Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
“My cousin isn’t either,” True declared.
The atmosphere of the room became heavy.
He was surprised to hear his mother’s voice come first through the tense silence.
And he heard it when she simply said a warning, “True.”
True ignored her and kept his gaze to the Firenz king.
“As I keep telling you, she is not of your realm.”
“If she wasn’t, she will be within the hour,” Mars returned.
“I do not know what you intend to do. I just know you should not force Silence to witness it,” True retorted.
“That is mine to decide,” Mars rejoined.
“Actually, it should be Silence’s to decide,” Ophelia declared.
True looked to the Nadirii queen.
She had her gaze on Silence.
Therefore, True turned his attention to his cousin.
“Silence?” he called when she seemed to be lost in her study of the top of Mars’s desk.
“Mia piccolina,” Mars murmured, crouching beside her chair.
Silence turned her head to Mars.
“I go with you, my king,” she whispered.
Mars’s face lit with pride and triumph.
“Gods-damn it,” True muttered.
“Can she at least bathe and clothe herself appropriately?” True’s mother asked in a way it sounded more of a demand.
Mars straightened but he did it plucking Silence out of his chair and holding her to his chest but for a moment before he sat where his bride had been, now with her in his lap, still held close to his chest.
Once seated, he looked to Queen Mercy and answered, “No. My people see her covered in the blood of the vanquished, alive and noble in victory.”
“That’s frankly barbaric,” True’s father snapped.
“It’s frankly Firenz,” Mars retorted. “Which Silence will be, officially, this eve. But it is what my people, her people will see, the now. And something I wish to happen, soon, so we can see this matter concluded and I can wed my bride without delay tonight.”
“You can hardly see an attempted coup concluded within hours,” King Wilmer returned.
Mars slid his gaze to Lorenz.
True watched Lorenz tip his head to the side.
Mars returned his attention to True’s father.
“It seems I can.”
“Prisoners have rights,” Wilmer stated.
“Not if those prisoners are traitors,” Mars replied. “Not in Firenze.”
“You surely must hold tribunals,” Wilmer retorted.
“They wear the black, they storm the palace, they march to the pits under the eyes of their people, endure the necropolis, and sink in the tar,” Mars declared. “Do not worry, Wilmer. Their time in the necropolis will be short. They planned fortuitously. I don’t wish to dally in the necropolis. I wish to be wed.”
“So you’re saying you intend to wed my niece just hours after she suffered what she suffered in her chambers and you forcing her to watch you torture some of your citizens, then put them to death?” Wilmer asked in shock.
“I’m not forcing my Silence to do anything,” Mars drawled. “Mia bellezza made her choice and wielded her own dagger rather than running from the fight. She makes her choice now, seeing this matter through to the end, instead of hiding in her chamber. If I did not know differently due to the color of her skin and the stature of her frame, I would think she was Firenz.”
True studied his cousin as she sat silent in the lap of her betrothed.
She did not worry her lip, wring her hands or appear anxious, agitated or disturbed in any way.
She also did not seem relaxed and at her ease.
She simply seemed… dignified.
Or as dignified as a being could be, sitting in an enormous man’s lap.
This sent True’s gaze to the Firenz barons and chieftains.
At what he saw, he almost smiled.
Silence, enduring what she’d endured that night, sitting in a bloodstained nightgown in a barbarous king’s hold, crafty enough to use this moment to advance her station.
That was his cousin.
Nobody’s fool.
Fit to be queen.
Yes, he almost smiled.
True’s thoughts were turned from this when Aramus spoke.
“I will know vengeance, Mars.”
“What is your wish?” Mars asked, his tone no longer swaggering, but conciliatory.
“How many were caught?” Aramus asked.
“Seven,” Lorenz answered.
“My men and I will have three,” Aramus decreed, and Ha-Lah, who was already close to her husband’s side, got closer and took his hand.
Aramus’s fingers wrapped tight around his wife’s. Too tight. True saw it. She winced at the pain.
But she said nothing.
“You shall have your pick,” Mars murmured.
True turned again to Mars. “The snakes were another matter.”
True saw the lick of flame in Mars’s eyes before it extinguished, and he inclined his head.
“Is their aught known about that?” True asked.
“Nandra tried to trace the magic,” Lorenz answered. “She failed. It’s cloaked.”
“Leave us,” Mars ordered abruptly.
His attention was on his barons and chieftains.
True stepped out of the way as the men started to file out, and Mars commanded, “You ride in procession to the pits behind me and your future queen.”
He received nods and chin lifts before the men disappeared behind the door.
“You leave us too,” Mars demanded.