Page 104 of Maleen

She turns to face the cadets, projecting her voice. “The lords are the reason the realm was plunged into war. They staged a coup, killing my fathers. Imprisoning my mother—the Queen. Killing your friends, family and neighbors.” She faces the lords again. “Your punishment is death. You and yours will be stripped of all titles, and new Lords or Ladyships will be determined at a later time. Now, are you going to make this easy and accept your punishment gracefully, or let us have some fun and do things the hard way?”

Please be the hard way. Please be the hard way.

My father scoffs. “You have no power over us, female. You may sit on Craven’s throne and play pretend while we let you. But know your place.” He glances over at me and I can feel him trying to enter my mind, but I know that no matter how hard he tries, he won’t be able to breach my mental barriers. “I should have let my bitch of a mate kill you when she begged me to.” There’s a sort of unhinged glint in his eyes, just like we saw with Aemon’s father, which makes me believe that our suspicions about them being under the influence of Craven and the Soul Stone is true. But they were assholes before they ever had their minds corrupted, and death will be their punishment. The Fates can deal with them then.

Our dragons land on the battlements while the others surround the outer walls. I have no idea where our fathers’ beasts are, but I assume they are nearby somewhere. Good thing that when we kill them, their beasts will finally be put out of their misery. How they managed to bond dragons in the first place is beyond me. Maybe at one point they were good fae, before power and greed corrupted them.

Ravina blasts them with air, throwing them back, and that’s our cue. Killian and I move in.

I pull my blades as my mind reaches out for the bastard who helped bring me into this realm and rip open his mental shields like nothing. Woah, mating really gave me a magick boost.

His limbs freeze as I gain control of his body, and I grin as I force him to his knees. Chaos breaks out behind me and I circle my father to keep him in my sight as I check out what’s happening. A handful of cadets break formation to attack the others—I’m not concerned though. Especially once the other cadets contain them without my mate or family needing to lift a finger. It seems like more were against the lords than Ashbluff previously thought.

I turn my focus back on my father, looking down at him. His face is turning redder by the moment as he tries to break my hold, but it won’t happen, and I’m going to take some time playing with him, just as he did with me.

I push into his mind, pulling up memory after memory of every shitty, horrible thing he’s ever done to me, and as I get to the memory where his mate nearly carves out my eye, I pause, lifting my blade to his eyebrow. “I want you to feel it as you watch,” I hiss, dragging the blade down his face, through his eye—I can almost hear Nero pouting as the eye is destroyed, so I carve out the other and toss it in his direction, knowing that he will catch it.

My excuse of a father screams, and I laugh because it’s one of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard, other than Ravina screaming my name as she comes. I tilt my head. “Hmm, what else should we do? Oh, I know!”

My magick forces him to stick his tongue out. “You should have never spoken about my mate the way you did.” I cut it off and the meaty chunk falls to the ground. “And this is for my mother, you piece of fucking shit.” I stab him right in the cock, and blood instantly blooms across his trousers.

“You see, father, you made this far too easy for me. You raised me to be the perfect killer, but my mother raised me to have a heart. Something you will never have. I hope you rot in the void, because Fates know that if I could wipe you from any other afterlife, I would. You deserve nothing.”

Then I slit his throat and watch as the light leaves his mangled eye.

Weak. He couldn’t even fight my magick. It’s almost laughable.

The sound of swords clanging pulls me out of the post-murder haze, and I see Killian battling his father. One arm from the old man is completely missing, laying on the ground a few feet away.

“Pathetic,” Killian growls. “You’ve grown weak. What was it you used to say? The weak should die.” And then he runs his sword into his stomach and pulls straight up, slicing the motherfucker in half. Nero dives in and takes another eye for his collection.

Someone behind me throws up, and as I look at the cadets, a couple have passed out from the gory entertainment.

“What is going on here?” A male voice bellows from the castle doors, storming in our direction.

“Just a little patricide,” I yell back. “Who are you?” I ask, not recognizing him from the years we spent at Phixmery.

Ravina turns to face the yelling male when she suddenly freezes and terror shoots down the bond before it’s smothered.

“I’m the new Headmaster and General of this academy. Killing the Lords is treason! Why is everyone standing around? Arrest them!”

No one moves, and my mate finally sucks in a breath as Nero hisses like a possessed snake. “Cardon Fellows,” she yells. “I should have you killed for what you’ve done.”

He turns his gaze on her and they widen as all the color drains from his flesh. “You killed my daughter, you stupid bitch!”

He rushes at her, and we move in to stop him when she holds up her hand, letting us know she has this handled. Vines explode out of the ground, squeezing him until he’s nearly blue in the face. “You kept me hostage in that village. Abused me for years!” she yells, losing her composure.

Nero growls aloud, “Burn his eyeballs!”

Cardon pisses himself and the smell is abhorrent—the male needs to eat some vegetables or something. Even though his fear is pungent he can’t seem to stop running his mouth. “I should have convinced Craven to take you after he made me kill that vile bitch Gretchen.”

“She died from mountain sickness,” she says between clenched teeth. Shadows begin to pulse and cadets begin to back up toward the walls.

He laughs, sounding more unhinged by the second. “I should have killed you with her, now that I think of it. It would have saved us so much trouble. You were such a stupid child. Thought you were better than everyone else. But I knew what you were. Paid good to keep you alive in my village. It was worth it until that bastard came and took you.” He laughs again and I don’t know if it’s because he knows he’s about to meet the Fates or if he is just plain old delusional. Could be both.

“He ruined everything! Then I narrowly escaped with my life while that one burned down my village—”

Ravina shoves the sword through his face. “I’ve heard enough.” She wipes the blade off on his tunic before turning to Ashbluff. “You’re in charge of Phixmery. Congratulations. No more war training. Send the cadets home and begin re-hiring staff for an actual academy that teaches, not just a poor excuse for a military camp. I will be in touch with plans for this place.”