Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
“I know, Mother.”
She finally pulled her gaze away and inhaled a slow breath. “I can taste his blood on my tongue.”
I’d kept my promise a secret to her so far. If I’d told her a long time ago, we may not have reached this moment. “When Ivory agreed to help me, she gave me one condition.”
She stiffened.
“We may punish her father however we wish. But we must spare his life.”
She’d never looked at me like that before—like she wanted to kill me. “And you agreed?”
“It was the only way.”
Her head moved forward again, as if she was ashamed of me.
“We’ll still take back our home. We’ll still get our revenge. It’s just not exactly how we pictured it.”
She visibly shook, she was so angry.
“It’s better to accept the compromise than forfeit the victory altogether.”
“How dare she defend him?”
“She doesn’t. Whatsoever.”
“Then how can she plead for his life—”
“It doesn’t matter. Those were her terms. We must honor them.”
Her hands went to her hips, and she dropped her stare to the grass beneath us. “I need a moment.”
“Of course, Your Highness.” I stepped away and returned to Ivory.
She stared at my face, her eyes shifting back and forth.
“I just told her.”
“She didn’t know?”
I stared.
“What if she does it anyway—”
“She won’t.”
“But what if—”
“We made an agreement. We will hold that agreement.”
Storm landed on the other side of us, the ring of fire secured around us. We were just outside the gates, the soldiers visible up the hill as they organized into their ranks as if they would march on us.
I’d already called their bluff.
The gates opened, and men approached.
“Huntley.”
I turned back to my mother.
Her arms were back to her sides, her spine perfectly straight. “Take the throne in my name. I would do it myself—but I’ll kill him.”
I nodded then faced the men who marched toward us. “Get behind me, baby.”
“I’m not a coward—”
“Now.”
She didn’t test me and shielded herself behind me.
I recognized Faron as he drew closer. His green eyes. His dark hair that was now peppered with gray. His shoulders used to be broader, and he used to be thinner. Age had weakened his muscles and extended his stomach. A ruler should be strong, always ready for combat, not lazy with a belly full of booze. When he was just feet away, I saw his most defining feature.
The scars on his left cheek.
They were still there, just faded.
Motherfucker probably had no idea who I was—but he was about to find out.
Ryker was on his right, in his full armor with two short swords at his hip. His eyes immediately narrowed on my face because he remembered me from last time. His eyes shifted left and right, looking for his sister.
I was surprised Faron had the balls to leave his castle and face me like a man.
Perhaps he was Ivory’s father after all.
He stared me down.
I did the same time to him.
Nothing was said. The fire crackled around us, and it was hot enough to reach my skin through my armor.
The memory of that night was scarred in my mind, and now that vivid memory looked different, because I replaced his old face with the new one. With the wrinkles and fat. I pictured him on top of my mother, his round belly shaking with the thrusts.
I’d thought I could keep my promise, but now I wasn’t so sure.
It was the hardest thing I’d ever done. “Surrender. Not only will your men and city be spared, but your life as well. Resist, and we will burn your castle to the ground and build a new one on top of it. We will burn your armies until they’re fiery corpses. We will burn your crops, so your subjects starve. We will leave this place inhabitable.”
His eyes shifted to Pyre and studied him for a long time. “Dragons are supposed to be myths. Supposed to be legends told by firelight. And yet, you have two. How?”
His entitlement only angered me, but I didn’t show it. “Because I’m the true King of the Kingdoms.”
He straightened at my words.
“I’ve been forsaken for twenty years. But no longer. Surrender.”
It didn’t seem like he knew who I was, not even with that blatant hint.
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
His eyes narrowed.
“I was a boy then. Weak. Powerless. Defenseless. Tied to a chair and forced to watch my mother be subjugated to cruelty that still haunts my nightmares.”
His eyes flicked to my mother—like he knew.
“Look at her again and see what happens.”
His eyes turned back to me.
“Now I’m a man. A man who’s killed Necrosis. A man who’s felled yetis. A man who’s survived blizzards and storms, who’s survived a fall from the top of the cliffs to the ice-cold tundra below. A man who was raised by a queen who has bigger balls than you ever will. In my father’s name, I take back what is mine. Now drop your sword and bend the knee.”