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Flames—scalding-hot flames were lapping at my feet, eagerly chewing up my flesh, my tendons, my nerves. A sound of terror tore through my throat, and I kicked my feet, trying to stop the fire, but the more I fought, the higher it roamed. I pleaded with Arkyn, who was still holding the torch he used to light the pyre, but when he opened his mouth to speak, all I heard was the roar of the flame and the snapping of wood.
It was going to consume me.
It was . . .
It’s not real, Sage. It’s not real,I told myself. It was enough to break the spell.
Instantly, the flames wicked out.
Gasping in the aftershock of my panic, I inhaled a shaky breath, but it was cut short because the door off to my right swung open.
Aurelius strode in, his golden robe flaring out behind him, caught on his fast-paced current. The look on his face . . . it was unforgiving, and so unlike the charming smile I had come to know in this lifetime.
“You have finally awoken,dearwife.” He said the last two words in mockery. His lips twisted into the slightest of smiles, one that held no warmth, only callousness and cruelty.
Nausea curdled the contents of my stomach.
I felt like I wasseeinghimfor the first time—not the charming Golden Prince, but theKing of the New Gods.
The memories I had just uncovered, they hadn’t just resurfaced—they’d smashed into me with the mighty force of a battering ram. The Cleansings that had claimed so many lives, the destruction of my orchard—all of it . . . it was because of him. Anger spread like venom in my veins, intoxicating my thoughts, filling me to the brim until it all came boiling out. “Youwere the one thatstartedthe Cleansings.”
“I see your memories have finally returned,” Aurelius stated. Without a whisper of sound, he walked over to a small bar area that backed one of the settees. His fingers wrapped elegantly around the neck of a glass decanter, half full of red wine. He plucked the diamond top off and poured the wine into a gilded goblet adorned with shimmering rubies.
“Thousands of innocents have lost their lives . . . because ofyou,” I hissed, my emotions like a pendulum, swinging between disbelief and anger.
“Innocent?” He laughed sardonically, the sound echoing around me. “I will remind you that when their forefathers raised arms against us in the Immortal War, they sealed their fate for themselves and their future bloodlines. One way or another, all of them will die.”
I wondered if my teeth had rattled loose in my head because what Aurelius said was like a blow to the chin. Clearly, he had more memories of our past than he had let on.
Clearly, he had played me like a sap.
“Aurelius, that was centuries ago,” I said, watching as he swirled the glass and brought it to his nose, breathing in the scent of fermented fruit. “Forget the past. Forget your anger. Show them mercy,” I pleaded with him.
“Show the enemy mercy?” he scoffed, white brows raising in challenge as he walked towards the bed, the belly of the goblet balanced on his two fingers. He let out a sigh, fusing the sound to what he said next. “I don’t know where I went wrong with you. Perhaps it was my leniency that allowed you to forget your place. Perhaps . . . I am to blame for your failings.” He paused for a moment. It felt like he was speaking more to himself than me. “I was foolish to believe that this time might be different between us.”
I sensed the depleted nature of his words—perhaps I could use that to my advantage, to get me out of these chains.
I softened my gaze. “Who says things cannot be different between us this time?”
He regarded me with a blank expression. “You lie much better than you did before, Moonbeam. Tell me, did the God of Death help you sharpen your serpent’s tongue?” He reached for my cheek, but I jerked away from his touch. He blew out a laughing breath of air from his nose, as if to say he had expected as much. “And yet, you do not lie well enough.” He slippedhis hand into his pocket, while his other one swirled the ruby-decorated goblet, mixing its contents.
“You have my hands in chains and an iron collar around my throat. Excuse me if I am not entirely trusting of your touch,” I said honestly, seeing if I could bucket my way out of my quickly sinking plan.
He chuckled. “It has nothing to do with trust, Moonbeam. I know disgust when I see it. You can manufacture all the lies you want, but those ice-cold eyes of yours reveal the truth.” He raised the goblet to his lips.
“Aurelius, I—”
He cut me off. “Save your lies, I couldn’t care less to hear them.” He tipped the goblet back and drank a few swallows. After, his golden eyes shifted back to mine. They wereglowing.
The air turned ominous.
“You’ve been walking for days, with little food or water. Tell me—” he flashed his perfect teeth, tinged with red, “—are you thirsty, Aurelia?”
“No,” I answered, a horn of warning sounding in my head.
“Are you sure?” his regal voice teased. “This one—” he tapped the side of the goblet, “—is a divine little concoction.”
The way he said it . . .
