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Chapter 8
Iwas pretty sure Karn’s jaw hadn’t slid back up into place once since we reconvened in the royal meeting room. Which was both curious and funny to me. Had the shadow demon creature been a threat to me? Yes. Had it been all that difficult to defeat? No, not really, thanks to the parts of Mrak’s magic I still wielded.
Karn thinks I’m very weak.Or, he used to think so.That was the only explanation. In that case, I was glad to prove myself in this way.
Mrak, on the other hand…
“It could have killed you,” he growled as he paced the length of the meeting room. He’d first spent several minutes of my return healing the scrapes on my back and arms, and hadn’t stopped moving since. As if by pacing, he was holding the weight of two worlds on his shoulders, both of which that would fall if he paused for even a single second.
“But itdidn’tkill me.” I met his pace and stepped in front of him, pausing his movement. In fact, the shadow demon creature hadn’t even been the scariest thing in the streets. Whatever that other entity was, it had been much more unsettling.
I took Mrak’s hands in mine. “I’m here and safe.”
Mrak grunted and waved an arm. “Kithonia is hardly safe for you.”
I leveled him with a look but couldn’t fault him for his concern after all we’d been through together. “I suppose nowhere is as far as you’re concerned.”
Mrak pulled me close to him effortlessly, as though I were nothing but a doll. His strength in this form stole my breath and made me realize how easily he could break me if he wanted to. And yet, he’d only ever been gentle—well,firm. Passionate. Possessive. But never violent in the ways I could tell he wanted to be with Sylas now.
“You are my love,” Mrak said, a seriousness in his tone that stole my breath. “My queen. I will let no one harm you.”
I pointed to where the shadow creature’s head rested against the corner wall. “I won’t either.”
Karn cleared his throat. “I think we can all agree your future queen is more than capable of defending herself against your brother’s minions.”
“Arguable,” I said. “Sylas had something else there, too. Hidden. I can’t really explain it, but it felt like I was being watched. By something other than that.” I pointed to the hell-hound head on the ground.
Karn’s brow furrowed deeply, but Mrak spoke before he did. “If Sylas had laid a trap, there may be no telling what other creatures he employed.”
“I guess.” I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever had been watching me was somethingmore. But I also couldn’t put my finger on just what I thought that something more might have been.
“The main question remains whether we can defend our people against Sylas.” Karn retook his seat to the right of Mrak’s at the head of the table. Although he pressed his hands together, he circled his thumbs together quickly. “To that point, we investigated the poisoning yesterday. The perpetrator has been apprehended.”
Mrak grunted and walked his hulking form to his spot at the table. I followed, standing to his left. “They were indeed one of Karn’s people.”
Color me shocked.No wonder Karn looked so nervous. A bead of sweat trickled down his temple even now.
I tried to act surprised. No matter how much faith Mrak wanted to place—or actually did—in Karn, all I saw was every single reason someone like Karn might want to pit two brothers against each other and come out on top in their place. I didn’t know Karn well enough to guess if he wanted to be king, but the fact that I could so clearly see a path for him to make it so made my distrust for him grow despite his compliments.
And, let us not forget all words against me he’d had. Karn didn’t want me as their queen. Not like this. Not as a mortal.
“Well,” I said, while managing not to give Karn a withering look. “At least they were found and imprisoned?”
Mrak nodded. “I saw the wisdom of not killing them.”
“Good.” Especially since my poisoner was probably only working on orders they couldn’t refuse. “Then the only question is: how do you want to act against Sylas?”
Mrak and Karn shared a look. Only then did I realize more attacks had probably happened while I was gone. Sylas was stepping up his conquest plans, likely because he had confirmed Mrak returning to Kithonia.
Mrak spoke first. “Sylas has taken another outpost. His soldiers nearly leveled the village. Only a handful survived.”
“All the more reason to move against him now, no?” I asked. If they were so worried about Sylas’s shows of power, of more innocents dying to his orders, then why did hesitation show in both of their eyes?
Karn shook his head. “No. Mrak’s position isn’t nearly as secured as it needs to be in order to win over his people. Many might still see him as one tyrant taking over for another.”
Fury burned within me. It was this same line of thinking that had kept the human authorities from saving us feeders from vampires.
“And how many more innocents need to die in the meantime until you think Mrak isready?” I asked.
