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Rylec placed a hand over the male’s. “Thanks.”
He speared his magic through their connection, shattering and snapping every bone he came in contact with. The guard’s arm went limp as he screamed, but the sound cut off when Rylec reached the spine. With one tug, he snapped the vertebrae.
The guard slumped to the floor, dead.
Rylec turned on the other. The guard had summoned the tiniest ball of fire. He snorted. Pathetic. He focused his magic on the male’s hand and like a child with a doll, forced the guard’s hand to slap into his own face.
The hand with the fire, of course.
The guard shrieked and flailed as he burned. Rylec didn’t wait for him to die. Neither of the guards were the biggest threat in the room. While he turned, Rylec sensed something at his back. He pushed out with all his might—
Eliaz slammed into the wall, pinned to the stone by the force of Rylec’s magic.
Rylec didn’t look away in time.
Those bright blue eyes lasered into his, growing brighter and brighter—
Rylec flinched away from the light. When he turned back around, he was no longer in the halls of the Tertian palace, but in a quaint solarium, scattered with seating areas, cushions, and the odd child’s toy.
What the fuck.
“Rylec.”
Rylec spun. Eliaz now sat in a chair by the window, overlooking burgundy fields. The archlord considered him. “The empress didn’t order you to a new cell.”
“I’m not an idiot, Eliaz.” Rylec reached for his magic. It was still there, but as long as he was in Eliaz’s mind, he couldn’t use it on anything. Rylec imagined a protective bubble around his skin. It wouldn’t help if Eliaz attempted anything in here, but if the male tried to kill him in the real world, his magic would deflect the attack. “She ordered my death.”
“I have a proposition for you.”
Obviously. “I’m listening.”
“I want Tertia. Entirely. The rest of the empire can burn for all I care, since we won’t be a part of it. When our planet joined with Sollir, it was a beacon, a force that couldn’t be reckoned with. Over the last century, the Sollir Empire has become more and more disjointed. Mismanaged by a dozen empresses and emperors, your own father included.”
Rylec crossed the fake-room and dropped into the opposite chair. “If you think that will insult me, you don’t know me as well as you claim, Eliaz.”
“I didn’t mean it as an insult.” With a wave of the male’s hands, drinks appeared at their side table. Rylec plucked up hiscup and took a sip. Decent for a non-existent drink. “I was there when you were sent word of Emperor Oriel’s death and Empress Calanthe’s crowning. You reacted more to the news of your stepsister-turned-stepmother.”
“Calanthe was always a brute.”
“She was.” Eliaz sipped at his own drink for dramatic pause. Everything was a show to the male. “Which is why I want to get out from under her unholy thumb.”
Rylec lowered the drink. “You’re my contact.”
“I am.”
Rylec didn’t repress his snort. Eliaz had always been a possibility, but Rylec would have put credits down on Naccius or Severin. Those males loved their secrets. But Archlord Eliaz, ruler of Tertia? He was basically a king. “Why?”
“Why do you think, Rylec? You know me. The son of a lowly archlord and one of her many star-maids, banished to Lucien Manor because they already had half a dozen young lords to train.” Eliaz leaned forward and rested an elbow on his crossed legs. “You trained because your father wanted more for you. I trained because I wanted to prove my mother wrong. I was the lord they should’ve kept. By the time she realized, I was already beyond her. Tertia is mine now. I have more than a small territory, I have a planet. I won’t let anyone take it from me.”
Ah. The obvious answer, then. If Rylec had known Eliaz was itching for rebellion, maybe the two of them could have joined forces years ago. “So what do you propose?”
“I let you go. You kill Calanthe.”
“You want me to claim the Imperial Throne?”
“At least temporarily. As long as you grant Tertia her independence, you can run off with your star-wife after for all I care.”
Eliaz stirred his drink, but Rylec wasn’t fooled by the casual motion. If he said no, then he was Eliaz’s enemy. The male wouldtreat him in kind. But would he say no? His priority was to save Inez and Soriya. On Tertia, Eliaz was the best partner to have.
