Tears ran down the girl’s face and Adelina wanted to run to her, hold her close, and tell her everything was going to be all right. Masha was a bright star in the dark sky, and seeing her subjected to this was heartbreaking, but if she knew…Adelina blinked and reminded herself what her place was in this madness.
“I swear I didn’t know majesty,” Masha pleaded for understanding. “She mentioned it one time as a joke and I thought nothing of it. I didn’t think she’d truly be so stupid.” Masha glanced at the bloodstain on the floor with regret and grief.
Indra was still her mother.
“She’s telling the truth,” the Justice Keeper reported.
Raena nodded and the device was removed. Then Masha was helped to her feet and Adelina breathed a silent sigh of relief. She held so incredibly still. Nothing about this meeting had been on the docket, and Alpha hadn’t warned her. He hadn’t warned her any of this would happen. Why?
“Lady Masha, as your mother is no longer able to hold her title and Hayden has been stripped of his rights, you are now the Archduchess of Avvis. The contracts will be signed after the meeting and I suggest you gather your people and investigate who else might be a part of this conspiracy,” Raena instructed.
Masha bowed her head low and Adelina’s heart ached for her. The girl couldn’t look away from the blood on the floor and Adelina would never forget the way Indra’s head had slid from her neck, never in a million cycles would she forget.
Her nails pierced the arms of her throne as she held onto her control with vicious cruelty. Indra was a traitor, she was a traitor and that’s why she’d died…but Raena didn’t have to do it in the council room.
It seemed she wanted to remind everyone what happened to traitors.
Giselle clasped her hands behind her back and turned to face Raena once more. Her boot stepped into the blood, but Giselle didn’t notice or didn’t care. Sirus looked straight ahead at the banner behind the thrones with a neutral expression. Adelina wondered if she was the only one silently screaming inside.
A quick glance at Joslynn and she only had eyes for Sirus though her face was whiter than snow and there was a green tinge to it Adelina didn’t like.
This was not how things were done. Yes, war was upon them and they needed to ensure those who fought for them, who stayed close, were loyal and would fight for Draga – but this was barbaric.
“The Treon traitors,” Giselle said simply, and stepped aside.
Four of Giselle’s soldiers came in, dragging Lucas’s father and brother. They were shoved to the floor before Raena. No one moved, no one breathed as they waited for what the Crown Princess would do next.
“Peter and Grady of Treon, you’ve been stripped of your titles and lands. As such Treon is now ruled by the Lord Lucas. You’ve committed treason and allied with the Neprijat,” Raena declared. The power in her voice weighed heavily on Adelina and she couldn’t help the way her head bowed. “As traitors of your house and traitors of the crown you are sentenced to death.”
Adelina kept her face a blank mask. She didn’t dare show emotion, not when the recorders watched them all so closely. Nobles hadn’t been put to death in a generation – and now three in one day?
Raena waved her jewel-covered hand.
Two royal guards came up behind Peter and Grady. One of them was Alpha and the other was Raena’s guard, Darius.
That sick feeling in Adelina’s stomach flared and she froze.
Two swords were unsheathed in tandem; the razor-sharp blades glinted in the morning sun. As one they swung without hesitation or deliberation – and sliced through the necks of both men in half a second.
Blood sprayed and Adelina felt the red mist hit her cheek.
She held herself rigid, only a blink gave away the storm raging inside, the silent screaming in her head that wouldn’t end. The sick, wet thud of each head on the floor made Adelina gag but somehow she kept it in, keeping her face blank by sheer will alone. Her claws dug into the arms of her chair hard enough she could feel the wood splinter and her sharp canines pierced her lip.
All Adelina could do as blood oozed from the heads and gushed from the necks was to stare at Giselle, unblinking. The bodies slumped over in the deafening silence. Her sister’s face was as blank as her own, but there was something dead in her eyes. Whatever she’d seen on the borders, whatever she’d dealt with had changed her.
Giselle turned back to Raena and every single person in the council room looked sick. The executions had been very public, very…shocking and Adelina supposed that had been the point, because neither of her sisters was quite done.
“Crown Princess,” Giselle said with one hand on her pistol. “We need to prepare. The Neprijat are already within our borders. The shield is secure and will delay them, but we will have to hunt down every single one in the outer rim to provide safety for our people.”
Raena nodded, ignoring the guards who dragged away the bodies. Adelina flinched when the doors closed behind Alpha. It was the only reaction she hadn’t been able to hide and her only mistake.
“Princess Adelina,” Raena practically trilled. “What do you suggest we do?”
Those careful breathing exercises were worth cula’ting shikta at the moment and it was all she could do not to hurl onto the marble floor where the stained glass shone in a riot of colors. All those hours studying had prepared her though, had readied her for this moment if not for the situation.
No, Adelina had been studying war and their enemy day and night since Nash left.
She was of age now, she was supposed to be an ambassador, and she had already showed her Wolf to the world; and now Raena wanted her to show them all again when it really mattered. Instead of a mask being put into place, she had to take one off to do what her sister required of her.
Adelina didn’t smile. The executions were abhorrent enough she refused. Instead she slid her gaze to her sister and lifted the corner of her lips just enough to show the canine matching Raena’s own, knowing what it would look like with the blood dripping down her cheek.
Her voice was clear and strong as it carried throughout the council room, but still soft enough to remind them of how sweet she’d been for so many cycles. “The schematics for the shield can be used to build a second shield around the core of the Draga galaxy. We evacuate everyone in the outer rim planets to the core and hunt the monsters down mercilessly. Once we’ve eradicated the threat within our borders we can begin our preparation to attack as well as defend.”
Giselle nodded in agreement. There was a small spark in her eyes of curiosity at the change between Adelina and Raena.
“Very good, little sister.” Raena patted her hand and the hair on her arms rose in warning.