“I’ve already decided that I will punish the Queen,” I declare, keeping my voice as calm as I can. My vocal cords are still affected by the fire I’ve used against the demons. “But it will not be to please anyone, or even to avenge myself. It will be to serve a purpose.”
CHAPTER III
Xerxes
LOOK AT ME, THE KING of Fire, once an impulsive, aggressive, and heartless brute, dealing with my wife’s betrayal with the coolness of an impartial judge. How that’s possible is a mystery even to me.
She slept with Samael. In my bed. Then she sold me out to him. She married me in order to become Queen, so that she could inherit the entire realm when I was out of the picture. That way, her new lover would actually have a claim on the throne. Or at least that’s what the courts argue was her plan, and she’s not denying it.
The courts reiterate everything while Cerys stands in front of the throne podium, dressed in a white gown like a virgin ready to be sacrificed in front of an altar of fire. Her blue-black hair spreads over her shoulders. There are chains around her delicate wrists, and she keeps her gaze down, on her naked feet.
My mouth crooks to the side, just a little. Look at her, a vision of innocence that has lost the ivory glow of her skin. She no longer carries pure magic. Now, she carries the energy of betrayal.
I listen to the courts talk, presenting this façade of detachment, while on the inside I’m erupting like the volcanoes beyond these walls. I can’t take my eyes off of Cerys, they stay fixed on her, pinning her to the spot, and I know she feels it.
“Cerys Dark, Queen of the Fire Court, do you accept or deny these charges?” The representative of the courts asks.
“I admit to it all,” she says. “I made a deal with Samael. I gave myself to him. There is proof that can attest to that.” Then she raises her head, her honey eyes meeting mine. They are still shining, beautiful, and so deceivingly innocent that I could leap down there and pin her under me, and impale her with my cock, fuck her in front of the entire Fire Court. Tear that mask off her face. Though I feel guilty for those thoughts only a second later. How could I ever hurt her like that, my sweet Cerys, whom I’ve sworn to love and protect for all eternity?
It’s like there’s two of them, two women, fighting over my soul and tearing me apart. A battle between love and hate.
“But before you make your decision, my King,” she says. “Let me remind you here, in front of all these people, that if you don’t hand me over to Samael, he will attack the Fire Realm again. And he can bring countless forces from the underworld, while you are still a wanted man in all the other realms, and many of your allies have turned against you.” She addresses the hall. “So before you make further suggestions about all the ways I can be made to suffer, stop and take this into consideration—you can do whatever you want with me, but if you don’t turn me over to Samael, I sure as hell won’t be the only one suffering.”
Whispers and murmur travel through the hall. The courts confer with each other, whispering in each other’s ears, gesticulating and some arguing.
“Turn her over,” people yell from the back of the hall. The idea catches, and more demand the same. The courts would prefer to continue with their sadistic propositions, like having her chained in a dungeon with rats and snakes.
Draven draws closer to my side, his intelligent eyes filled with a mixture of compassion and worry. He’s probably the only one who understands what’s truly going on inside of me. Finally, when the hall is resounding with the demand that I let go of Cerys forever, I stand. It’s enough for the noise to die down. Cerys turns around, staring up at me in an almost defiant way. It’s like she’s telling me—What are you going to do now, great king? Even your own people make demands in my favor.
I give her a grin. No, Cerys Dark. You won’t be rid of me so easily.
“I have a better idea.”
Cerys
“IS HE INSANE?” I PACE back and forth in the chamber, still struggling to understand what in the cursed realms just happened in the Throne Hall. I was so shocked after Xerxes said what he wanted to do that I can barely remember the guards taking me out of there, and bringing me back to the master bedroom.
Normally, they would have taken me to the dungeons now that I was healed of the injuries Kareim caused, but Xerxes’ new plan changed everything.
“It’s probably the best idea of all times,” Marayke says as she gathers the items I’ll need for the journey. She’s taken out a new outfit that will help me blend in with the environment of where we’re going.
“I’m really sorry you had to go through those horrors in the dungeon,” she says, though it sounds like she’s ashamed to even address the matter. She doesn’t dare look me in the eye while she speaks. “Kareim killing those men, then putting the blame on you, almost breaking your back. And I’m sorry I’m in this shit too deep to do anything about it. Because believe me, I would.”
I shake my head, refusing to remember. “That’s the least of my concerns right now, Marayke.” My eyes fill with tears. The emotional and physical pain of the last twenty-four hours has been so exhausting that I’m beyond grateful to have at least Marayke, my enemy of yore, to talk to. To share the burden with. “I’ve lost Xerxes.” I wipe my tears, trying to smile, but my lips tremble. “Neither one of us gets him in the end.”
She drops the outfits on the bed, and circles it to reach me. I would have never expected it, but she takes me in her arms, my body pressed against her armor.
“No, Cerys,” she whispers, her breath tickling my ear shell through my hair. “You will always have him. You are his fated mate, and nothing can take that away from you.”
“But I betrayed him. Not in the horrible way he believes I did, but I betrayed him.”
“I share part of the blame. I should have never taken it so far with Kareim.”
“He dragged you into it.”
“No, that’s not entirely true, nor fair.” She takes my hands in hers, and we both sit on the bed. “I hated you back then.”
“And now you don’t anymore?”
“I tried to keep hating you, but you make it really hard.”
I stare out the window, into the volcanic landscape with the dark clouds hovering over it like vultures. A deep love for the place engulfs me. It’s almost Hell, but I still wish I could stay. I wish that right now I was be lying happily under the covers with Xerxes, making love to him. Instead, here I am again, preparing to go on another quest with him, only that this time things are very different between us.
“I guess you and I are in the same boat, Marayke,” I say. “If I tell the truth, it will destroy Xerxes. If you do, you will lose everything, his trust, your position, everything that you worked so hard to achieve. You might even lose your life. Your bastard brother may not have much magic, but he sure as hell has the cunning of a snake.”
“He is very intelligent. Diabolically so.” She looks down at our hands, sounding broken for the first time since I met her. “He’s got a lot to gain if he gets you in Samael’s hands. Samael has a score to settle with both you and Xerxes, and he’s promised Kareim the world for his help.”