Thus, he shared his impatience immediately.
“Absolutely fucking not semantics,” he bit out.
He sensed Silence’s, and everyone’s, attention sharpening on him, but he didn’t break eye contact with the Firenz king.
“I take it this means you’re finally claiming her in a way that matters,” Mars bit back.
“Do not try me, Your Grace,” True warned. “Not with my cousin sitting in a bloodstained nightgown in your chair with her neck black-and-blue and my future wife in her bed so deep in her mourning, she’s disavowed her country…both of them.”
A vein in Mars’s temple pulsed.
It took a moment before Mars declared quietly, “She will heal.”
“She will. Because I will see to it,” True returned. “In other words, Mars, she’s a bloody mess. She’s also not taking part in this procession.”
“As you’ve claimed her, that’s yours to decide,” Mars allowed.
“My cousin isn’t either,” True declared.
The atmosphere of the room became heavy.
He was surprised to hear his mother’s voice come first through the tense silence.
And he heard it when she simply said a warning, “True.”
True ignored her and kept his gaze to the Firenz king.
“As I keep telling you, she is not of your realm.”
“If she wasn’t, she will be within the hour,” Mars returned.
“I do not know what you intend to do. I just know you should not force Silence to witness it,” True retorted.
“That is mine to decide,” Mars rejoined.
“Actually, it should be Silence’s to decide,” Ophelia declared.
True looked to the Nadirii queen.
She had her gaze on Silence.
Therefore, True turned his attention to his cousin.
“Silence?” he called when she seemed to be lost in her study of the top of Mars’s desk.
“Mia piccolina,” Mars murmured, crouching beside her chair.
Silence turned her head to Mars.
“I go with you, my king,” she whispered.
Mars’s face lit with pride and triumph.
“Gods-damn it,” True muttered.
“Can she at least bathe and clothe herself appropriately?” True’s mother asked in a way it sounded more of a demand.
Mars straightened but he did it plucking Silence out of his chair and holding her to his chest but for a moment before he sat where his bride had been, now with her in his lap, still held close to his chest.
Once seated, he looked to Queen Mercy and answered, “No. My people see her covered in the blood of the vanquished, alive and noble in victory.”
“That’s frankly barbaric,” True’s father snapped.
“It’s frankly Firenz,” Mars retorted. “Which Silence will be, officially, this eve. But it is what my people, her people will see, the now. And something I wish to happen, soon, so we can see this matter concluded and I can wed my bride without delay tonight.”
“You can hardly see an attempted coup concluded within hours,” King Wilmer returned.
Mars slid his gaze to Lorenz.
True watched Lorenz tip his head to the side.
Mars returned his attention to True’s father.
“It seems I can.”
“Prisoners have rights,” Wilmer stated.
“Not if those prisoners are traitors,” Mars replied. “Not in Firenze.”
“You surely must hold tribunals,” Wilmer retorted.
“They wear the black, they storm the palace, they march to the pits under the eyes of their people, endure the necropolis, and sink in the tar,” Mars declared. “Do not worry, Wilmer. Their time in the necropolis will be short. They planned fortuitously. I don’t wish to dally in the necropolis. I wish to be wed.”
“So you’re saying you intend to wed my niece just hours after she suffered what she suffered in her chambers and you forcing her to watch you torture some of your citizens, then put them to death?” Wilmer asked in shock.
“I’m not forcing my Silence to do anything,” Mars drawled. “Mia bellezza made her choice and wielded her own dagger rather than running from the fight. She makes her choice now, seeing this matter through to the end, instead of hiding in her chamber. If I did not know differently due to the color of her skin and the stature of her frame, I would think she was Firenz.”
True studied his cousin as she sat silent in the lap of her betrothed.
She did not worry her lip, wring her hands or appear anxious, agitated or disturbed in any way.
She also did not seem relaxed and at her ease.
She simply seemed… dignified.
Or as dignified as a being could be, sitting in an enormous man’s lap.
This sent True’s gaze to the Firenz barons and chieftains.
At what he saw, he almost smiled.
Silence, enduring what she’d endured that night, sitting in a bloodstained nightgown in a barbarous king’s hold, crafty enough to use this moment to advance her station.
That was his cousin.
Nobody’s fool.
Fit to be queen.
Yes, he almost smiled.
True’s thoughts were turned from this when Aramus spoke.
“I will know vengeance, Mars.”
“What is your wish?” Mars asked, his tone no longer swaggering, but conciliatory.
“How many were caught?” Aramus asked.
“Seven,” Lorenz answered.
“My men and I will have three,” Aramus decreed, and Ha-Lah, who was already close to her husband’s side, got closer and took his hand.
Aramus’s fingers wrapped tight around his wife’s. Too tight. True saw it. She winced at the pain.
But she said nothing.
“You shall have your pick,” Mars murmured.
True turned again to Mars. “The snakes were another matter.”
True saw the lick of flame in Mars’s eyes before it extinguished, and he inclined his head.
“Is their aught known about that?” True asked.
“Nandra tried to trace the magic,” Lorenz answered. “She failed. It’s cloaked.”
“Leave us,” Mars ordered abruptly.
His attention was on his barons and chieftains.
True stepped out of the way as the men started to file out, and Mars commanded, “You ride in procession to the pits behind me and your future queen.”
He received nods and chin lifts before the men disappeared behind the door.
“You leave us too,” Mars demanded.
That, True noted, was directed to his mother and father.
“Just us?” Mercy asked.
“You and Gallienus. Yes,” Mars answered.
“Whyever would we alone be left out?” True’s father queried peevishly.
“You are neither soldier nor witch nor directly involved in the vanquishing the Beast,” Mars answered.
“We represent Wodell,” Wilmer returned.
“So does your son, far better than you. Now, I explained why you are to leave my study, when I did not need to. Don’t test my patience further. There are things to do and one of them is not answering to you,” Mars replied.
“I—” Wilmer began.
“My king, let us go,” his mother urged, taking Wilmer’s hand and shifting toward the door.
“I’m happy to leave,” Gallienus declared. “All this talk of the injustice of Airen? Hypocrisy.” He stopped at the door and leveled his eyes on Mars. “Even a traitor I’d give a tribunal.”
“Sadly, I cannot ask any descendants of the women your ancestor put to death after the Night of the Fallen Masters as they were put to death without tribunal, therefore they have no descendants,” Mars noted drolly.
Gallienus sniffed before he stormed out.
Wilmer and Mercy followed him.
When the door closed behind them, True turned again to Mars.
“When the sorcery behind the asps is un
covered, they are given to me,” he decreed.
“They killed my second mother,” Mars said quietly.
“They killed my mother-in-law, the grandmother my children will never know, but their intent was to kill my princess,” True retorted. “Thus, whoever killed Sofia will be given to me.”
“For tribunal?” Mars asked.
“Yes,” True answered. “And then he’ll be given a torch and the length of time it takes for it to burn out before he’ll find himself covered in snakes in a different kind of pit in Wodell. It’ll be Farah’s decision if she wishes to watch. But I shall do so. Until the end.”
Mars’s lips twitched before he stated, “I find this acceptable.”
“I don’t very much care,” True muttered.
“I find that acceptable too,” Mars shared.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, can we move this along?” Cassius entered the conversation.
“It’s clear, with the attack of the asps, Farah was the target,” Ophelia noted.
No one spoke to that.
“They try to break the prophecy,” the Nadirii queen continued.
“Perhaps, regardless of our grave losses this evening, we can take heart in understanding they fear the prophecy enough to try to do something about it,” Ha-Lah noted.
“Your sisters, along with Nandra, must cast over this palace,” Mars said to Ophelia.
“Protection spells will be done while you’re at the pits,” Ophelia agreed.
“And cast over the women,” Cassius added.
“Ah yes, seeing as, due to you having a magical appendage, you need no protection spell cast on you,” Elena clipped to her betrothed.
True studied her, feeling something strange, but his mind was consumed with so many other things, the most important being getting to Farah and checking on her before he had to attend this bloody procession, he couldn’t put his finger on what that feeling was.
“We’ll cast over the men too,” Ophelia put in quickly, before Cassius could reply, as he’d opened his mouth to do.
Cassius wisely shut his mouth and a muscle danced in his cheek.
Elena turned away from her intended and crossed her arms angrily on her chest.
“I need a moment with my bride,” Mars decreed.
Excellent.
Mars would see to Silence.
True could go up to look in on Farah.
He turned to do so but stopped when he caught sight of Aramus.
The king felt his regard and shifted his attention to True.
“My deepest sympathies, my brother,” he said quietly.
Ha-Lah got even closer to her husband.
Aramus simply glowered at him before jerkily lifting his chin.
True left the room, made his way to the stairs, up them, and to Farah’s room.
Thank the gods, she was asleep when he arrived.
Even so, he sat on the bed and stroked her soft hair.
He then tried to find his way to where she was in her mind.
He had no brothers or sisters, and she had no brothers or sisters.
But he had something she did not.
He had cousins, the closest of which was Silence. He could not say she was close as a sister, but he cared deeply for her, and she for him. And if something happened to him, she would be there for him, as he would for her.
He had a weak father and she had the weakest of fathers there could be.
But his father was alive.
Her father’s bones were preserved in the tarpits of Fire City after he’d committed regicide and left her and her mother to bear the consequences of his actions while still breathing.
Her mother had been loyal and loving.
His mother was the same, the latter in a somewhat cold way that was often calculating, but that was for the betterment of husband and son.
She was also alive.
Thus, True could not put himself in Farah’s place. He could not understand how alone she felt.
All he could do was whatever he needed to do to make her feel not alone as well as loved.
Mars would assist with this, obviously.
As would Silence, as was her way.
And if Farah could forgive her, True would as well, so she would have Elpis.
But his mother would be there for his bride too.
He knew Queen Mercy had no respect for his betrothed.
She also had no reason for her intolerance.
She would need to find her way past that.
Immediately.
Or she’d find herself without a son.
For True would soon have a wife, the mother to his children, the future queen of his country.
He’d realized that night that she was the most important thing in his life.
And she always would be.
His mother would know that, and she’d know it soon.
As would his Farah.
King Mars Laches
King’s Study, First Floor, East Corridor, Catrame Palace, Fire City
FIRENZE
When the door closed behind Lorenz, the last one out, Mars turned to his Silence, still curled in his lap.
“Amore,” he called.
She tipped her head back to look up at him.
He ignored her garments. The skin of her arms crusted with blood. The visions in his head of her being dragged to the open window by her glorious hair.
And he especially ignored the bruising at her neck.
He had to ignore these things, or the rage would return, and the fullness of his vengeance would not be meted out for he’d set her aside and find the men still left and dispatch them far more quickly than they deserved.
Instead, he looked into her silver eyes.
“We need words,” he murmured.
“I’m quite all right, Mars,” she assured.
But she was not.
Her demeanor had changed, and it was not due to shock or fear.
Or perhaps it was, as she was locked away.
He’d seen her like this only once before. When she’d walked in his thronal room the moment he first saw her.
Except then she had been guarded and locked away and it took but a few words to draw her out.
Now she simply seemed…
Extinguished.
“You have endured a lot, my monkey,” he reminded her. “And now, alone, just you and I, I will know your feelings about going to the pits.”
“I’m going.”
“You’ve said this,” he replied. “This is not what we’re discussing. As I noted, I will know your feelings about this and then I will decide if you will go or you will stay.”
“Will Queen Elpis go?” she asked.
“She will. But you are not my mother,” he answered.
“I will be queen,” she returned. “And thus, it will be expected.”
“Silence—”
“I’m going,” she repeated.
Mars allowed his gaze to roam her face.
She was there, in his arms, but he could not shake the sensation that she was gone.
“When things such as this happen,” he started carefully, “it’s important to talk about them.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are changed.”
“I will likely change a lot over the course of our years together, battling the Beast, you besting coup attempts, clan clashes, tribal wars. It’s the nature of being, especially in Firenze.”
“And we will talk about it,” he declared.
“Yes,” she agreed instantly.
“Honestly,” he added.
She hesitated before she repeated, “Yes.”
He did not like the hesitation.
Her light was out.
“Silence—”
She pushed against him to start to get up, asking, “Should we not go?”
“We have something else to discuss.”
She settled in and gazed at him patiently.
He fought grinding his teeth at the loss of inquisitiven
ess, attentiveness and what he now knew, since it was gone, was constant awareness of and interest in him that was no longer a part of her expression.
“What else must we discuss?” she prompted when Mars did not speak.
“I’ll have your vow, right now, if aught like this happens again, which it will not, but if it does, when you are made safe by a warrior, and told by that warrior to run, that you bloody do as you’re told and run.”
She stared up at him, a mercurial shifting of the silver of her eyes the only indication she gave she did not like his words.
“They’re still counting body parts, but at least a hundred men attacked this palace,” he went on. “If it was not for the might and skill of those who were close to your chamber, you could have easily been killed.”
“Earlier, you bragged about me taking up a dagger,” she remarked.
“Earlier, my barons and chieftains were here, and you desire to impress them, so I bragged of something that would mean something to you as it would mean something to them. However, it means something entirely different to me.”
She shook her head. “I’m not certain it was safe for me to escape.”
“Serena reported Elena told you to run, something she would not do if it was not safe for you to run. Instead, you attacked an opponent Elena easily dispatched.”
“I was right here, Mars. I heard Serena report that. And just to say, I was there, and it wasn’t that long ago. I remember what happened.”
“It is not wise for you to be flippant in this moment, piccolina,” he warned.
She fell silent.
“Do I have your vow you will not act so foolishly again?” he pressed.
“I will not act so foolishly again, Mars.”
He did not like her tone. The rote manner in which her words came.
Not as if she did not mean them.
As if it meant nothing to her saying them, even if in saying them they meant a good deal to him to know his bride would keep herself safe.
In response to this, Mars pulled her closer and whispered, “There is a great change in you, mia bellezza.”
“I’m bloodied, tired, Sofia is lost, she was a kind soul who touched mine too short of a time, yesterday was long, this night longer, and thus this day looms longest of all.”
“And we will be wed at the end of it.”
The Plan Commences Page 2