Neridia sat frozen, mute with shock. She wanted to protest, to say that she would defy him, that he couldn’t force her to do his bidding…but they both knew that he could. He was the most powerful shifter in Atlantis.
And she was only human.
His deep chuckle echoed around the vast audience chamber. “Ironic, really. All that time and effort I wasted on ploys to keep you from reaching the Throne, when all along I had nothing to fear.”
Neridia gasped, his words hitting her like ice water in the face. “It was you! You sent the assassins after me! You’ve been my enemy, all along!”
“What a terrible accusation.” The Knight-Commander chuckled again, not sounding the slightest bit alarmed. “I would have to challenge you to a duel, should you repeat it in public.”
“I don’t care!” Neridia pushed herself up from the Throne, anger driving away her previous paralysis. “Did you order the assassination of my father too? How far back does your treachery go?”
The Knight-Commander’s shoulders bunched under his armor, his air of amusement falling away. “I am no traitor,” he spat. “Everything I have done, I have done for the good of the Empire. Atlantis needs a strong leader. Honor dictates that I must do whatever it takes to ensure that it has one.”
“You did kill him,” Neridia breathed. Her fists clenched. “You can threaten me all you want. I’m going to tell everyone what you did!”
He took one swift, angry step toward her, his armored body crowding against hers. She cried out as he seized her chin in one gauntleted hand, forcing her up onto her toes.
“If you do,” he hissed, right into her face, “then I will challenge you. I will demand a duel, as is our custom, to settle the slight to my honor. Who do you think will be your Champion?”
“John,” she spat back, as best she could around his crushing grip. “John will believe me. He’ll call you out.”
This close, she could see his shadowed eyes. She could make out the cruel curve of his mouth underneath his helmet.
She could see him smile.
“Yes,” he said softly. “The Knight-Poet would be your Champion. He is young and raw, so lacking in accomplishment that he still considers Firefighter to be a name worthy of pride. I am the Knight-Commander, Voice of the Emperor-in-Absence, First Seer of the Water’s Eye, and no-one has ever come close to defeating me in a duel. How long do you think he would last?”
He released her, casting her back down onto the Throne as carelessly as if tossing a too-small fish back into the sea. “I admit, he has potential. He is the only knight other than myself to have skill in the magical arts. I sent him on his fool’s quest in order to ensure he would not become a rival in the future. He was supposed to perish quietly and conveniently in some blaze or accident. It never crossed my mind that he would find something, for I did not learn of your existence until you removed that infernal pearl of hiding. No matter. As he is now, he is no match for me. I would cut him to ribbons and feed him to the sharks.”
Neridia huddled on the Throne, her defiance melting away in the face of his utter confidence.
I can’t tell John. If he knew, he’d challenge the Knight-Commander, no matter what the odds.
And the Knight-Commander would kill him.
“That’s better,” the Knight-Commander said. She didn’t know if he was reading her body language or her mind. “Your life here can be quite comfortable, if you submit to my will. You may live as an Empress, with every jewel and luxury your heart could desire, free from the trouble of decision-making and responsibilities. You may have the Knight-Poet at your side, as long as you do not trouble him with the details of our arrangement.”
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sp; The huge, dragon-sized hall closed around her like a cage. She was acutely aware of the unseen weight of water above her head. The air was stale and thick in her lungs.
“You may even have children,” the Knight-Commander continued, uncaring of her distress. “In fact, I insist upon it. Together we will found a dynasty—oh, not like that,” he’d caught her gasp of horror, and his own tone twisted. “What a revolting thought. I could never debase myself with a human. But I am certain the Knight-Poet will oblige.”
John, John! With her entire soul, she wanted to cry out to him, to call him to her side.
But that would be to pull him into certain death. She clenched her fists, her fingernails digging into her palms. She made herself breathe slowly and deeply, forcing down her panic. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t let her mate sense her fear.
“Your children will not be of my blood, of course, but they will be mine nonetheless. I will raise them to carry on my work. We will cut all ties with dry-landers, so that our noble people are no longer tainted by their filthy dirt.” The Knight-Commander’s voice softened. “We will make Atlantis great again. Future generations will revere me as the founder of a new Golden Age.”
He fell silent, gazing into space at some glorious vision that only he could see. Neridia gripped the armrest of the Throne for support. She closed her other hand around her father’s pearl pendant.
She prayed for his strength. More than she ever had before in her life, she needed it now.
Her pearl warmed against her skin…and so did the Pearl Throne. Her fingers fit so perfectly into the grooves worn by past Emperors, it felt as if her ancestors were holding her hand.
A sense of calm spread through her. It was like the comfort she usually took from her pearl, but magnified a hundredfold. The strength of generations of Imperial dragons filled her, lending her their courage.
She knew that she could do what she had to do.