23. Irina

Danai paced before the throne as I watched in amusement.

We were alone.

Even the guards had been dismissed so we might speak privately, though I was sure an army of men in silver plate stood outside each door to the chamber. There were also likely a few others pressing their ears to the door hoping to catch a few words.

My magic would disappoint them.

"What, Danai? What aren't you asking? I can see your mind whirling like a tornado."

He stopped and turned to face me. "How? How did you freeze that man?"

"Magic is an interesting tool." I grinned and shrugged. "You were right, Danai. I needed to learn to harness my power all along."

He gaped up at me. "You are brilliant—and wrong— on so many levels."

"I am Queen. Nothing is wrong if I say it is so." I waved a hand dismissively. "Now that I think about it, the title Queen is so, I don't know, common. It was given to me when I married, not something ordained. Besides, the consort to the King has no real power. What do you think of Empress instead?"

His brows rose. "It is certainly more . . . I don't know . . . just more."

Danai was rarely flummoxed. A grin tugged at the edges of my mouth.

"Good. That's settled. Now, tell me what plans you've made for our brothers and sisters."

He lowered his head and sucked in a breath. I had tasked him with planning revenge against the Mages, most of whom were difficult to locate and impossible to contain. I couldn't fathom how to wage a war against an enemy who could vanish at will. Beyond that, if even a few of them combined their efforts, I could never hope to match their power. They would crush me before I ever drew a drop of blood. This was utter folly.

Danai's greater knowledge and experience with magic was my only hope of taking them on. I needed him, and that crawled beneath my skin like a burrowing worm.

Virtually everyone I had ever loved was dead. I hoped never to need someone again, certainly not another Mage.

His mouth opened, and it looked for a moment like he might resist, but he finally said, "Tasha and the others around her have scattered, each fleeing to protect their own holdings."

"That's good news, isn't it? We can pick them off one at a time rather than trying to battle them as a united front."

He nodded. "Yes, but . . ."

"But what? Just spit it out, Danai, so we can be done with this."

He recoiled, staring back as though I'd just slapped him. "Johann, Kels?, and, I think, Gareth have vanished."

I shrugged. "Okay, good. They are doing the same as the others."

"No, they are not, and that's what worries me." He shook his head. "They left to protect the Well."

"What Well? What are you talking about?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, then looked away again, so I sent another wave of Compulsion. "Tell me about the Well, Danai."

He looked up, his eyes glass. "It is magic's heart, where the currents flow and pool. Legend calls it the home of the Phoenix."

"It is important enough for the three of them to leave me free without opposition?"

He nodded. "If the Well falls, so does magic. At least, that's what the legends say. It has never happened."

I steepled my fingers. "So, what do we do?"

"A direct attack will not work. If they think you are coming for them, they will band together, and you cannot win that fight." He hesitated, as if deciding whether to add fuel to my fire. When he met my gaze, something resolved, and his chest lifted. "Benton and Amicus are the weakest. You and I could easily defeat them."

"Is there a way to consume their power when they die? Not their spirit, just their magic?"

Danai's eyes widened in a horrified glare. "Irina, that's forbidden. It's . . . evil—"

"Slaughtering my parents was evil. This is vengeance." I waved a hand. "Now, is there a way?"

He blinked a few times, then his head lowered. "Yes."

"Good. You will teach it to me. What next?"

"The others are too strong. When you consume another's power, it diminishes. You will only retain a portion. You and I, with your new strength, might defeat Tasha, but Elric is ancient and almost as strong as Johann. Even if we could beat him, we would lose much for our effort."

I rose from the throne, paced a few strides away, then turned back. "So, we let those two cower in their holes. What then?"

He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked doubtful. "Irina, this is madness. We—"

I stepped forward and placed a hand on his cheek and the other on his chest. It was the most intimate touch I'd ever allowed. I knew he loved me. It couldn't have been more obvious had he been a mooning teen. His longing was yet another weapon for me to use.

I leaned in, so close my breath brushed his lips. "Danai, I need you. You are the only man who can stand by my side."

His eyes softened, his breath quickened, and his walls melted before me.

"We . . ." He gulped. My lips were so close I could taste the wine on his breath. His words were little more than a hushed whisper. "We take a page from their book and go after the people they care about."

"Go on," I said, stroking his hair and pressing my body against his.

"As Queen—I mean, Empress —you have an army at your disposal, the largest in the world. Most of the Mages live in Melucia. Their livelihoods were built there. Their homes are there. If you want to hurt them, destroy what they care about, same as they did to you."

"And if they resist?" I whispered in his ear.

He shivered.

"We kill them."

Silence, like the sound between lightning and thunder, hung in the air.

"What is to stop them from fighting my army?" I asked, rubbing circles in his chest with my fingers. "They could easily wipe out a nonmagical force, no matter how large."

Danai's heartbeat quickened beneath my touch. "They . . . they will not interfere if they believe it is a fight between nations. They would see that as lowering themselves."

"How much lower can they get—killing my parents, the King and Queen?" I scoffed, pulling away from him. His whole body sagged forward, as though a lifeline had just been plucked from the grasp of a drowning man.

"That was not about the affairs of men. That was about you . Another Mage."

Anger blazed to life within me. "Never call me one of them again. Do you hear me? I will never be one of those vile creatures."

He took a reflexive step backward. "I only meant . . . from their perspective, coming after you was related to the magical world, not a political squabble among the nations."

I released a breath to calm myself. Danai was trying to help. "Fine. We raise an army, invade Melucia, burn down their homes. What next? What comes after that?"

"You become everyone's queen."

I reached up and removed the crown, tracing my fingers along the edges of gems embedded within gold. When I looked up, a smile crept across my face, and a new hunger rose within.

" Everyone's queen. I like the sound of that."

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