Chapter 79

Istood before the window of magically reinforced glass which spanned the view from my throne room on the top floor of my castle, looking out over the carnage of the battlefield below. Satisfaction rippled through me, and my lips curved into a triumphant smile as my war machines were unveiled at last.

Vard had his uses after all. I could admit that I was glad I hadn't killed him when I'd so often been tempted to, his failure as a Seer almost compensated by the terrible machinations of his mind.

The creatures he had crafted in his laboratory were brutish and crass, yet undeniably lethal - which I had discovered to the detriment of my own army, of course. Their wild bloodlust was a curse as much as a blessing, and we had lost far too many Fae and monsters in the carnage that had followed their release.

My rage had been potent indeed that day, my fury at the loss of the trapped star only matched by my queen's as she lost her hold over so much power. She had been struck severely, her loss of the star's strength leaving her with little more than the shadows in her body. But they were vicious still; a fact I had learned when I had tested that power, trying to bend her to my will only to find she still had the upper hand when push came to shove. Though at least now she was held in check by the Guardian Bond.

She was a fine weapon in this war at least, but one I had decided I would seek a way to rid myself of in future, once my reign was fully secured. I would do it with cunning, just as I had to all others who posed such a challenge in the past. Hail Vega and his whore wife were testament to that.

I eyed the flank of my army where my queen was submerged among a legion of the Nymphs who had stayed loyal after she had lost her control over the shadows, and the subsequent removal of her taint from them. Their numbers were far lower than she had promised me when we'd first made our deal. A fact which she no doubt had noted too. Lavinia wasn't keeping up her end of our bargain, and as I twisted the ring which bound me to her in wedlock, I sneered. She hadn't even managed to give me another shadow hand.

Her use was wearing thin indeed.

I wrenched my gaze from the area I knew my queen to be lurking and watched with unbridled glee as the war machines blasted their phenomenal power across the field, balls of combined Elemental magic tearing through the sky and knocking aerial orders out of existence before colliding heavily with the ranks of those fucking rebels.

"Have you thought on the terms, Sire?" Ellis Rigel asked softly from behind me.

I stiffened at the gall of the daughter of the magicless bitch who had failed me so spectacularly for daring to address me in this moment of victory.

"I told you, I won't be offering terms," I snarled, smoke coiling from my lips. "All those who fight against me have signed their death warrants. I won't be offering anything other than execution to each and every one of them."

"But-" she began, and I whirled on her, fury bellowing from every pore on my flesh as I took a step closer to the single Elemental brat who I had foolishly allowed into my Council.

She claimed to be speaking for her mother whose mind was so addled by what her son had done to her that she was practically no use to me at all. I had kept her close simply because her name meant something. Or at least it had.

"Rigel," I spat the name from my lips, a wad of saliva hitting the floor at her feet. "It would seem the second-born Heirs of the greatest families our kingdom has to offer are all runts, wouldn't it? First, Xavier reveals himself to be a fucking horse then you fail to even claim a second Element at your Awakening. No doubt the Altairs and Capellas are furiously covering up for the inadequacies of their second-in-lines too. The kingdom will thank me for blasting each of your names from the records once this is over. When only Acrux remains, it will be clear to all who deserves the spot of true supremacy."

I backhanded her so hard she fell crashing to the floor, not even able to summon a shield in time to protect herself from the blow.

"Pathetic," I sneered, striding away from her.

I looked forward to entertaining myself with a public execution once this was all done, ridding the kingdom of any lingering vermin before I remade it in my image.

"If all the second-borns in our family are runts, then wouldn't that include you, lame Lionel?" Ellis hissed from her position on the floor and I fell icily still, stiffening as those words washed over me, ringing in my ears. "Radcliff was the one born to power in your generation, after all. Meaning he was the one destined for greatness and you are nothing but the shame left in his wake."

I whirled on her with a furious roar, fire exploding from my flesh and charring the walls, the floor, the ceiling. But when the smoke cleared, and the rest of my advisers were revealed cowering behind a thick wall of magic, no charred bones remained where Ellis Rigel had been. No. Instead of the girl whose fate had just been marked for a violent end, I found my Heir standing in the doorway, his eyes brighter than I had ever seen them, a tunic of black leather leaving his fiercely-muscled arms bare, revealing a myriad of tattoos which hadn't been there the last time I had seen him. Tattoos which looked inked in shadow itself. His shadows had protected both himself and the Rigel runt from the blast of my power and a rush of outrage filled me as I glared at him.

"Father," Tharix purred, his head cocking in that slow, too-animal way of his which always made me feel like he was a predator sizing up a meal. I had enjoyed that look on him before I found it turned on me.

"Where have you been?" I demanded, refusing to cow down beneath that stare, refusing to allow thoughts of anything other than complete dominance over him to enter my mind. "You have been missing for days. Vard thought you dead."

I shot an accusing look at my fucking Royal Seer who was trying to hide himself away at the rear of my other advisers, but I saw him. And I knew he felt my ire.

"I partook in death," Tharix agreed, prowling closer, no inflection in his voice to offer me any kind of answer to his motivations.

"Then go and partake in more," I barked, standing up straight and raising my chin so I could tower over him. Except I didn't. He, like that fucking traitor Darius, now stood taller than me, his brawn larger too, his muscles all too defined, all too fucking much. How dare he grow beyond the measure of my own supremacy?

I pointed furiously out at the battlefield, the thundering boom of my war machines the only balm to the pounding fury which inhabited my skull.

Tharix did not move, and for a moment something unpleasant coiled its way around my heart and squeezed, forcing my breaths to shallow. It wasn't fear. I didn't feel such petty emotions.

"Go!" I roared, the sound of my Dragon burning up my throat and echoing off of the walls.

Tharix remained unnaturally still for a count of five where I didn't so much as draw breath, then his head dipped the slightest amount and he slipped from the room like a shadow sliding out of reach of the sun.

In the distraction, Ellis Rigel had disappeared. No matter though; I would end her this day too.

"Where is Clydinius?!" I bellowed at the rest of my advisors, too furious to look at them.

Instead, I tried to calm myself with the view over the battlefield where my army were now carving deep fissures into the rebel lines, the tide fully turned in my favour just as it should have been.

"No one can find the star, my King," some cretin whispered, and I bared my teeth at the view as I took in those words. There had been no sign of the Phoenix whores nor my resurrected traitor son either, and the longer it went without me catching sight of them, the more certain I grew that they were up to something.

"Keep looking," I snapped without turning to them.

I focused instead on the view beyond my window, the glorious sight of the holes carved cleanly through the ranks of the rebels by my brutally beautiful machines.

I smiled grimly.

It wouldn't matter what the Vegas were planning for much longer anyway. In a matter of hours, this war would finally be won.