Page 29 of A Tempest of Shadows

I loathed the game of false niceties but was raised to play it well.

Ivan clasped my hand and squeezed. “And you as well.”

The door opened again, and Ivan’s smile grew when my father and the earl entered. I stepped aside to blend in with the few other aristocrats already present as they sipped their wine, munched on fruit, and gazed out the panoramic windows overlooking Tempest’s sprawling mountains and valleys.

From here, I could barely see the edge of the Revenant Woods, and Nottingshire wasn’t part of the view. Ivan would have only the best vista outside his rooms.

I admired the view as I drank my wine. Tempest was a beautiful realm, one of the most breathtaking I’d ever been to, and I’d seen many of them.

I’d promised Leo I’d watch over it and all the immortals residing here. I’d vowed to protect them from Ivan, but I had no idea how I could do that when Ivan was the ruler. A part of me died on the day the ophidian emperor severed my king’s head from his shoulders.

I didn’t know how to help anyone in this realm when I didn’t give a shit anymore if Ivan and my father killed each other in their desire to rule… when I didn’t care about anything other than surviving my memories.

I glanced at the tall, thin man sitting in a throne-like chair as he overlooked the room. Before his imprisonment and death, Leo was broad and big, but Ivan was taller and skinnier.

The chair made Ivan look smaller instead of larger and more impressive. He reminded me of a child playing at being an adult but with many servants and sycophants fluttering around him.

As the rest of the elite filled the room, it was abuzz with flattery and laughter. I played my part and helped place Ivan’s cloak around his shoulders, all while contemplating strangling him with it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Ellery

The small room we shared with another widowed woman and her four daughters was cramped last night, but it was nothing compared to the massive ballroom where they would crown Prince Ivan.

The ballroom took up an entire building of the palace and still wasn’t enough to house all the amsirah Prince Ivan invited. Below, gold swirled through the marble floor and shifted as the sun rose higher.

The sun’s rays spilled through the large windows encompassing the entire building. The first row of windows rose from the ground to the second-floor balcony; the second-floor ones started at the balcony and ran to the third floor.

More windows rose from the third floor to the dome spanning the room. The dome’s center was gold with streaks of silver rotating through it in a beautiful pattern that reminded me of a starlit sky.

The two rows of balconies encircled all the second and third floors. Thick waves of ivy entwined around the railings and spilled down to hang a few feet below each balcony.

The neatly trimmed ivy didn’t interfere with anyone’s view of the room below. The vibrant green of the plant provided a beautiful splash of color in the sun-drenched room.

Below us, only the highest-ranking aristocracy sat in the chairs set up for the ceremony. The gold-backed chairs had plush, red seat cushions.

As standing-room-only guests, we weren’t granted chairs. That standing room was far too cramped as, to get a better view, men and women pressed against my sides and back.

King Leonidas ruled for almost five hundred years before his death. Many here had probably never seen a coronation before and were eager to watch.

I was the odd one out in this. Just keep breathing.

My mother stood beside me, but some man I didn’t know had wedged half of himself between us. It took everything I had not to elbow the pushy bastard in his too-big belly; if he breathed on me one more time, I was going to grab what I was sure were his far-too-hairy, far-too-small balls and crush them. He’d back off then.

But as I smiled while contemplating it, I looked at my mother, who grasped the rail and looked over the side. Her knuckles were white as she gazed at the more elite aristocrats filing in to fill the seats below.

Ryker and his father strode toward the front row. They settled in the first two seats, closest to the aisle the red carpet had created. Their position was a lot better than ours, but I preferred to be as far from all this pretentious bullshit as possible.

Prince Ivan had spent so much carisle here and created so much waste. Children were starving in the towns while we stood in a three-story, beautiful cage where we were expected to sing like birds.

When the last aristocracy were seated, the orchestra beneath our balcony section switched their song. I couldn’t see the musicians, but I could picture them drawing their bows across the strings of their instruments while their fingers flew through the songs. Their beautiful new song was the cue for those seated below to rise.

A few seconds later, Prince Ivan strolled into view on the red carpet, dragging his red cloak across the floor behind him. He looked regal with his head held high and a golden staff in hand, but my skin crawled at the sight of him.

This man had thrown Tempest into a tumultuous tailspin of poverty and volatility. Thanks to King Leo and men like Ryker, we no longer had to worry about the ghouls trying to invade our realm, but I believed Prince Ivan was as much of a blight to our land as the ghouls.

He was a locust who settled onto his throne to survey all those he would ravage as the music stopped playing. I barely paid attention to what they said throughout the ceremony, the poems read, the songs sung, and the praise heaped upon our future king.