81

In the arena, when Elias had battled Griffin, this was when he had given him a chance to submit. To escape defeated, but with his life intact.

Elias offered Rodthar no such respite. He tore into Rodthar’s throat with feral ferocity, his sharp canines ripping through his flesh and pulling out muscle in a gruesome, visceral display. The wound was deep, vicious, and Rodthar’s whines melted into gurgles as blood drained from his body.

Rodthar’s body twitched and fell still.

Dead. He was dead.

Elias planted his foot on the unmoving corpse and then tilted his head back, letting out one low, sonorous howl. The sound echoed in the throne room, and around the ring of spectators, the Nightfall wolves beat fists against their leather armor in a show of loyalty.

My heart felt frozen in my chest. I hadn’t processed it, still—that Rodthar was dead, that Elias had won, that I was once again the Queen of Frasia. I was still staring at the heap that was once my stepfather, the blood pooling under Rodthar’s body, spreading out across the polished floor.

Then, a cold hand wrapped around my wrist and wrenched it behind my body. Duchess Alana caught me in a skilled, tight hold, her chest to my back, and pressed a small, thin blade to my throat.

“Elias!” she screamed, shrill and pained and right in my ear.

Elias’ golden eyes widened. He immediately shifted back into his human form, in his bloodstained leather-armor, his eyes still wild. “Reyna!” he called.

I grasped Alana’s forearm where she pressed the blade to my neck. The cold metal bit into my throat, a tiny pinprick of pain, and I felt drips of warm blood rolling down my neck.

“No,” Alana hissed. “I want him to watch. He took the love of my life, and now I’ll take his.”

I gasped. I had to do something, slam my foot into hers, something, anything to try to get out of her hold before she could draw the knife across my throat with Elias watching. Her breath was hot and rancid, her grip painfully tight. Every labored gasp of my breath stung now from the sharp edge.

“You failed Nightfall,” Alana spat at Elias. “You failed me. At every turn, you failed to choose the right bride in the Choice, you failed in Shianga, and now you have failed to return the crown to the true king. I will not be relegated to the shadows, forced to stand by and watch alone as you drive this kingdom to ruin. This mutt has distracted you from your duties—from what really matters—and now I will—”

Her voice was cut off, interrupted by a screech of pain. Her knife clattered to the floor in front of me, and I wrenched out of her grasp. I stumbled forward, losing my balance; I hit the floor with a gasp, catching myself on my hands. I crawled backward, whipping around to look up and ensure she wasn’t about to drive her weapon into my back.

Alana stood with her mouth agape. A small trickle of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth. Her hands twitched by her side.

Behind her, Ealric twisted the knife he’d driven into her back. His eyes blazed with rage and care, teeth bared in a wolfish snarl. He pulled the blade out of her back with a wet sound, then shoved Alana away. Her knees shook as she crumpled to the floor.

“Treasonous bitch,” Ealric hissed. “The true king has returned.”

Elias surged forward and wrapped his arms around me before pulling me to my feet. I leaned heavily against him, indifferent to the blood staining his leather armor. He then pulled back just enough to peer down at the thin wound on my neck.

“It’s nothing,” I said.

He smoothed his thumb over the wound. It was so shallow the bleeding had already ceased. It was barely a cut at all. But the truth of what could’ve happened weighed heavily on me. He kissed me gently at the corner of my jaw, then my lips, then my forehead. I clung to him, suddenly exhausted as the adrenaline began to drain from my system.

“Your Highness,” Ealric said.

Elias pulled away, but kept me close with an arm around my waist.

“I apologize,” he said, then bowed deeply. “I reacted instinctively, but knowing now—”

“Do not apologize,” Elias interrupted. “You did what had to be done to protect the queen. For that I am grateful.”

His fingertips pressed hard into my side, and he carefully kept his eyes away from the body of his mother crumpled on the floor. The pain he was feeling must’ve been similar to my own ache: the knowledge that it had to be done, the hurt of being betrayed, and still the unavoidable grief of losing the one who raised you. Regardless of what Rodthar had done, who he really was, there was still a childlike part of me that mourned him. I wondered if Elias felt the same.

We couldn’t talk about that now, though. Not when there was still work to be done.

“Unlock the doors,” Elias said. “Nightfall wolves, take the Daybreak guards to the small dining hall. Those who pledge loyalty to Nightfall will be spared. If you choose to maintain loyalty to the traitor Rodthar, you will be dealt with accordingly.” He said all this briskly, like it was more irritating than troublesome.

“I see that went well,” Kodan said as she hurried in. She wrinkled her nose at the sight of the wolf in a heap on the floor. “Simple enough.”

Elias rubbed his hand across his forehead before squaring his shoulders. He turned to me again, his arm still around my waist. “Are you all right?” he asked. His voice was low and private. My world narrowed to just him again, for a moment—just us.

I nodded. I was stunned by everything that had just happened, but physically, I was okay. I was still standing. The reality of what had just happened hadn’t hit me yet. It was like it had happened to someone else, in a dream.