“Then I will show you more proof,” Sabine said in a nearly singsong voice.
“William,” Aria whispered as the hair on her arms stood up.
His hand constricted on her shoulder as Sabine turned to Goran. From within his cloak, Goran removed something, but Aria couldn’t see what it was from her angle. Atop the wall, a murmur ran through the crowd as those closest to Sabine and Goran got a glimpse of what it was. More than few of the king’s guard took a startled step back.
“Aria, come with me, now,” William commanded and pulled more firmly on her shoulder.
She was unable to move even a centimeter, never mind the fifty feet or so it would take to get out of this tree. Sabine turned back to the wall, her smile so big, Aria could see the glistening points of her fangs as she lifted something into the air.
“How about his head?” Sabine taunted as she lifted a head high into the air. She had her fingers entwined into its thick black hair as she proudly displayed it for everyone to see.
Aria’s vision blurred. Black hair and the open eyes of the head were all she saw before the world plummeted out from under her.
CHAPTER 26
Melinda
All around them, sobs erupted. Melinda remained unmoving as she gazed at the head in Sabine’s hand.
“Holy shit,” Gideon whispered from beside her.
Chaos erupted in the courtyard. Those gathered below couldn’t see what Sabine held, but they had heard her proud declaration and seen the reaction of the king’s guard on the wall. She could taste the metallic hint of their terror on her tongue, hear the increased pounding of all the human’s hearts.
Her hands pressed against her stomach as she stared at the head swaying in the breeze. The face was distorted, the color off, but then it had been cut from his body and Braith had been dead the last time she’d seen him. She didn’t want to believe it was him, but she couldn’t deny what her eyes were telling her as she gawked at all of that black hair and the swollen, broad cheekbones.
“Oh no,” she moaned.
Before this, there had been hope that Braith would rise again. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been counting on that happening, until the shattered pieces of all that hope scattered about her feet like broken glass. Her brother was dead.
Tears burned her eyes, but she kept them suppressed. Despite this new revelation, they had to put on a brave front, had to act as if they could still defeat Sabine without their king.
His black hair glinted in the light filtering down around Sabine as she continued to hold the battered head high in the air. Melinda tore her gaze away, unable to look anymore. He hadn’t known he was going to be an uncle. She choked back a sob as she wrapped her arms around her belly. Braith had sought to protect all of them, and they had all failed to protect him.
Her gaze went toward the town. “Aria,” she whispered.
Odds were her sister-in-law was close by, watching to see how everything and everyone here fared. She had probably heard this, had probably seen this announcement.
Calista shoved her way through the dumbfounded king’s guard on the wall to stand beside Gideon. “Did you know about this?” she demanded.
“How was I ever supposed to know about this?” Gideon retorted.
Calista bared her teeth at him. “Did you know Braith was dead?”
“No,” Melinda said. It wasn’t a lie; they hadn’t known for sure. Braith had passed, they had known that, but there had still been a chance he’d return. “We didn’t know.”
“That means we have lost our queen too,” Calista said. “She won’t survive without him. The humans will panic.”
“Not necessarily,” Gideon replied. “Aria will hold on and do what must be done.”
“Even if she doesn’t, Jack is now the king. Tell that to the people in the crowd,” Ashby said to Calista. “Make sure they know we still have a member of the royal line, and a rebel to lead us.”
“You want me to tell them the youngest of the three brothers, the one who left out of here over a year ago and hasn’t returned since, the one who was never supposed to rule is now their king?” Calista demanded. “We don’t know where Jack is! She could have killed him too.”
“No, she would have said that, and she would have brought his head as well,” Ashby replied. “Whatever happened, Jack managed to get away. I want you to tell the crowd that and tell them the man who went against his insane, brutal father and aided the rebels, became a rebel and fought side by side with the humans for years, is now their king.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “The vampires will love that.”
“They’ll like it better than the alternative!” he spat. “You’re a politician, Calista, put a fucking spin on it.”