“Oh, yes.” The slime of his voice dripped off the wall, and I cringed. “One of the best sort. And you all have been playing without even knowing.”
“You’ve used everyone. You used me…” Ryland growled, his feet shifting as if he was debating whether or not to attack Sain right away. I didn’t blame him. It would have been a foolish move, something Ryland seemed to pick up on.
“Used is a harsh word, Ryland. I used no one. I only helped them see their true potential, helped them understand what they were really meant for, even if they didn’t see it themselves.”
The true reality of what he had done became frighteningly clear. This was more than spreading rumors about my magic. This was more than controlling the Draks. I could tell by looking at him, looking at this stranger, that his motives went deeper than the prideful games we had assumed them to be.
“Well”—Sain’s eyes narrowed as he took yet another step forward—”I guess I have done something.” His smiled stretched wide again as he froze before us, unwilling to look away while his magic slowly started to awaken from within him, the same powerful strain I had felt running through the city before emanating from him like a poisonous fog, sticking heavily in the air as though it was attempting to strangle us. His smile rose as his magic did, the darkened street behind him illuminating as the forgotten streetlights blazed to life. His magic infected them as he ignited them, blanketing us in a flickering yellow bath.
Our shadows stretched and swayed over the blood soaked street as the lights continued to flare, swallowing the dark until it showed us what he wanted us to see.
Until it showed us what he had “done.”
A pile of lifeless corpses, their clothes covered with wet blood, their faces gaunt as they stared at nothing. Their hands were posed as if they were still trying to attack whatever had destroyed them, as if the magic inside of them was still trying to get out, still trying to save them.
But there was nothing except death.
“I did this.” His voice was light, proud, joyful of the handiwork he had accomplished, as if the life he had destroyed was more beautiful than the life that had been. I didn’t even care if they were Edmund’s men; it still made my stomach turn. “Edmund sent me with ‘fifty of his strongest’ on a mission to kill you. I made him believe I could use my sight to sneak them into the cathedral to draw you out, something that was obviously not too hard. However, I didn’t need them to complete my task. But Edmund needn’t know that.” He smiled, the grin infecting me like poison, sending my insides spinning in varying levels of disgust and anger. It was all I could do to keep my temper at bay. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the one I should have worried about.
“You’re a monster!” The words erupted from Ilyan as he stepped around me, the rough edge of his magic cutting through me, making his intent clear.
I lunged for Ilyan as his brother did, both of our magic flooding into the king in a desperate attempt to quell his temper.
Sain, on the other hand, stood still, that disturbing smile still in place while he watched us, laughing.
Ilyan, I spoke into his mind, my hand wrapping around his neck as I pulled him toward me, Ryland stepping between us and Sain protectively. Calm down, my love. I am here. Do not rise to what he is doing. We know his game. If we want to survive this, we need to play it with him.
Ilyan’s widened eyes darted toward me as his thoughts flooded me. His anger made it hard for to him to focus. I had never seen him like this. I had heard about his temper and thought I had seen it before, but this was beyond anything I had witnessed. It scared me. I had never assumed that level of uncontrollability was possible in him.
As I looked at him, fear looked back at me. Dangerous anger rumbled through me in a warning that went unheeded.
Keeping my magic inside of him, I let it soothe him, my love filling him as the unconditional emotion expanded. Even though this side of him was frightening, my love didn’t leave. It only grew, my connection with him expanding alongside it.
I’m here. Now it’s my turn, I whispered to him before I turned away, my hand not leaving his as I faced my father, my real father, for the first time in my life.
My jaw was tight as I narrowed my eyes at him in defiance. The man who had reduced me to anger-fueled hysterics so many times before now only left me with a ripple of annoyance, a heavy feeling of power and control taking over my soul.
This was a villain I had faced many times before, a villain who had walked out of the shadows to show his true colors. I could tell he expected me to wilt under my anger as Ilyan had done, his eyes minutely widening at the strength I showed him, the power I faced him with.