Ovailia said nothing else as she flung the door open, her hand winding around my collar as she dragged me from the room. The guard who was stationed outside stood to attention, shock moving across his face at our sudden appearance.
Keeping my body hunched and broken, I turned my hand a fraction of an inch, letting a powerful attack move through the air and right into him. The stealthy spell sped up his spine, dislocating nerve endings and severing tendons. The man crumpled back into the chair as the magic struck his brain, the simple attack rendering him useless as it burned, his body already immobilized from the pain.
“Go,” I snapped, grateful when Ovailia moved down the hall without question.
Bouncing against the wall with a thud as Ovailia pulled me around a corner, I increased my feigned cries in mockery as she continued to drag my stumbling form beside her, a low grumble of irritation seeping from her lips.
“Silence,” she hissed, but I simply cried louder.
One of Edmund’s guards looked up from where he stood, his lips twisting at the sight of us shuffling down the hall. His confusion from seeing us there was evident, but it didn’t matter. His presence had told me what I needed to know. Edmund was inside.
All we needed now was to get past that door.
“It’s up to you now,” I hissed to Ovailia between my sobs.
Her shoulders straightened, her desperate need to impress me shining through.
“Ovailia!” the man yelled, his confusion evident as he approached us. “Sain! What are you—”
“We need to see my father.”
My soul shook at the power in Ovailia’s voice, everything rippling over me in pride and lust as she did as I requested. My desire for her intensified with the power she displayed, my magic trying to fuse with hers as she smiled, the attempted connection obviously not lost on her.
“We have news.”
The man looked between us, and I cried a bit more, letting the sound flow out of me in a pathetic rumble as I pled for my life. It was a sound, a move I had perfected, and with one look, I knew it had done its job.
The man stepped back in disgust before he disappeared behind the door, emerging moments later to swing the door wide in silence.
Silence was always a bad sign with Edmund.
I could feel Ovailia’s hand begin to shake from where she held it against me, the soundless warning not lost on either of us. At any other time, I would run, find another way, but that was no longer an option. This was the only path left.
I wanted to tell her to calm. After all, Edmund had no idea what power was walking into the room. He was about to find out, exactly as Ovailia was.
“Ovailia, what brings you here?” Edmund greeted us before the door had even shut, his eyes hard as he tightened a white robe around himself, clearly upset at being bothered without warning. I could already see him planning some form of punishment as Ovailia dragged me over to him, throwing me at his feet like a dog.
I howled in feigned agony at the movement, rolling myself into a tight ball as I sobbed.
“Sain was trying to hide in my room. He’s back.”
Edmund took a step toward me, kicking me over to face him with his bare foot as I continued to moan. My eyes were wide as I came face-to-face with the powerhouse of a man I had created.
“Hiding…? Sain?” Edmund’s voice was hard, and I cowered more, whimpering pathetically as he squatted beside me. “I didn’t expect you back so soon … and alone. What happened?” His temper increased with each word, the warning digging into me as I sobbed, twisting my body around to tremble beneath him, my cries drumming abrasively off the stone floor I lay against.
“Ilyan,” I gasped, tears and snot dripping off my nose. “Ilyan killed them all. I barely escaped.”
“Míra!” His voice was a shout, his anger boiling over.
After all, I had given him this plan. I had told him of its success. It was one, little lie.
“She made it. I saw her. Ilyan took the bait.” I didn’t know if that was true, but it didn’t even matter anymore.
Edmund’s toes tapped over the floor in front of my face as he bounced on his heels, obviously weighing his options, weighing his prospects. I could only pray it would go in my direction.
“Good. I would say that would secure both your lives … but you lost me fifty men, Sain. Fifty men you insisted would be safe.” His voice was a heavy weight against my back that pressed into me, his magic strong as his anger increased, as he made his choice. “You leave me no other option.”
Unfortunately for him, it was the wrong one.
“No, Edmund.” I spoke the words clearly, all trace of my shake, all trace of the role I had played for centuries gone as I uncoiled before him, my body unfurling to its full height, to its full power in one elegant move. Eyes hard, I stood to face Edmund, looking him in the eyes the way I hadn’t done in centuries. “You left me no choice.”
His eyes widened at what he was seeing, his jaw slack as he stepped back, obviously ready to attack, to call his guard on me, to beat me down in defiance.