Page 64 of A Tempest of Shadows

We stared at each other before I shifted my attention to the manor, but it wasn’t her home I focused on. What is going on?

“The amsirah in the town, some of them stopped in the middle of running to try to open portals and failed,” I muttered.

“And so have we, but I don’t understand. How is that possible?”

I lowered my head into my hands as I pondered this. How was it possible? How were we trapped here?

And then, as the reality of our situations sank in, so did the truth. “Ivan.” The name was bitter on my tongue. “Leo told me that his brother wanted to shut Tempest off from the rest of the realms and was trying to talk him into doing so, but he refused.”

“Why would he do that?”

Ellery’s voice held a shrill note to it, and I understood her rising panic.

“Power,” I said. “If the amsirah can’t leave Tempest, he has complete control over them.”

She backed away like I was the one who had done this. “No. It would cause rebellion. Everyone in Tempest will rise against him; they’ll kill him for this.”

“Will they? Have they risen against his taxes? You saw the guards and Samael in town; they were prepared to move against Nottingshire. That was an organized raid they planned to unleash after the windstorm went through. No one turned on them.”

Dismay filled her face as her mouth opened and closed in protest before a noise like a half sob, half laugh issued from her. Bending over, she planted her hands on her knees and lowered her head as she took small, shallow breaths.

“Have they resisted anything Ivan has done to them yet?” I inquired.

Ellery shuddered, took a deep breath, and rose. Fire burned in her eyes when they met mine. “This is different! No one will let him keep us trapped here like this!”

“What if he’s the key to getting free again? What if killing him destroys us all and ensures we never leave Tempest again? For all we know, there’s a way for us to leave, and only Ivan can make it happen.”

“King or not, the aristocrats will never allow him to control them like this!”

“And what if he got their permission before doing this? What if they’ve joined together to make this happen?”

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Ryker

Ellery gawked at me as I asked this question. Her mouth closed before dropping again.

My mind spun as I stared at the spot before me, where a portal should be but didn’t exist. Leo had made me vow to protect the realm and its immortals; he’d known his brother would suck the lifeblood from the amsirah and, in doing so, destroy Tempest.

But I’d come back here too lost in my grief over losing him and fury at the ophidians for what they’d done to me, my friends, and all those who didn’t survive their dungeon. I’d returned home done with politics and war; I sought a life of peace, far from all the bullshit.

I’d earned it.

I’d buried myself in women and booze. I’d lived with my father again, something I hadn’t done for centuries, and wallowed.

I’d been an asshole too lost in self-pity to see what was happening. Although, no one could have seen this coming.

I should have paid more attention to the realm, its suffering residents, and what Ivan was doing. Leo had told me Ivan wanted to shut Tempest off from the other realms, but I never believed he could do it.

This had taken a lot of power and a lot of magic… something the amsirah didn’t possess. Ivan had help with this.

I recalled my father saying he wanted to talk to me soon after I returned to the realm, yet he hadn’t done so. I’d assumed he planned to discuss having me lead an army to dethrone Ivan; I certainly had the experience to do so.

What if it was because he was plotting with Ivan to turn this realm into their own giant snow globe of misery? One they could turn over and shake around whenever the whimsy struck just to see where the pieces fell.

And because I went out of my way to avoid him, told him to fuck off every chance I got, and did everything I could think of to earn his disapproval, he’d chosen to keep me in the dark on this. I was sure the day I entered the maze was when he decided to do so.

When I first returned from the Ghoul War and Doomed Valley, he might have assumed things could have changed between us… they never would. I’d hate that man until the day he died, and I’d hate him while he burned in Hell too.