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Some of the glances narrowed, less than impressed. We were on display. What happened now would set the tone for the rest of our visit. We had to make it believable.Ihad to make it believable. I was a king, albeit of a fallen court, but still a king.
We arrived on the wide landing atop the stairs, the perfect stage for my performance. I yanked my cuffed hands free of Lark’s grip. “I’m the King of Love, not your plaything.”
Lark whirled. “You’re whatever I make of you and certainly no king.”
Yes, this was good. A quick glance to the entrance foyer revealed an entranced audience. The Prince of Love, a prince from another land, was in their city, their foyer, brought here by their ruler. A rare sight, indeed.
“Get on your knees.” Lark sneered.
I laughed. “I’m not kneeling to you.”
He swooped in; his fingers locked around my neck, trapping all the air in my lungs. I reached for his grip with my cuffed hands.
“Then I’ll make you.” I’d seen cruelty on his face, I’d seen lust, but I’d never seen this before. Madness.
Tears swam in my vision. My chest burned, as if my lungs were filled with broken glass. I struggled, tried to fight him off, but already, a darkness throbbed in my peripheral vision.
There was nothing left of my precious Lark in his eyes. Razak, the Prince of Pain, had me in his grip, and he wouldn’t hesitate to kill me. He’d killed before. I was nothing to him. I couldn’t fight, I had nothing left to fight with. I tried to yell, to roar at him, but no sound made it past his chokehold.
My knees struck the floor, and Razak still choked me. Was any of it real? Had Lark always been Razak?
No… but he’d always been capable.
He let go. I collapsed, gasping, drifting somewhere far away, but not far enough that I didn’t hear Lark’s laugh. So like Razak’s, there was nothing to tell them apart.
CHAPTER15
Lark
I did not wantto be here, seated at the head of the council table while Razak’s closest advisors peered at me, through me, demanding attention I had no wish to give them. Arin was, presumably, in Razak’s room—where I’d told the aides to take him in his semi-conscious state. I wanted to be there with him, not here, with these people, wishing they’d all die a slow, painful death. Perhaps I could hang all four from the hanging tree before Razak returned and kicked me off his throne? But hanging them as Razak was pointless. Nobody would bat an eye. To hang them as Zayan though… To see them kick and writhe at the end of the rope, as my mother had, as Justice Ines had. These people, who’d watched me leave bloody footprints as I’d danced, watched me hang on the end of Razak’s leash.
“Razak?”
I met Malvina’s steel-grey eyes. She’d been Umair’s advisor, but since the king had vanished years ago, she’d stepped into the role as Razak’s advisor. Wily, brutal, if she had a heart it was made of stone. She had despised me from the moment we’d met. Had it not been for Razak’s protection, I’d have hung at her order long ago.
She wasn’t sneering now. She didn’t see Zayan when she met my careless gaze.
“You seem out of sorts this evening,” she said. Her grey hair had been twisted and pinned up high, as though she had styled herself a crown of silver.
The crown… I was here for Pain’s crown. I needed to focus and not lose myself in the lie.
I couldn’t ruin it now, when Arin and I had just begun—and after Arin’s foolish spectacle in the foyer. I’d almost… I stared at my gloved hands and curled my fingers. I’d almost choked Arin unconscious. My heart thumped. I could have killed him, in that moment. The lust had been real. I’d worn the clothes, called myself Razak, and as soon as I’d stepped from the carriage, I’d become my brother.
“Razak?”
“What?!”
“Your success in War?” She slow-blinked, carefully masking her fear.
“My success at what?”
“Did you secure the crown?”
They knew then, they knew about Razak’s plans to secure the crowns. They’d talked about it, all of them, while I’d been on my knees beside Razak, in this very chamber. So I’d suspected they’d known something of his mission, but hadn’t known how much.
“Of course.” I shooed her apparent concern away. All four council members looked at me with varying degrees of concern and suspicion. I’d been summoned here, to explain how I’d captured Prince Arin. But the longer I stayed under their scrutiny, the more my mind frayed at the edges. I’d have been fine if Arin hadn’t baited me. I’d had everything under control until I’d had my hands around his neck andlikedit.
“You know, I do believe I’m feeling out of sorts. Perhaps I am ill, caught something during my stay in War’s godsforsaken heat.”
