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“It’s a sad story, but we all have one, Eva. You aren’t any more special than I am. I prefer you not lie to me, and I’ll respect you more if you tell me how you feel instead of talking shit behind my back.” There were a lot of things I could overlook, but lying about coming here to ease my mind wasn’t on that list and wasn’t cool. Though, I could see their side of it, too. The truth was never pretty, and it was normally hard to swallow, but that didn’t mean it was acceptable to withhold it.
Eva’s posture stiffened with annoyance. “Whatever this is, let’s get on with it. I don’t intend to stay here a moment longer than I’m forced to do so.”
“If you want to leave, I’ll help you escape,” I offered, shrugging when her eyes narrowed with frustration. “But I’m not going with you because I don’t trust you.”
The thing was that I liked Eva. I enjoyed her no-nonsense attitude. She had balls, which were needed to survive in this world. But I wouldn’t allow her to trample over me, or talk down to me. I’d been through hell to be here, which meant I wasn’t leaving until I got the answers I’d come here for.
“Your father could be hurt, or worse, dead. You’ve not asked about him once since I walked in here. Do you not even care about him?”
“I don’t know my father enough to necessarily care what happens to him. In case you’ve failed to notice? My time inside the Nine Realms has been spent being betrayed by those who I trusted and loved. You know the one person who was honest about his intentions for me from the minute I got to the Nine Realms? Knox Karnavious. Unlike those who share blood with me, who smiled at me and lied about everything that’s happened throughout my life. So, please excuse me if I don’t waste emotions on someone I don’t know and who hasn’t given me any reason to trust him.”
Okay, so he’d been an honest asshole who’d wanted to enslave me. But he’d still been honest about his intentions. He’d lied about plenty of other stuff before I’d ended up here. There’s been a bit of duplicity, but he’d told me he wasn’t letting me go. The others they were nice to my face, only to stab me in the back when I turned away.
“There’s an honest reply,” she whispered sadly. “I’m still leaving. I won’t stand around waiting for Hagen to parade Griffon’s corpse through the city streets.”
“I thought Baldrick was the one leading the coup?” I offered.
“Hagen was the one behind it. At least he is now that you disabled Baldrick and his son from being much help until they’re recovered.” Eva exhaled. “We have to go help your father.”
“Griffon isn’t dead,” Zyion’s deep, silken voice declared from the doorway. How long he’d been standing there, I had no idea. “You might not want to continue pointing out options for those enemies you’re speaking of, either. Considering they’re here.” Drawing the tapestry back, he allowed Basilius, Ronin, Kael and Acheron to enter the room before following them into the chamber. “If you choose to leave, no one will stop you. I think you might be interested in what I’m about to say, though.”
Pain ripped through my forearm as Esme’s claws bit into my flesh. Swallowing the gasp of agony, I trailed her terrified stare to where Basilius was leaning against the tapestry-covered wall. He also was zeroed in on her. The bastard looked as if he wanted to either fuck or fight her. The smell drifting through the room caused my hackles to rise. The masculine pheromones of sage, bergamot, leather and oak made my stomach churn. Worry slammed into my chest at the thought of Basilius being one of the men who’d attacked her village. It would explain her sudden panic and single-minded focus on him. The way he took her in was worrisome. He held a prurient curiosity, plain to read in the oceanic colored eyes, churning with captivated interest currently directed at my best friend.
Eva growled, forcing attention to where she’d backed up against the wall. Warmth drifted thickly throughout the space. It created a disturbance as the men’s earthy scents warred against the softer, more feminine air inside the chamber. Eva’s snarl turned to a seething rattle.
The desire to force Eva to bend and fully submit was almost overwhelming. If the men had a similar reaction, they concealed it well. Not one of them so much as spared her a glance until she pushed from the wall. Then the brothers turned their attention toward her—all except Basilius. He remained focused on only Esme.
My hand slid over where Esme held my arm, but I didn’t pull her hold away. She quivered. Her scent showed it wasn’t out of fear. It was something different. Something sexual, if I had to guess. Her violet-colored irises turned the color of newly-polished amethyst with silver flecks scattered throughout them. A hint of feminine arousal filled the air, forcing Ember to shake with laughter. Clearly, I was missing something she hadn’t.
“We have bigger issues to address right now than your obvious hatred of the Karnavious Princes. I don’t care how you do it, but shut it the fuck down for now.” My eyes darted between the two as I felt Eva’s magic steadily electrifying the air. The moment Zyion used his powers, he smothered the entire room with its velocity as it oozed around him. His mana forcefully sent a shiver rushing through me. Staring at one another, their swelling powers threatened to unleash in the cramped confines of the chamber, which would bode ill for those of us trapped amid their quarrel. “Choose now. Stay and learn what is to come or leave and run back to be imprisoned with your king. I don’t have all fucking day to butt heads with you, Prometheus.”
“You are a traitor. An oath breaker! I fucking stuck up for you, and you’ve been hiding dragons? You are nothing more than a bastard who failed to protect the greatest queen this world has ever, or will ever, know,” she snarled. I tensed as something tickled my brain, creating an itch that forced everything inside me to feel off. It was almost as if Ember was trying to force a hostile takeover of my body, but she was calm, as if she was relishing the show.
“Am I? I took an oath to fulfill my queen’s every wish, including herlast wishes. Until we complete everything she began, I am stuck ensuring her sacrifice wasn’t for naught. How about you? You follow a king who wasn’t even fucking crowned in the land he claims to rule over. This realm we’re in? It might feel like home, but this place isn’t the Kingdom of Fire. You and I both can sense the difference. Tell me, does this place feel like home? Or do you feel yourself weakening as everyone else here does? This realm shouldn’t exist and even it feels the wrongness of existing. Tell me, and I wrong?” Eva snorted, her eyes simmering with rage, threatening to unleash the magic she strained to keep controlled. “I know. How about you ask Aria what the cost is to create another realm?”
The price of a realm? I hadn’t been able to pay it. I’d taken one innocent life and almost lost it, but an entire realm? His eyes slid to mine, locking as heat crept up my throat to strangle me. The boy I’d killed with my grief flashed inside my mind, his haunting eyes glaring accusingly at me. Images carved inside my mind replaying, one after the next. Nausea churned in the pit of my belly, roiling as it rose, threatening to come up.
“Why do you think I’d know the price of creating one?” Knox’s words echoed in my mind, loud, angry, and coated in an ugly veracity.“Sorry doesn’t bring back the dead. It doesn’t change what you did.”
Oh, how I’d needed to hold my hands over my ears, preventing that truth from reaching my heart. Not that it would have done any good. Not when I’d needed to be reminded that actions had consequences. Closing my eyes, I let out a shallow exhale and then shifted my focus to Zyion. A frown furrowed his brow. More heat flooded my senses, but it hadn’t originated from me. It came from something within me that was lessening the pain I felt.
“Answer the question, Aria,” he encouraged.
“In order to create a new realm…” I paused, swallowing memories of the parents crying and screaming in grief. “Another realm would need to fall. It would cease to exist. Those within it, they’d die as well. In short, the realm that falls during the creation of the other ceases to exist anymore. Everything inside the realm would become ruins.”
Eva snorted before asking, “How can you claim such a thing?”
“I intended to create one, Eva. In desperation, I sought to create a place the children of the Nine Realms could go to escape the horrors of what was happening within them. Knox prevented me from doing so, sparing me the weight or even more guilt I wouldn’t have been able to carry. He knew the cost of creation, as he’d been searching for a way to hide his people from the monstrosities unfolding in his kingdom.”
“You’re saying Griffon destroyed another realm in order to create this one?” she countered skeptically. As I nodded, her eyes drifted to Zyion. Distrust churned over her face, wrinkling her delicate features. “He wouldn’t have done that. You know him as well as I do. Griffon is soft-hearted and anexcellentking to our people. Even if he holds no crown, he’s been generous to our people when he need not be so.”
“He’s a wonderful king, Evaleigh. In fact, Griffon is a damn excellent king. That doesn’t change the fact that he allowed this realm to be built at Hagen’s behest. His choice to allow it resulted in the true Kingdom of Fire to fall to ruins. His actions led to those who hadn’t escaped with us perishing in the collapse of our homeland.”Evaleigh?At his use of her name, Eva’s features softened briefly. They’d been lovers, easy to catch from the way they held each other’s gazes. Regret simmered between them, but I felt nothing at the thought of them being together. Childish, but it was how I felt.
“The first people forged the truce that ensured no other land was created outside of the nine pre-existing kingdoms. The land needs balance, or else it becomes unstable. The price for creating one is the loss of another. They gave up everything, including their own lands and citizens, to form a new kingdom, which destabilized immediately after its creation. Griffon had pure intentions when he made this realm, but it doesn’t change the fact that he did it or the consequences.”
Eva had had tears trailing down her cheeks. “Does Griffon know what he did?” Eva’s voice shook. “Does he know he sentenced those who hadn’t escaped with us, to death?”
“No, Griffon isn’t aware of it, nor does he need to be. At least not yet, anyway. As you pointed out, Griffon wouldn’t handle the truth well. He’d break, which isn’t what our people need from him right now.”
