by Roxie Ray
“No,” Leonix rasped again. But Jaix’s eyes held on hers firmly. It was impossible to tell, since his eyes didn’t change color like a normal Lunarian’s, but even if they’d been able to, I didn’t think they’d show any fear.
Love. The look he was giving her was one of love.
Suddenly, Leonix’s comment from earlier made sense.
Brixta wasn’t the father of Leonix’s cub.
Jaix was.
And now, he’d die before her at the hands of Brixta’s guards, mere days before his baby was due to be born.
“For you, Kali…next prisoner.” When the next bag was removed, I saw silver hair and purple eyes. There was something familiar about his lips and his nose—something reminiscence of Kali’s own features. “The former general and High Lord Kloran. It is nice, is it not, to see your father again?”
A sound of pain escaped Kali’s throat. She stumbled forward, but I reached for her hand to pull her back.
My cheek still stung from where Brixta had slapped me.
I couldn’t let him hurt Kali as well. Not more than he already planned by killing her father right in front of her.
“Alora…I imagine you already know who I have selected for your sacrifice.” Brixta waved the four-armed prisoner forward. He was right—I wasn’t surprised at all to see Ronan’s face. One of his eyes was swollen. His lip was split. Whatever they’d had to do to put that bag over his head, he hadn’t gone down without a fight.
He never did.
“And Alora’s other assassin,” Brixta said with a dark chuckle as the bag over the head of the other specter, the one Ronan had called Apex, was pulled off. “A sacrifice for me. Four sacrifices for myself and my females. It is an excellent idea, I think. Do you agree?”
“But there are six prisoners,” Kali pointed out before Leonix and I could stop her. Her hand was shaking in mine at she tore her gaze away from her father. “Not four.”
“Ah, you are as clever as you are beautiful, Kaliope.” Brixta laughed again as he waved the final two prisoners forward. “Perhaps if Alora dies in childbirth, you will make for a better queen.”
When the final two bags were removed, Kali let out a scream and slumped to her knees.
One of them, I did not recognize. He had green hair just as vibrant as Orion’s, though. I could guess as to who he was. Especially considering he was standing right next to Orion himself.
Orion was just as young as Kali was. Even though all the other warriors standing before us were staying stoic and silent, Orion wasn’t as battle-hardened as they were. He was doing his best, but he still looked terrified.
I didn’t blame him.
I was afraid too.
“Remove Orion’s cuffs,” Brixta ordered the guards.
They complied immediately—then handed him a long, heavy sword from the sheath at one of their waists. He accepted it and bowed his head.
“You know what I want you to do, Orion.” Brixta turned his sickly smile to Leonix, Kali and me again. “My forces captured Orion months ago, you see. It took me some time to determine what an appropriate punishment would be for him…but I am fond of the cub, you understand. I have discussed this with him at great length and we have come to an agreement. Correct, Orion?”
The sword trembled as Orion gripped it with both hands. “Yes. We have.”
“Orion, no—” Kali gasped, but he shot her a firm look.
“We have,” he said again. “I will do my duty here today. I swear it on the moons.”
“Very good. See? It is not a punishment at all, when you really think about it. Rather, it is a chance for redemption.” Brixta’s belly jiggled as he laughed again. “Start with your father, Orion. He will be your sacrifice, then we can put your misdeeds behind us both. The royal palace will be blessed with the blood of these traitors—right after Orion lops off their heads. One. By. One.”
To my horror, Orion nodded again and turned to face the other prisoners. They were forced to their knees by the guards as Orion raised the sword.
I looked to Kali, who was so pale she almost looked entirely human for a moment—at least, until I saw the yellow of fear mixed with the gray of heartache in her eyes. She would see not only her father beheaded here today. She would see him killed at the hands of the man she loved.
I looked to Leonix, who was breathing heavily and cupping her belly with her free hand. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead to her cheek as she continued to stare down at Jaix. She looked at him like she knew it was the last time she would see him alive. She was right to. It would be. It was.
I looked to the faces of the guards, blank and emotionless. They were allowing these executions to occur without even having the decency to feel sorry about it. If this was all that was left of Brixta’s warriors, I had to commend them. At least they were loyal.
I wished them all dead for it.
I looked to Ronan—to Jaix, and Apex. To Kali’s father and Orion’s. All knelt in the grass with their heads bowed in acceptance of their fate.
I did not know how they had the strength to take this on their knees. Ronan had fought Brixta’s warriors when they took him away. He had fought them before they brought him here to the courtyard. When he looked up at me, there was still a fresh bruise over his eye, fresh blood on his lower lip.
He was chained, yes. Outnumbered too. But after all the battles he had fought, how could he give up now?
How could he do this to me? To our cub?
But then his lips moved, so quickly if I hadn’t been watching his mouth so intently, I would have missed it.
I love you, he mouthed silently.
Then, in an instant, his eyes flashed from purple to deep, intense red.
“Now,” he growled, snapping his head to the side to look to Orion.
I blinked. When I opened my eyes again, we were surrounded by chaos.
It happened that fast.
In the blink of an eye, the prisoners were no longer surrendering.
They were on their feet, with their chains wrapped tight around the necks of their guards.
And beside them, Orion’s sword was held high—but it wasn’t hovering over his father’s head anymore.
It was pointed at Brixta’s heart.
18
Ronan
The warning bells sounded throughout the city just as I incapacitated my second guard. The first was dropped at my feet, clutching at his crushed throat. The other, I shoved into one of his comrade’s blasters just as it fired.
It was a messy, bloody affair.
Every revolution was.
Around me, Kloran, Nion, Apex and Jaix were all finishing off their own guards. With the five of us outnumbered and in chains, it should have been more difficult—but we were seasoned warriors, and they were simply Brixta’s pets. We had seen battle for our entire lives. They had seen only feasting halls and military parades, watched on as Brixta had raped and abused his harem and had done nothing to stop it.
I did not regret killing those warriors. I doubted I ever would.
I spat the bitter taste of adrenaline from my mouth as I turned my head to Orion. He was still moving toward Brixta, his sword trembling. Apex came to me with a blaster he had picked up from one of the fallen guards and shot my chains apart. I did the same for him and the others.
As brave as Orion was for holding Brixta at swordpoint, the rebels would soon take the city’s streets. They would flood into the palace shortly after. And though Orion could have easily ended Brixta’s life then and there, we could not allow him to do so alone.
“How dare you.” Brixta snarled at us as we gathered up daggers of our own. “You will all pay for what you have done today.”
He strained and struggled to rise from his lounge, but he could not. All his servants had fled the moment the violence started. His guards that were still living were dealing with rioting led by Alyse, Bria and Phoenix in the dungeons and the rebel forces flooding the streets.
If they fought the
resistance, they would die for their false king.
A king who was already as good as dead.
“The only payment made today will be yours,” I intoned as we closed in on Brixta. “In body. In blood.”
“Females! Help me, damn you!” Brixta looked to Kali, Leonix and my Alora. My mate. My wife by fate and by right.
They only stared. Leonix was gripping her belly with her one good hand and slumped against Alora. Her expression was strained. Alora’s was full of concern. Kali backed away from Brixta and nodded to Orion, her eyes just as red with fury and hate as I knew mine were.
“Finish him,” Kali said. “End this now.”
It was impossible to say which of us stabbed Brixta first. We timed it correctly, so that no one could be responsible for the first wound. We were clever with where we pointed our daggers and swords, too.
A quick stab behind the ear would have ended him too quickly for our liking. We wanted him to feel every wound. My own dagger dipped into his side, cutting through layers and layers of fat without reaching anything vital before I moved it again, higher up, between his ribs. I twisted the knife back and forth, jamming it against bone.
He deserved this. Every horrible moment of it. The pain he felt had been experienced by every member of his harem he had tortured, by every cub he had sired who had been kicked and shoved and neglected, every servant he had ever executed without reason. Every life—and there were so many lives—that he had destroyed.
When he breathed his last, it came as a gurgle.
As much as I wanted him dead, it still felt as though he had escaped this reckoning too soon.
“Ronan! Jaix!” Alora’s voice called to me. In my bloodlust, it sounded distant, like something from a dream.
When I turned to her, the world came rushing back to me. I heard fire crackling in the streets beyond the palace walls, smelled the hot iron of spilled blood.
I saw the terror in her face and for a moment, I worried that it was me she was afraid of.
She had told me on the night we had given ourselves to each other that she did not want the first hands that touched her to be ones covered in blood. Yet here I was, all four of my hands dripping with the blood of her husband.
Perhaps now that she saw who I truly was, she would not love me. Not anymore.
But then Leonix let out a low, pained bellow, like a steppe-beast in calving season. Immediately, I was embarrassed.
Alora’s fear wasn’t for me. It was for Leonix, who was so clearly in labor.
“Here. It is all right.” Jaix and I rushed to Leonix’s side. I held her good hand while Jaix swept her up into his arms.
“The birthing suite,” Kali said as she took Orion’s sword from him. Orion looked pale still from Brixta’s killing. I did not blame him. I had felt much the same after my first kill—but where he was weakened by the experience, Kali was still strong. “I’ll lead the way.”
Alora pressed herself close to me as Leonix’s fingers slipped from mine. I placed an arm around Alora as we watched them go, then pressed another hand to her belly.
“The cub,” I said softly, but with no less urgency. “Is it…”
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest. “It’s you I’ve been worried about.”
“We have been apart for too long, vringna.” I kissed the top of her head and wrapped all my arms around her, holding her close. I tried to keep the blood on my hands off of her, but as she nuzzled against me, suddenly that blood did not matter so much to me anymore.
We would get her a new gown when we had a chance. For now, it had been four months since I had touched my mate.
The blood, I would apologize for later.
“I was so afraid, Ronan. You have no idea—”
“I do, my queen. I have every idea.” I dipped my lips down to kiss hers and was grateful to feel her kiss me back. “I worried for you too. But right now, we should get inside. The rebel forces will take the palace shortly. I would like to be in the throne room to greet them when they arrive.”
“The throne room?” Alora looked up at me with confusion in her eyes as we made our way out of the courtyard. “But…I am not a queen anymore, Ronan.”
“Not yet. But when I am king, do not think for a moment you will not be crowned all over again.”
“King, huh?” Alora cast a final glance back at Brixta’s ruined body and breathed a sigh of relief. “You know, when you told me that notion of yours four months ago, I thought you were a madman.”
“And now?” I asked, curious.
“This planet is in need of a king now. I can’t imagine a better one than you.”
“So you believe in fate now, then?” My chest glowed with pride. Here I had been, expecting to spend a good deal of time trying to convince Alora of my love and my right to the crown…but apparently, that was not as necessary as I had assumed.
“I believe in you, Ronan. The rest…” She wrapped her arms around my waist as we entered the palace’s halls. “Just tell me that you love me?”
“Oh, Your Highness.” I paused to smile down at her. The blood on my hands, I’d wiped onto my tunic before I took her face between my palms. “My love for you is more powerful than any sword—or any crown, for that matter.”
“I love you too, you… brave, noble idiot.” Alora let out a small laugh that was only quieted as I kissed her again. Her palms against my cheeks were pleasantly cool. Full of trust. Full of our future. “I love you too.”
Once we were in the throne room, I stood before the throne for a long while before I dared approach it.
“Will Lord Haelian resent you if he finds you sitting on that chair when he kicks down the doors?” Alora asked.
“I do not know,” I admitted. “I have only been able to speak with him through secret messengers among the dungeon guards, but…”
“I’ll stand beside you, you know.” Alora took my hand and squeezed it. “No matter what.”
“I know you will, my queen.” I raised her knuckles to my lips and kissed them. “It has just struck me in this moment that…I am not sure that I am ready to be king.”
Alora laughed. “All those months in the dungeons…all that talk of prophecies and dreams and fate, and now, of all times, you’re having doubts?”
“I have never been king before,” I said with a shrug. “Even if it is my destiny…”
“You’ve never been a father before either,” she reminded me. “Or a husband. Are you having doubts about those as well?”
“Never.”
“Then trust your dreams, Ronan. Lunaria needs a king. You’re the best hope this planet has.”
“With you by my side?” I would not have the throne without having Alora as well. Fate had shown me my coronation every time I closed my eyes for months and months now—but she was my dream.
“I was thinking more…on your lap, actually.” Alora winked at me as she led me to the throne. “But if you insist…”
“Never.” I took a deep breath as I placed myself on the throne—then pulled her onto my knee. “On my lap is my preference, actually.”
We kissed and whispered sweet nothings to each other for a time. There was not much catching up to do—we had both been locked up since we last parted. Alora in the birthing suites, me in the dungeons. She told me of Leonix and Jaix, which did not surprise me. The way he had scooped her up into his arms had told me everything about that situation I needed to know.
He was a good mate for my former commander. Just as fierce as Leonix, just as proud. Just as strong. Jaix had managed to steal another female after all—but this time, I imagined, Leonix would be a mate he could keep.
When the throne room doors were thrown open and Lord Haelian marched in with his forces, that was how he found us. Me on the throne, my hands caressing every inch of Alora I could touch. Alora on my lap with her arms around my neck, kissing me over and over in an embrace I never wanted to end.
“I do
not suppose the two of you could stop licking each other’s tonsils for long enough to explain yourselves.” Haelian cleared his throat as Alora and I finally parted.
“Well…” I began. “The king is dead.”
“In the courtyard, yes. We saw.” Haelian’s face was speckled with enough blood, it was hard to tell where it ended and his deep red hair began. “I do not suppose you are simply on his throne with his queen to spite him, though.”
“No,” I admitted. “I am not.”
“I have heard whispers you know, Ronan.” Haelian wiped his sword across his thigh as he approached me. “The people are saying a four-armed warrior from Moonsong Temple has been foretold to be Lunaria’s true king. Some say they have even dreamed it.”
“I am not surprised.” I gave him a nod. “I have dreamed it too.”
“Is it true, then?”
“Yes,” said Alora. She rose from my lap and stared Haelian down as though she was challenging him to fight her on it. “It is true.”
Haelian stared back at us for a long moment before coming to me and laying his sword at my feet. He knelt, and the rest of his warriors followed suit. Their weapons were set aside. All bowed their heads to me in reverence. All bent the knee.
“Long live the king, then,” said Haelian. He looked up at me with light dancing in his eyes. “A crown will look good on that pretty purple hair of yours, Your Majesty.”
“I have been thinking so too,” I told him.
Then I rose and embraced Haelian. It had been far too long. More than fifteen years since I had seen his face.
When we separated, we were both grinning. I took the opportunity to put my arm around Alora’s waist and pull her forward.
“May I introduce my wife?”
Alora swatted at my arm. “We’re not married yet, Ronan.”
“Soon, then.” I turned back to Haelian. “It is my cub she has in her belly, not Brixta’s. My heir.”
“Your hair is as red as mine, Your Highness,” Haelian said with a chuckle, then embraced Alora as well. “I will count it as a fair blessing. May your rule be long and fruitful.”