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His eyes flashed. “She was everything. Our last hope. My last chance. And he took her and threw her away like she was nothing.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “That’s why you wanted to humiliate him by leaving me at the altar.”
“No, little bird,” he said, surprising me. “My subject was quite wrong on that score. I never intended to leave you at the altar.” His glare pinned me through. “I was going to slaughter you on the altar.”
Noise, breath, people, everything. It all stopped.
“I was going to slaughter his precious heir—famed beauty of the east—right in front of him while he stood helpless to stop it. But then...” Alisdair moved up to my shoulder, covering me with ink as promises I couldn’t name spelled out on him. “You trumpeted my vow before the whole of the Lyrican court—swearing our marriage would end in death.”
“Why?”
Did I speak? My ears were roaring. My lips were numb. I couldn’t be sure they moved.
“Why did you change my mind?” He wasn’t drawing anymore. His fingers were gliding over my body, but leaving no ink behind them. He was simply exploring me—
His new possession.
“Because I saw in that moment that you hate him as much as I.” Laughter rolled out of his chest. “Not only do you hate him, but you openly and blatantly defy him—destroying his bid for Lyrica’s peace and your subjugation—it was you who tried to kill me in front of him. It was then you and I came up with a much better plan.
“Killing you would solve nothing. If the hatred between you and your father is mutual, he would care for you passing only long enough to shed fake tears at your funeral,” he dropped. “No, if I was to truly hurt him, how much better would it be... to keep you?”
His words reached me from far away.
“To corrupt you. To make you mine in every way—including becoming the natural successor of the Lyrican throne.”
“What?” I whispered. “But—but you can’t—”
“No, you can’t,” he barked. “A woman cannot take the throne, so in the case of your parents, it passed to an outsider. Your father threw you away so easily because despite only having one child with your mother, he has half a dozen bastards out there, waiting for the day one is tapped to rule.”
I choked, eyes bulging. The surprise wasn’t mine. Seemed Emiana didn’t know about these half-siblings.
“Or I should say, he used to have half a dozen bastards out there.” A slow smile stretched his lips. “Do forgive me for having to put you to sleep so many times during our return home. I couldn’t have you interfering in their ends.”
“Their ends?” I cried. “Are you saying you killed them?”
“A mere precaution. We don’t want anyone with a legitimate claim to threaten my ascension to the throne.”
“Stop saying we!” Or at least, I tried to scream it. Panic had such a stranglehold on my throat, nothing but a hoarse rasp could get out.
“Naturally, when I signed the treaty, I relinquished any claim to Lyrica and swore it on Meya’s name, but then, you, my dear one, broke that treaty.” He caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers. “Your rights remain intact, and through this ceremony—binding us as one—your rights are my rights. The throne denied you, will be mine.”
My body came alive. I shoved his hand off. “You bastard.”
He growled, lips peeling back. “You believe you hate me, little bird? I assure you the feeling is decidedly mutual. You are nothing. Less than nothing. Just another sniveling, insipid, pampered child who thinks if you scream and shout loud enough, you’ll get your way, but a marriage doesn’t require love, and a partnership doesn’t beg respect.
“Thanks to you, I will take away everything your father truly loves. His wealth, his land, his honors, his throne. You will watch the man who threw you away reduced to nothing. All that he greedily gobbled on Raelina’s sacrifice will vanish into vapor, and right as I plunge my sword into his chest, he’ll know the reason why.”
He stepped back, beholding me with something akin to pride. “I told you, my queen. I answered this question already. I made you mine because you and I will stand atop the world, claiming the faelands for our own, and crushing the beast who spawned you under foot.”
I gaped at him, body shaking. “What is wrong with you? Why do you keep saying we? You can’t possibly believe I’ll allow any of this to happen.”
“Oh?” Alisdair said, cocking a brow. “You think you’re going to stop me?”
“Of course!”
“Then, you’ve decided to stay.”
“I—” I cut off, jaw clenching.Oh no.
