it seemed she wasn’ttooangry with him for what he had just done. Leaning down, she kissed him. Slowly. Savoring it. Perhaps even putting on a little bit of a show for their still-captive audience.
It was perfect.
Shewas perfect.
Nadi folded her hands on his shoulder and took a position at his side. His wife. His lover. His assassin. His fae. His Nadi.
Raziel turned his attention back to the other fae, frozen around him. He supposed it was probably time to let them speak. “I am going to free you all of my control. You will all sit here politely. If you do not, you will meet a similar fate to your dear Ebiti.”
He let the words hang for a moment before he released his control over them. “You may move now.”
All at once, the other fae at the table shifted or sat back in their chairs. Raziel fought back a laugh at the array of emotions that they all displayed, each one handling what they had witnessed in a different way.
Some horrified. Some furious. Most terrified for their own lives. And just a few with an eager glint in their eyes, as if they lived for this kind of chaos and slaughter.
The fae were fascinating creatures, he had to admit.
But not a single one of them was stupid enough to stand up, attempt to run, or say a damn word.
Good.
So Raziel kept talking. “We are not your enemies. I have no quarrel with the fae. My war is with my siblings. With Lilivra.”
Now came the risk. This was a decision he had made with Kalo. It was one that he had not had time to discuss with Nadi. But he saw no other path forward.
Open warwas not the way.
