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“Razak,” I spluttered. “It’s over!”
He stopped, straightened his shoulders, and looked back at me. A smile slowly lifted his lips. “Did I not say there is much still to do?”
“Not for you!” Noemi lunged.
Razak swung and backhanded her so hard she fell. The resounding crack echoed throughout the temple, taking flight. Along with the clatter of a shortsword—the same sword I’d taken from the temple guard. She’d found it, and used it…
Razak touched the spreading patch of blood on his hip. “What…?” His hand, when he lifted it away, glistened red. The most beautiful blood I’d ever seen.
“You bitch!” Razak lunged for the sword.
“Stop!” Arin swept through the doors, his bejeweled dagger glinting in his hand. My prince of sunshine and honey in his gold and white. A wave of black and red poured through the doors behind him; every single warrior bristled with axes and swords, and they just kept coming, man after woman after man… More and more, ready to fight, ready to stop Razak.
“Razak, do not move.” Arin’s righteous glare burned. There was the Prince of Love, the man who had slapped me, lied to me, seduced me. I laughed, quietly losing my mind.
Razak staggered back a step. He chuckled, but his laugh was armor, nothing more. He still clutched his hand to his side, and when he stumbled back a second time, he went down to one knee.
Yes, fall, Brother.
Arin’s glare skipped to me. His lips parted, his face so open and honest, it was surely a mistake to reveal his emotions. “Arrest Prince Razak!”
“You cannot arrest me.” Razak snorted. “Your laws mean nothing.”
Three enormous warriors crowded Razak, and even then, I was sure he’d spring his trap and somehow bring the entire court down around us all. But the warriors grabbed my brother’s arms, pinned them behind his back, and hauled him to his feet.
“Unhand me! You have no justification for this. No evidence!” he barked.
Any moment now, he’d reveal whatever knowledge he’d use to bribe himself from their grasp, but the warriors marched him forward. And Razak struggled in their grip.
I shifted onto my ass, one arm braced at my side, propping me upright. Two warriors broke from their line and came toward me. I had no chance of fighting them off. If I was to be arrested alongside my brother, so be it.
“Leave him,” Arin barked, his voice ringing through the temple. The warriors stopped and glanced back. Arin held them under his control, but not for much longer. He’d need the king soon, or Draven, someone of War’s own colors to rule them.
Arin helped Noemi to her feet. She brushed sand from her gown and said something to Arin, something I missed.
They both looked at me.Everyonelooked at me.
Well then, this was the moment I’d be condemned alongside my brother. Always a traitor, never the hero. Wasn’t that the destiny of fools?
I smiled, expecting the worst. Punishment was inevitable.
Razak’s backward glance shot through me like a spear. He put up a show of struggling, but when his gaze met mine, he smiled, and it was the same smile I’d feared for most of my life, the smile that followed me into my nightmares. The smile that said he’d won.
CHAPTER34
Arin
Lark was alive.
Pale, trembling, but propped up on his arm. Every muscle in my body, every beat of my heart, every thought in my head screamed to go to him. He needed me, and I needed him. But it wasn’t that simple. It could never be that simple. My control of War’s warriors hung by a single thread. Violence simmered, close to boiling over. Any sign of weakness, and I’d lose my hold.
Lark was a traitor to my court, to his own, and the brother to a man I’d just accused of trying to poison the entire court of War. I couldn’t go to him, not like I wanted to.
He slid his gaze away, and it must have landed on Razak, because his eyes widened in fear.
“Get Razak out of here,” I ordered.
The warriors parted, and Ogden swaggered in with Draven beside him. Relief fluttered my heart. Draven was all right. Since he’d chased after Razak, I’d feared they’d fought, and Razak had somehow beaten him. But Draven was fine. Although, his expression had rarely appeared more severe.
