Beside me, Destiny tensed but said nothing.
“Conceived a full month before Trinity, babe.” I noticed he didn’t disagree that King Mykel was Pawl’s father. “Radella was already pregnant during your mating ceremony to Mykel.”
“What?” Trinity’s outrage spoke for all, all but the queen, who looked coldly furious. “Oh shit, Pawl really is my half-brother.”
“Wait,” Thor said. “I thought he was born a few years after the queen disappeared. That’s what I’d heard.”
Everyone looked to Pawl, who obviously had no idea since he’d been a baby, then Radella.
“Mykel was dead. My father married me off to Danoth and we lived far from Mytikas for a time. If anyone questioned Pawl’s age upon our return, and it was only off by less than a year, no one said anything.”
Holy. Fuck. I looked to the prisoner who looked just as stunned.
Lord Cray, Adam from Earth, Destiny’s father, shifted and looked at Lady Radella. “Tell the truth, or by the goddess I will flay you alive and enjoy the killing.” His tone of voice was one I recognized. Deadly. “And then I’ll do the same to your son.”
>
That broke her and the woman began to cry. “I hate you. I hate all of you.”
“There’s a shocker.” Faith’s arms were crossed, her foot keeping time to some invisible rhythm only she could hear. Thor still stood directly beside her, but seemed to recognize her “hands off” vibe. “So, what? You were having an affair with the king, got knocked up with his kid, and then decided life would be great if you could kill off Mom and keep the leftovers?”
“It wasn’t an affair, we were mated!” she wailed. “My father wanted the throne. He knew Mykel was my mate. He’d been awakened by me and he’d soothed my Ardor. And he knew you”—she looked at the queen with pure hatred—“you wouldn’t be able to resist him. He was so handsome. So skilled in bed. You had your own Ardor to ease and you fell in love with him like a stupid little girl.”
“And what was your father’s plan, Radella? Tell them the rest.” Destiny’s father taunted her now. She was enraged, but knew she was caught. Venom was spewing from her lips in her final attack.
“I was pregnant with Pawl. We knew you would be too young and stupid to see the truth. So he was supposed to kill you, Celene.” She pushed her tangled hair back from her face. “It was going to be an accident, of course.”
“And after I was dead, what?” she asked. “You were going to step in and claim him as your mate? Steal my throne?” The queen leaned down close. Too close and I took a step forward. “The citadel didn’t accept you, cousin. No spire lit when you went within and it tasted your blood. The people never would have accepted you.”
“They already did.” Radella lifted her chin and glared at the queen. Then she looked to Destiny’s father. Her gaze turned feral. “But he ruined everything! He was supposed to be dead. Mykel promised me he was dead.”
“He who?” Celene asked.
“Your mate. Your real mate.”
“Me.” Destiny’s father rose to his feet and none of us stopped him. “You were mine, Celene. I was in the palace on a training mission and my body awakened for you. One look and it was over for me. You were mine. Mykel was my commander in the royal guard. I told him first, too young and stupid to keep my joy to myself.”
Destiny’s mother looked shaken to her core. “Mykel was not my mate?”
He shook his head. “No. He faked his awakening as part of his plan to put Radella on the throne.”
I had to think this through. King Mykel had been awakened by Lady Radella, the haggard, hate-filled female before us, and got her with child. At the same time, he pretended to be awakened and in love with Queen Celene so he could be king. That had worked. But a guard in the palace, Cray, had been awakened by her and he knew the truth, knew that the king was faking.
I could imagine how Cray had felt. I’d have killed King Mykel, too. Faking love? Duping Cray’s mate? It must have been excruciating to watch. The laws of Alera had extenuating circumstances for murder and protecting a mate was one of them.
“You are mine, babe,” Cray said. “You’ve always been mine.”
Captain Turaya looked confused. We all did. “Then who killed the king? Who orchestrated the attack that night?”
“I did,” Cray answered immediately.
What? Holy shit.
I knew what it was like to be awakened, to be obsessed with my mate, of getting inside her, making her mine. If there was a male who was untrue, someone so duplicitous as to fake an awakening to my female, I’d want him dead, too.
“I discovered Mykel’s plot to murder her, to take over the throne with Radella by his side. I could accept Celene’s choice to love another, but I could not allow him to harm her. She was never in danger that night, Captain.” Cray looked to the elder Turaya. “Not for a moment. It was my blade that took Mykel’s life, and I’d do it again to protect what’s mine. Mine.”
Radella rose and approached Queen Celene. “You. You took Mykel from me. I just wanted a family. A quiet life with my mate. Nothing more. But he had to want you.”