AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Inez dropped the blade and ran for him. Eliaz shuffled out of the way. If he hadn’t, Inez would have run him down. Nothing could keep her away from her mate. Her living, breathing star-husband. Rylec opened his arms and Inez crashed into them. Home. It wasn’t a place or a nation, but a single person. Him. It always had been.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, the words a whisper in her ear.
“I’m okay.” Her mind remembered the pain Calanthe had caused her, but her body had already forgotten. And the monster was dead. She could sleep soundly at night for the first time in years. “And you?”
“I’m fine.” Rylec pulled back, just enough to look over her shoulder. “What happened?”
Inez wasn’t sure if he was asking Eliaz or her, but she answered before the archlord. “I killed Calanthe.”
Rylec processed the words in a single blink. “She’s finally dead.”
Inez nodded. “Finally.”
This time, her husband’s gaze clearly went to Eliaz. “And did Eliaz help?”
“I arrived after, I’m afraid.”
Inez glanced between the two males. “Why?”
“We made an agreement.” Rylec narrowed his eyes at the Tertian archlord. “One that is now void.”
“Is it, though?” Eliaz leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, an infuriatingly casual pose. “You’re in my palace on my planet. Do you have any loyal guards nearby to protect all you hold dear?”
“Don’t threaten us, Eliaz,” Inez snapped. She was so tired of archlords telling her what to do.
“Already so much like an empress.”
An empress? He had called her by the imperial title before but thought him deranged. “What are you talking about?”
“You know how our society works. Whoever kills the current leader becomes the new leader.”
“That rule only applies to Sollirians.” That piece of information had been drilled into Inez since she started her star-maid training. If the law had applied to everyone, star-maids would try to kill the empress daily.
Eliaz strolled closer, closing the distance between them. “You’re a star-wife, Inez. Through our laws, that technically makes you a Sollirian citizen. As long as Rylec lives, you share rights and titles. Calanthe refused to acknowledge your relationship, but it doesn’t make it any less true.”
Inez looked back to Rylec, but her mate didn’t counter his point. If anything, his jaw clenched tighter. Rylec had spent a decade of his life as the child of an imperial emperor. He knew the dangers imperial life brought. “What is he saying?”
Rylec met her gaze. “You’re the Empress of Sollir.”
Inez stared. That couldn’t be. The Sollirians would never accept a star-maid on the throne. Calanthe had suggested it, but she was crazy. But Rylec wasn’t crazy. Eliaz wasn’t crazy. If they both said it was true…
Eliaz gestured at himself. “And that’s why you need an ally.”
Rylec shot a glare at the other male, who halted his approach. “Not now, Eliaz.”
Inez opened and closed her mouth, but no sound came out. “But I can’t…”
“You are.” Rylec squeezed her hands. “We can still leave. No one can force you to accept the throne.”
“Oh, gods.” Inez rubbed a hand down her face. She had never dreamed of power. She had always imagined running as far as possible from Sollir and never returning. But if she stayed, could she change the empire? The archlords would try to kill her. They wouldn’t like following a star-maid’s rules. She would put herself and Rylec and their children at risk.
But thousands upon thousands of star-maids lived in the empire. She could rescue herself, but she couldn’t save them all.
Unlessshe could.
Inez wrapped her arms around her husband. “I can’t make this decision alone.”
“You’re never alone, Inez. I’m by your side, always.”
