by Skyler Grant
And with that the King fell to the floor, the last of his life gone.
Quest Completed
Regicide
You have killed a King. The world takes notes, and the rewards will be of your own making.
Things shouldn’t be so clean and so messy at the same time. I hurt in ways well outside my health bar and I wasn’t sure things with Maria would ever be the same. I started to speak with her when I suddenly felt daggers far too close to my flesh for comfort—the point of one right outside my left eye and the blade of another along my throat.
Ashley.
Chapter 26
“Care to tell me what you’re doing?” I managed carefully.
In a swirl of flames nearby Yvera appeared, looking perfectly composed and at ease. I was glad one of us was.
“She’s negotiating, Liam,” Yvera said confidently. “With me, am I right?”
“Score one for the crazy bitch,” Ashley said. “Your opposition is gone and the way for whatever you have planned is clear. You don’t need me and Walt anymore, but you do need Liam. Liam, drop your sword.”
I let Intemperance clatter to the ground and the flames wreathing the blade went out.
“I’ll be in the royal bedchamber,” Elsora said, moving away from the corpse. “Come find me when you’re done playing with your friends.”
Maria knelt next to her father and took his hand again. She seemed broken—she always seemed broken, but this was a new sort of broken.
Walt moved between Maria and Ashley. They planned this together then.
“You realize I can resurrect him?” Yvera said lightly.
“Maybe. And you’ll probably have to take that risk out there in the world at large, but this is Player versus Player. I don’t think you’re sure what would happen, if you tried,” Ashley said. The blade across my throat tightened just enough that I felt a prick of pain.
“So let’s talk about what you want,” Yvera said.
“What do you think I want?” Ashley asked incredulously. “I want you to stop fucking holding us prisoner and let us go.”
“You don’t want that,” Yvera all but purred as she sauntered up to the abandoned throne and sat down.
“Are you trying to seduce me? Really? Lady, crazy is so not my type.”
“Of course I’m trying to seduce you and I am so your type. I’m everyone’s type.”
Walt cleared his throat.
“Yes, even you. Oh, the things I could show you. Don’t think I save all my best tricks for the bedroom.” Yvera smiled confidently before shifting her attention back on Ashley. “Your act of defiance had a reason.”
“And what reason would that be?” Ashley growled. The blade at my neck tightened again.
“Ashley Winters,” Yvera said, making herself comfortable on the throne. “You were looking promising for the games until you left your little town. Your burns, your hatred of us. I’m guessing, Veros?”
Ashley’s breathing quickened and I could feel the tension radiating off her.
I said, “Could you try not traumatizing the woman with a knife to my throat?”
“Shut up, Liam,” Yvera snapped. “I’m closing a deal. This is what I do. You came here to prove something, didn’t you Ashley?”
“I’m every bit as good as I ever was,” Ashley said. “I’m better than Liam, I’m even better than Tommy. He didn’t take that from me.”
“The scars slow you down back there. No world tours, a face that won’t be facing any magazine covers. I’m sure Veros is delighted with his work.”
“Seriously,” Walt spoke up. “Agreeing with Liam here. You are the absolute worst at seduction.”
“Walt, you’re next. Shut up.” Yvera was getting irritated at all the interruptions.
Ashley said, “I’m going to agree, crazy. But if you think telling me I’m not pretty and that fucker won is going to make me put down the knives, you are so on the wrong track.”
“Let’s talk about nanotechnology and homeostasis,” Yvera said brightly. “You won’t understand the how. The how doesn’t matter. Right now your body back there is swimming with little machines, making the game more real for you. What you don’t know is that your bodies want to naturally find some balance between them.”
“What?” Ashley didn’t expect that.
“You see, Liam is attuned. He has his safeties off, the lines start to blur. I can turn yours off, too. Doesn’t that sound delightful, those lines blurring?”
“Wouldn’t the over there bleed over into here as well? Do you somehow think I’m going to be more useful to you as a scarred wreck?”
“Absolutely,” Yvera said, and the look she gave Ashley was uncomfortably and blatantly sensual. Raw and overwhelming, and I realized just how much Yvera enjoyed this, the negotiating, “But you have to understand one very important thing about me.”
“And what’s that?”
“I cheat,” Yvera said, making it sound like the most sinful of acts. “I can put my finger on the scale. I can break the rules. That scarred and broken you? She melts and drifts away and all that gets left behind here and there is you. This you. You’ll be whole again and Veros will be so amazingly upset.”
There was a long moment of silence between us, the only sound in the room Maria’s crying. A part of me was breaking at each one of those pained sobs.
“What do you want?” Ashley asked, shakily.
Yvera gave her a pointed look and the knives were pulled away.
“Liam, see to Maria. Ashley, I’ll attune you and put the fix in. In exchange, you’ll guard Liam here and provide the occasional task out there.”
“You expect me to be okay with that after she just threatened to kill me?” I said.
“She’s not wrong,” Yvera said. “She’s better than you. Ashley?”
I huffed a bit, but Maria needed me. I was in no position to argue, so I knelt next to Maria, carefully slipping an arm around her waist. She was shaking. She didn’t lean into my touch, but she didn’t pull away either. It was something. Perhaps it helped.
“Deal,” Ashley said.
“Walt, your turn,” Yvera said.
“Are you going to make me pretty, too?” Walt asked, dryly.
“Please, I’m better than that,” Yvera said with a wicked smile. “What do you get? You, the terribly naughty boy who knows all about nanotechnology and artificial intelligences, and really shouldn’t have a clue about either?”
“I can’t wait to hear,” Walt said. “Pitching is what you do.”
“You understand allegory. You know who I am in this little tale, and you know when I’m kicking down the walls of the garden everyone gets apples. Oh, you’d take what I handed out and press for more, but I don’t have to offer you a thing to have you on my side.”
“I did just help Ashley,” Walt pointed out.
“You are so very clever. Clever enough to recognize a good bargaining position,” Yvera said. “Thing is, so am I. You’ll stay, because this is precisely where you want to be.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“Let’s see what happens, I’ll attune you for my own reasons and you’ll tag along for your own reasons and we’ll continue to spin our little schemes around each other,” Yvera said in a heated purr, before she waved him off to shift her attention towards Maria.
“Maria,” Yvera said.
“This is so not the time,” I said. Maria briefly squeezed my arm and rose to her feet, her brilliant blue eyes locking on Yvera.
“You are one of mine,” Yvera said, returning her gaze. “What do you need?”
“I need to not be here. I need to find my mother. I need to find out why my father wanted me to kill her. I need Liam not to look at me with those sad eyes, if I do.” Maria said with just the slightest quaver in her voice.
Yvera nodded her head in a regal gesture that perfectly suited the throne she was lounging on. “East.”
Maria turned and started to walk away. I reached for her arm, this
time she jerked away.
“Not now, Liam. I can’t,” Maria said. “I feel too much and I just can’t. If you want to send a message, tell a spider, but I have to get away.”
I was about to say more when I heard Yvera’s whisper in my ear, “Let her go.”
“Good hunting,” I said, instead of whatever else I might have said to get her to stay. Just like that she was gone, running from the room. Would ever see her again?
I was left standing around, wondering just what to do with myself. Yvera slipped off the throne and patted the seat meaningfully.
Right. The quest.
This wasn’t supposed to be so weird. Maria wasn’t supposed to be sad. I was supposed to be taking this castle back from a corrupted monster, but like everything else it had gotten more complex.
I supposed that things were what they were, and I could only make the best of them. I stepped around the corpse of the dead king and made my way to the throne, carefully lowering myself down on it.
The throne of Genea is currently unclaimed
You are the killer of the previous holder
You meet the species requirements for Genea
You qualify to claim the throne
Do you wish to do so?
Y/N?
I really wasn’t at all sure about this. I felt almost certain this was just the first step of Yvera’s plans. I hadn’t been able to say no to her so far however, and I didn’t want to disappoint her now. This was also Maria’s home, her family’s seat. I didn’t know if I was worthy of it, but I could try to be.
I willed my assent.
There was a massive rumble underfoot and suddenly the castle was rippling and changing. A new ruler, a new decorating scheme.
When the temples had previously transformed they had been all about Yvera, and while she was still represented in the new decor, it was more understated. Red was now the dominant color in the hanging banners and fabrics, and the artwork adorning the walls might have a few more nudes among them than strictly required in an artistic sense, but there was more. There were touches of polished wood in a dark hue I’d always found especially impressive. The throne, which had been too large for me, was now perfectly sized and incredibly comfortable.
Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all.
“Hail to the King? Time for the good life and taking it easy?” Ashley asked.
Then I nearly went blind from a torrent of new prompts flashing and demanding my attention.
Your castle is in a severe state of disrepair and is now classified as a ruin.
Your lack of a standing army has made your Kingdom extremely vulnerable.
The western shores of Genea have been seized by pirates.
The eastern mountains have been lost to the orcs.
The northern plains are harried by bandits.
The southern woodlands have been occupied by elves.
There are reports of heavy monster activity throughout Genea.
“Hail to me,” I agreed, a little breathless from that rush of information. “Walt, I don’t care how you do it, but I need those defenses ready to go up. Ashley, we have one hell of a lot of enemies perched on our doorstep.”
“Fucking spawn campers,” Ashley said with vehemence. “We’ll teach them not to mess with us.”
I couldn’t agree more. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, it was time to level up and kick some ass.
End.
Coming in December
Spawn Campers
Book Two of the Crucible Shard
Liam, Walt, and Ashley are not the only ones having adventures. Off in the real world Tommy has his own troubles as he finds himself embroiled in the conspiracies of his new life in the city.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A big thanks to my family and friends for always believing in me even when I question. A shout out to my fellow authors. Without your knowledge and inspiration this book would not have happened.