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More grunts and shouts came from my guards locked out of the throne room, but despite their efforts, they couldn’t break in.
“Nori?” Tears filled Ilara’s eyes as the guards began to pull her away. Fear pulsed toward me on our bond anew, and rage clouded my vision as my mate waited for my direction. Waited for me to tell her if now was the right time to rebel. The right time to act. She didn’t know my father as I did, butfuck himfor doing this to her.
“Fight them,” I said to her in a deadly quiet tone.
I lunged toward her, but a sword to my stomach stopped me in my tracks. I knocked it to the side, not caring when another laceration grazed my skin. Snarling at the guard who wielded it, I continued to advance, but just as quickly, the other guards moved in to block me.
A flare of determination lit Ilara’s eyes. Her hand whipped out and caught the first guard right beneath his breastbone. He coughed and staggered back.
She was already aiming for the second when the king said in a cold tone, “I would advise against that. You’re to do as I command, Lady Seary, unless you would like your sister and friends brought before the court to bear punishment for your crimes?”
Ilara’s next hit slowed, and her face paled. Her arms fell slack at her sides, as the first guard, still wheezing from her punch, grabbed hold of her again.
Her stricken face met mine. Cailis might have been safe at my hidden refuge on the Cliffs of Sarum, but Birnee and Finnley weren’t, neither were Meegana or Beatrice. Ilara’s village friends could be apprehended at any time, and the other two Rising Queen Trial participants were only steps away.
My features twisted as regret fired through me.I should have ensured they were all safe.
The king arched an eyebrow. “Lady Seary, your insolence has earned you time in the dungeons until I say otherwise. Should you choose to flounce my command again, I shall do what’s necessary to ensure your obedience.”
Her jaw dropped completely.
“Father, howdareyou,” I seethed.
The king swung his frosty blue eyes to me. “No. How dareyou, Norivun,” he spat. “You come intomythrone room and act as though you’ve bested me, but you haven’t.” He stepped closer until I could see every wrinkle in the corners of his eyes. “I know what you didin Isalee.”
His statement was said so low, so quietly that I knew no one else had heard him.
My eyes widened for a fraction of a second. My father had just admitted what he’d done to our continent. He wasn’t trying to hide it any longer, not from me. He felt that confident in his victory despite what we’d done.
“Norivun!” Ilara’s scream was wild, her eyes wide as a horrible, unsettling feeling swept through me.
My father was truly going to lock her away. Perhaps indefinitely.
My chest heaved, and I reached for my swords. My arms were sluggish, my affinities still gone, but I wouldnotallow them to take my mate. “She stays with me.”
“Take her to the dungeons,” the king called to the guards. “Lock her in the cell next to her village archon, Vorl, or whatever his name is.”
Ilara’s face turned ashen.
My wings whipped out, fury pulsing through me. The eight guards who surrounded me all widened their stances.
“My prince!” Ryder bellowed from outside another door to the throne room. That door also rattled but refused to budge.
I swung my sword as half a dozen guards tried to tackle me, but I darted out of the way. One hissed when my blade sliced along his abdomen.
“Father, don’t do this!” I roared as I fought my way to Ilara.
With each second that passed, she was beingdragged farther and farther from my side.
Another guard leaped into my path. I cut him down as two more guards jumped onto my back.
Fury propelled me forward as my mate was forced through the corner exit. Her cries rang down the hall, and my heart exploded in pain.
“Father!” I bellowed as my sword found its mark on another guard’s shoulder. “Don’t. Do. This.”
“Bring him down!” my father commanded.
Six more guards came in through the back doors, but even though I fought and creeped my way toward where they’d taken my mate, I was one against a dozen.
