Page 78 of Royal Hunt
Viana stalked forward putting one hand out to Mixen, resting the other on Nessian’s shoulder. He shot her a questioning look and she raised an eyebrow in response. Mixen sighed, nodding. Matthias and Maven watched with surly looks and pursed lips, clearly not approving of whatever their brother had just agreed to. Lily and Lyra stood on Nessian’s other side, looking much older and harder than when I’d first met them. Lyra’s wings appeared solid black, but they shone with amethyst scales when the sun hit it just right.
The moment Viana’s hand clasped Mixen’s, the large, burly man fell to his knees, grunting. His commanding presence diminished in front of our very eyes, even as Nessian’s head snapped up, his eyes shining with renewed vigor and purpose. The shield flickered and strengthened.
The shouts and cat calls from outside the barrier died instantly.
“I can do this shit all day!” Viana sneered at them. “Next time it’ll be one of you, and I won’t stop until you’re a dried husk blown away quicker than the ruins of your fields!”
The crowd gaped, then cried different slurs.
“Witch!”
“Fae monster!”
“Should have killed you all!”
Viana growled and whirled back to us, flinching at the look of anger on my face. “What? We tried working with them!” Her dark hair fell over her shoulders. “Fear is the only way to take control, or we give up our kingdoms! I can easily get a dozen prisoners and drain them dry to keep Nessian going!”
I shot guilty glances to the other heirs, still unable to return to their homes until we figured out this mess.
“Fuck this. I’m taking my guards and we’re leaving at nightfall. I must return home.” Viana glanced at the others. “I suggest you all do the same.”
No one spoke as she went down the stone stairs, every inch of her body screaming a queen who’d just made a proclamation. The triplets left next, Maven and Matthias supporting Mixen and giving Nessian a glare. Lily and Lyra each took one of their brother’s hands, clearly planning to stay with him.
“I will figure something out,” I promised them. “Just give me tonight. Get him any food or whatever else he may need. I will have a solution before midnight.”
Ellis huffed indignantly at me, but didn’t have time to respond as I tugged him down the stairs.
“Ellis, tell her,” Viana called out to us, her face tight with worry.
Ellis went still, his shoulders hunching with tension. His grip on my hand tightened.
“Tell me what?” I demanded.
Ellis shook his head. “Wait until we get there.”
Twenty Five
“Tell me what, Ellis?”
The door to his chambers had barely shut behind us before he’d torn the crown from his head and threw it across the room. I winced as it bounced off the floor and skittered under a couch.
“Viana had no right to say that. She has no right to interfere in my life,” he spat at the floor, rage in his eyes.
“Does it have to do with your dreams?” I asked, going out on a limb as I sat down on a velvet stool. I was trembling a bit from all of the adrenaline.
“She’s wrong,” he spat as he paced around me in a circle, making it hard to follow him. “Dreams have many interpretations.”
I sighed, running a hand through my hair, giving up and just facing one direction. My hair was greasy; I needed a bath. “Obviously she has an interpretation you don’t approve of. Why don’t we talk through it together?”
His face twisted as he paused from his pacing. “There’s nothing to discuss. She’s wrong.”
That made her interpretation quite clear. “She thinks I’m the one who’s going to be the ash and destruction, like you said before,” I said quietly.
Ellis resumed his pacing, hands flailing wildly around him. “It’s madness. Thefaeare the ones who caused this. Not you! How could you? You don’t even have magick!”
I ignored the casual dig, resting my head on my hands, my elbows propped up on my lap. “She must have some reason to believe it. Has she told you?”
Ellis flushed, pausing in his pacing to shoot me an embarrassed look.
