“By the power given to me by the citizens of the Eastern Commonwealth and our allies in the Earthen Union, as the emperor of the Eastern Commonwealth, I do proclaim you—” He paused. Waited. Wolf could hear the hope shriveling inside him and he thought he understood the temptation to wait a second more, one second more …
The second passed, and Kai set his face in stone.
“—Empress Levana of the Eastern Commonwealth. From this day until the day that one or both of us shall die, you are my wife and I will share with you my throne.”
His voice cracked on the last word. Kai tore his hands away from the crown as if it had burned him.
The crowd erupted, streamers and flower petals emerging from hidden pockets, turning the somber, sacred affair into a cacophony of noise. Levana stood. Arms outstretched, she paced to the edge of the dais, accepting the torrential praise of the Lunar aristocrats.
Before she could speak, the triumphant cheers were interrupted by a shrill screech, the sound stabbing at Wolf’s ears like needles burrowing into his brain. He crouched down, snarling. The audience cowered. The noise erupted from everywhere at once.
Wolf lifted his head. This was his chance. Though the sound had turned his vision white, his oversensitive ears making him want to fall to the ground in convulsions, his hatred for the queen was stronger than the pain.
He lunged forward, his vision full of her and her most fragile spots. Her throat. Her stomach.
He heard a war cry. A guard dove in front of him, blocking his path. Wolf slashed at him with his newly sharpened nails and grabbed the guard’s knife from the scabbard at his side. He raised the knife over his shoulder.
The guard’s yell had drawn attention, even over the screeching. The queen spun as Wolf’s hand whipped forward.
Agony locked down on him all at once, like searing metal vises clamping around his fingers, his wrist, his arm. He released the knife half a moment too soon, knowing it was wrong the second his frozen fingers were empty. The blade grazed the queen’s neck when it should have lodged into her heart, and buried itself in the heavy draperies behind the altar.
Wolf crumpled to the ground, blinded by the torrent of pain that cut through his flesh, ripping his mind apart.
The noise stopped and, with it, the torment.
The sudden absence was like a vacuum sucking out every other sound from the great hall. They were left in crystallized silence, hundreds of bodies paralyzed from shock.
Wolf lay gasping on the ground, wishing he were dead.
He knew the chance would not come again. He knew his punishment had only begun.
Levana was also panting, her eyes ablaze. Her lips looked more red than usual, matched by the blood that was beading up on the side of her neck. “Control him!”
“Yes, My Queen,” said Mistress Bement. “It won’t happen again, My Queen.”
Then, cutting through the heady silence, came a voice. The palace paused to listen. Wolf focused on the ceiling, wondering if the pain had made him delirious.
It was Cinder’s voice.
“Hello, dearest Aunt Levana,” she said, her tone light and taunting. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to make sure I had your full attention. First, allow me to congratulate you. It seems you finally have everything you’ve always wanted. Now, it’s my turn.”
There was a long pause. The speakers crackled.
Cinder’s voice was no longer jovial when she said, “You have ten minutes to come to the front gates of your palace and surrender.”
That was all.
The people waited for more. More taunting. More threats. More explanation. But the message was over.
Levana looked visibly shaken, while the emperor looked ready to burst out laughing.
Then Kai’s gaze landed on Wolf and the grin fell. His brow twitched with concern.
Wolf glowered and moved to stand on his weak legs, glad when the thaumaturge didn’t prevent it.
“It’s a trick!” Levana screamed, her voice fragmented. “She can do nothing to me!”
A patter of hurried footsteps broke through the queen’s outrage. They came through one of the side entrances, Head Thaumaturge Aimery Park flanked by two guards.
A snarl tried to rip out of Wolf’s throat and he barely slammed it down again. This man had killed his mother.
“What?” snapped the queen.
“We’ve been informed that since the security breach occurred, our system has been neglecting to relay information from the tunnels—”
“Quickly, Aimery.”
His mouth turned down. “They are inside the city, My Queen. All eight of our barricades are down.”
“Who is inside the city?”
“The cyborg. Civilians from the outer sectors. Even some of our own soldiers have joined them.”
Levana was hyperventilating, burning with rage. “The next person who uses the word cyborg in my presence will be losing a limb.” She took in a sharp breath. “Why haven’t they been stopped?”
“Our resources are thin, Your Majesty. So many of our men were sent to the outer sectors to tame the uprisings. We cannot send reinforcements to meet these rebels without weakening our position here in the palace.”