Chapter 110

"Start talking, Old Man, and we'll see if you walk free of this room in one piece."

Selene's words hung in the air, her command not fading away until it was obeyed. I wasn't sure how the Raven would respond, but a snort of a laugh wasn't what I anticipated happening. Desiree and I sidled closer to each other, our fingers linking as we held the other tight.

"Your eyes burn with condemnation, daughter," he said as he met Selene's gaze. "I know you and your brother think me a harsh father.'

"I don't think much of you at all, unless I'm forced to," she replied with a snap, then her eyes narrowed. "But I will not be drawn into conversations about the dysfunctional nature of our ‘family', Father." Our focus was tugged towards the door as we heard shouting filter through. One voice was familiar, Magnus', but then more and more voices started to rise in an effort to be heard over each other. "Explain what's going on, quickly now, lest I be forced to extract answers from you."

Selene walked over to the walls of this repellent room, plucking knives off the wall, then testing them for their balance before facing him. Desiree looked up at me with worry, but I shook my head slightly. The Temple sister seemed to be completely in control of everything.

"No need for violence, Selene." The mocking facade the Raven hid behind started to crumble, the lines in his face deepening. "Just a balancing of the books. You can only evade your debtors for so long."

"Analogies, father?" Her brow creased. "Enough with the maudlin mumblings." She held her knife out, the threat there obvious. "Tell me what I need to know to get the lot of us out of here in one piece and to kill that prick of a king. You made clear to me the kind of upheaval, destruction that happens at the assassination of a king, but I find I no longer care. The pain of things staying the same outweighs the pain of change."

"That was why I made sure Magnus was poisoned slowly." The Raven shot her a weak smile. "Because I needed everyone to know. If he died suddenly, chaos." He threw his hands up. "All of those that supported him would be shocked, then outraged, looking for revenge at what they assumed was an unprovoked attack, but this way…" He glanced at the door, lips pursing. "More chaos, but also more truth. Years before, during the fight for succession that happened between Magnus and Arik, I visited them both. The king had not followed my advice and so he died, but they had a choice. With my support, one of them would take control of Khean, rule it, bring order and peace back to the realm and I…"

I frowned as I heard his voice crack, and by the way Desiree stiffened, she wasn't expecting that either.

"I chose the wrong one to support," the Raven admitted. "Every action has its consequence. I taught you that."

"In so many unpleasant ways." Selene's grip on her knives tightened. "But I've never heard you admit to… anything, unless under duress, so continue."

"Arik was young, brash, and worst of all, idealistic. For someone who grew up under Magnus' shadow, I'm not sure where he got that preoccupation with right or wrong, but he clung to it like other men might religion or bonds of family."

The Raven sighed.

"Perhaps he had to, in the absence of those other things, but it made him not a good candidate to back. While he was the only son with the king's blood, the shame of being a bastard had followed him around for so long that it would've been very difficult to dispel that stink. If the king had managed to hold his trial… if the evidence of the queen came out…" He shrugged. "I could've ensured all of those things happened, but that boy. I think in some ways the king thought the horrors of being raised by that monster, Magnus, would make Arik stronger, but even steel that has been reheated and forged too many times can become brittle."

His eyes met mine, a grey green rather than Silas and Selene's emerald.

"He made it clear when I gave my kind offer to support him that he would not be my puppet or anyone else's and there's nothing I can't abide more than a ruler who thinks himself untouchable. The death of Lady Ariel was supposed to be a reminder that this was not true."

I watched the Raven's lips move as if underwater, his words muffled and distorted.

"I thought the king might rough Ariel up a bit. I even had men placed to step in if needed. A bruise on her cheek, just one around her neck. I instructed Giselle—"

"Giselle?" Both Selene and I went perfectly still.

"I knew the king's predilections and needed someone who could handle them, and I thought I had that in Giselle. It would mean she wouldn't be useful to me for very long, but I thought by appealing to her greed I could convince her to do this job. Instead…"

The Raven stared off into the distance, not seeing us, despite the noise growing outside the door. Desiree was gripping my hand so tightly I could feel the imprint of them in my fingers, just as she did mine.

"Instead she did what everyone does and put her own survival first, willing to stir the king's murderous desires, only to redirect them against Ariel. The lady didn't stand a chance. Giselle was born in the stews, the daughter of a whore. She'd seen everything, done most of them, before she came to the palace. Ariel was just another pampered highborn lass, not taught to defend herself from monsters she didn't even know existed. But I didn't think he'd kill her. That's what I tell myself—"

"But he did." Selene was like an avenging angel in black, stepping closer to her father. "And you had the means to stop him. At any point you could've brought an end to this, but you didn't. You'll try and say it was because of the resulting upheaval and the civil war that was sure to follow—"

"But you don't get to decide these things." I went to pull away from Desiree, but she joined me as the two of us stepped closer. "If you chose the devil you knew because the alternative was too hard…?" I shook my head slowly. "You don't get to make any more decisions going forward."

"There will be a reckoning, Father," Selene said. "But not now." Her eyes jerked upwards as she heard a loud thud of a body hitting the door. "Now I do what you can't and get all of us out of this place." She turned to us, holding out a hand. "Come with me if you wish to live."

I clung to her hand just as tight, the knife's sheathed somewhere as Selene carefully opened the door. She pulled free so fast I couldn't hold on. There was another thud, then another hitting the door before she wrenched it back open again. Guards lay on the ground, wide eyed and staring endlessly as blood pooled around them.

"By all the gods…" Desiree hissed.

"Send up all the prayers you can," Selene said, looking both ways. "Because we may have a need of them if we're to get out of this alive. This way."

She went to jerk us forward, but I dug in my heels.

"Isn't that where the fighting is taking place?" I asked in alarm.

"And who are the guards fighting?" As she shot me a sly grin, a familiar howl echoed through the palace. "The cavalry has arrived, princess, ready to free you."

"About time that Roan started making use of that big sword of his," Desi hissed, trying for bravado, but her too pale skin made a lie of that. I couldn't pay much attention to that, the sound of the wolf howl tugging me forward.

"Creed…?"

I started moving then, faster, my feet a blur over the marble floor. Desi kept pace with me, shooting me a wild grin, but then we were forced to come to a skidding stop. Guards came lumbering up the stairs, swords drawn, but before they could engage us, knives buried themselves in the vulnerable points of their armour, forcing them to drop their weapons with a clatter as they fell to the floor.

When Selene snatched the daggers back and stood over her fallen enemies, she looked like a lioness, bloodied of teeth and claw. It should've been a moment of victory for us, because beyond the balustrade I saw them fighting. Silas fought with balletic grace, spinning out of the reach of those that struck out at him, throwing his knives with perfect precision to drop each enemy. Roan roared with each great sweep of his sword, the blade slamming into multiple guards, sending them staggering back. And Arik? He and Creed were like two peas in a pod, the snarl on his human face identical to Creed's wolf's jaws. They tore through guards like butter, allowing me to smile just a little as my heart soared.

We couldn't just be allowed to enjoy those small victories, could we? I hadn't rushed into this fight, hadn't entered the city. I had done everything right this time, hadn't I? I was content to watch my mates fight their way towards me, ready for them to sweep all three of us from this place and to safety until…

Selene went rigid, her eyes wide and then losing focus as she dropped into a dead faint. Desi let out a cry, but she quickly followed suit. I spun around to find a triumphant looking Giselle standing there, a blow pipe in her hands.

"Thought you were going to scurry free, little mouse?" she asked and that was enough to have me backing away sharply, but not fast enough. "I wouldn't try." She plucked another dart from her garter and then smiled. "Or you could. You only have to be breathing for what comes next."

"You've lost, Giselle," I said. "The guards are falling like flies and—" I was interrupted by a host of howls as yet more wolf shifters converged on the palace. "And it's only a matter of time before you and Magnus fall too."

"All the more reason to grab a bargaining chip then, isn't it?"

Would I have been able to move this fast if I wasn't corralled, contained by my upbringing? Would I be able to grind my fingers into Giselle's flesh, like she did mine now, and drag her into a nearby room? I wanted to fight, to kick, to scream, something, but what I saw inside the room silenced me. The sickeningly sweet scent of rotting flesh hit me first, then the low mesmeric hum of flies. A girl with bright gold hair lay on the ground, a familiar ring of bruises around her neck making clear the cause of her demise.

"That one?" Giselle hauled me past the dead body. "Silly girl. Didn't follow the directive someone sent about not sending any more girls to work in the palace. Needed money, she said. Had a mother at home that needed medicine, so she came to the palace during the day, thinking she could sneak in and make some beds, get good coin before the festivities began. Magnus woke up and saw all that pretty blonde hair and well…" She shot me a sharp smile. "You know what happened.

I did. There was no training I could call upon, just instincts that had me raising my foot, only to send it slamming down on the top of hers, my hand shooting up, the heel of it about to slam right into her nose, but while I managed to stamp her foot, Giselle was well used to this kind of abuse. She snarled at me as she caught my hand with one of hers, then used the other to slap me with all of her strength.

The world went white, the noise beyond drowned out by a high pitched ringing. While I struggled to stay on my feet, she struck like a viper, grabbing both of my hands and then lashing them together with something before staring down at me as the world came rushing back.

"You—!"

I started to shriek, my whole body sucking in a breath before she slapped a hand over my mouth.

"You'll shut the fuck up if you want to live, or so help me, I'll break your pretty little neck here and now." Her smile reasserted itself. "Wouldn't that be awful? Poor Prince Arik finally gets some balls and starts a revolution, but his wife to be, his mate…"

Her gaze grew keener as it slid down the side of my face, her eyes widening when she saw the bite there.

"You just bought yourself a few more minutes on this earth, bitch," she said. "A fated mate who dies after she's bonded herself to her pack takes the men with her into death. I need to get you to Magnus now."

Why was I so damn weak? Why had the women in Stormare made such a virtue of it, because digging my heels in, fighting my bonds, just earned me another slap, then another. Blood ran freely from my nose, but I was dragged anyway through a door that was cleverly inset into the wall, its presence only detectable by someone who knew it was there. She popped the door and jerked me through it before shutting it behind us.

"Jessalyn…?" I heard my name called beyond the door. "Jess…?"

I sucked in a breath, ready to answer them, but that's when Giselle's hand shot out, not to shut my mouth, but to cut off all available air. My reply was little more than a strangled croak as I stiffened. It knew we needed air desperately and that someone was stealing that away from us, my whole body jerking, twisting in her grip, but my hands were bound firmly behind my back. I was helpless, that was clear and when I went limp in her hands she nodded in recognition. I couldn't cry out, not as she tugged me down the hidden corridor, because I was too busy sucking in breaths greedily, right up until I ended here.

"Giselle?"

The king looked up from where he was standing with two harried looking guards.

"Now Lady Giselle is here, perhaps we can make our escape, Sire?" one guard said, trying to sound calm, but failing.

"Why would we leave?" Giselle shoved me in front of her like some sort of prize and the king's eyes lit up at the sight of me. "You bought your way out of one war with that other highborn bitch Arik wanted? Imagine what you can get for his fated mate?"