If you looked hard enough, it was just so obvious Neyil wasn’t at all.
King Laskis sat on the throne like the king he was. His red and gold robes were pristine and his wings tucked against his back, even as the sunlight from the window behind him filtered through the holes in his wings. I remembered his real dragon form and the power radiating him, as well as the fact that, when fully shifted, Laskis didn’t even have holes in his wings.
It was all an act for him too. The dragon king continued to do something to seem like he had weaknesses none existed. Did he really look as old as he did now, with the graying dark beard, wrinkled face, and gruffness in his voice? Or was all this a façade?
“Finally,” he said, standing up. “You thought you were so smart to move against me.”
King Laskis made a tsking sound. There was a loud thud and grunt to my left. I looked over and gasped when I spied Philit there. He looked like a complete mess and all bloodied up. I wasn’t sure why I couldn’t feel him though. Something had happened to mute our bond, and I fought against it as I tried to reach out to him, but it was like hitting a brick wall.
“Now that all the party members are here, shall we begin?”
“Begin what?” I snarled out.
“You are right, Rayna. You are the key to ending this war but not for the Fae to win.” The king came closer, leaning over me. His sickeningly sweet, hot breath brushed against my cheek, smelling a bit like wine. In a lowered voice, he said, “You will go down in history as the stupid bitch too dumb to realize her importance.” He reached out and touched my cheek gently. “But at least they’ll know you are the reason we were able to finally overpower the Fae and remove them all from existence.”
“Get away from her,” Philit snarled out, his blue eyes turning into cobalt flames as he glared at the king with pure fury.
The guard nearest to him reacted by kicking him hard. Philit grunted, wheezing as he tried to draw in a breath. I wanted to share his pain, to help ease it, but whatever was blocking our bond made comforting him impossible.
“I have to say, this is a bit too easy,” King Laskis said, staring down at me. “But I guess that’s the benefit of having someone on the inside to give me the details. Isn’t that right, Landers?”
Shock punched me in the gut, and I gasped out as I looked at Landers. He was glaring at King Laskis with a tight jaw.
‘What did you fucking do?’ Zilon asked, following it up with a string of curses that shocked me. I had never heard him swear like that before.
“You promised,” Landers said instead, not looking at any of us even as Zilon and I continued to bombard him with questions.
‘This is a joke, right?’I asked.
That got a quick glance from him, but his cheeks turned red as he focused back on the king.
“Right, right.” King Laskis waved his hand in the air briefly. “What was it again? Oh, right. You give me the information I need to win, and you will become the head of the Priat family, you and yours protected and left alone. Did I miss anything?”
‘Landers,’I said. ‘What have you done?’
‘Protected you,’was all he replied as he continued to shoot murderous daggers at the king.
“No, that about sums it up,” he said.
“Good,” the king said. “I’d hate to forget a part of the deal.”
‘Landers!’
‘I’m making sure we can take care of you. With this, we’ll be free and we’ll be able to have everything we need. You won’t want for anything,’Landers said.
‘You idiot!’Zilon snarled at him. ‘You fool.’
“Well, since everything is coming together, I guess I should put you out of your misery now.” He nodded at the guards surrounding Landers.
I knew what was happening the moment the king looked at the guards.
“No!” I screamed futilely.
But it seemed my life was filled with too-late moments.
29
First, I saw it. The blood splattering across the fancy marble floors. Then, the sword sticking through Landers’s chest. It was like I was watching Da dying all over again. Over and over I was cursed to watch others suffer because of me.