Once seeing me, Queen Celene seats herself beside an already seated King Luthais as I round the table.
Unperturbed by my mother’s wrath, I speak directly to her. “There’s been a Gods Cursed attack.”
Adelphia’s face pales. “Where?”
“Outside the wall,” I reply. “During patrol.”
“Urielle’s Light,” Celene breathes. Cupping her mouth, she shakes her head, the tail of her bound, black hair swaying with the movement.
“How many died?” Adelphia asks.
“Eight,” I hiss through clenched teeth, sorrow and guilt rearing its head to blend with my anger, heightening it.
Adelphia squeezes her eyes shut and drops her head back against her throne, her chest expanding with quickened breaths.
“You can’t possibly believe this,” Luthais says, his incredulous gaze darting between Adelphia and Celene. “It was a Soulless attack, nothing more. What’s more likely, as I've mentioned before, is that this is a security issue on your part, Adelphia.”
My mother’s eyes snap open, her queenly mask hardening her features as she slowly swivels her head in Luthais’ direction. “Nothing breached our walls, therefore there is no security issue.”
Luthais says nothing. Lounging in his chair, he shakes his head and offers a condescending smirk.
“It wasn’t a Soulless attack. It was the Gods Cursed, just as I warned you it would be,” I retort bitterly, eyes bouncing from one royal to the next, meeting each of their gazes with my accusing one.
“Darius,” Luthais sighs dramatically, “I humored you before. You may be a bastard, but you are the Queen's bastard, which affords you some respect.” He rolls his eyes, his lack of respect obvious despite his words. “But this is absurd.”
“I have a witness.”
“If it was a Cursed attack, there would be no witnesses.” Clasping his hands over his abdomen, the King of Raetia chuckles. “I doubt your people are even dead. I imagine if you searched the whorehouse, you'd find these so-called dead males buried headfirst between a pretty female's thighs.”
Adelphia and Celene relax into their seats, both visibly relieved by Luthais’ distorted interpretation of the attack, disregarding me just as they did during the last Kings Council meeting.
Frustrated and feeling that I’m losing ground on this front, I decide to attack on another. “And where are your people, Luthais?”
Dropping his gaze from mine, Luthais smooths a palm across his golden stitched vest. “I'm not sure what you speak of.”
“Lies.” Flattening my hands on the table, the jagged stone bites into my palms. “Your people are missing, yet you refuse to acknowledge them.” Cocking my head to the side, I ask, “Why is that?”
“There are no missing people in my kingdom,” he replies stoically, his cultured voice devoid of any emotion.
“I've heard differently,” I argue. “The Gods Cursed could be the cause of the disappearances, although that’s doubtful. You wouldn’t dismiss me so easily if that were the case. What’s more likely,” I sneer, using his own words against him, “is that you're the reason your people are missing.”
“Darius, hold your tongue!” Adelphia orders, but I ignore her. My gaze remains locked on Luthais as I wait for his response.
Arching an unrepentant brow, he watches me for a long moment. “I've never hid my particular taste in punishment. I've killed many people and I will continue to do so. Why would I hide this?”
“That's the question, isn't it?”
Adjusting himself in his high-backed chair, Luthais flicks his fingers absently in my direction. “I do not have to explain myself to you. I am a king.”
“And I am the most powerful male in all of Vanyimar.” Flames flare from my palms, spreading outwards, gyrating along the top of the stone table to emphasize the fullness of my claim. “You will answer me.”
Celene arches away from the fire, but Luthais remains unmoving, scrutinizing me. “You still haven't learned the most basic of principles in your thirty-three years of life, have you? In our world, true power comes not from your Gifts, but by your station in life.”
“I have royal blood,” I remind him.
“Yet you are not a legitimate royal, are you?” He grins, one full of mocking pity. “You are not a king, a prince, an heir, or even a noble. This belief that you have some sort of power over me is nothing more than a delusion.” Leaning over the table, the flames set off an orange cast to his blonde hair, his eyes darkening with a cruel gleam. “You, Darius, are nothing more than the bastard seed of a rapist. A human one, at that.”
Baring my teeth, I lean farther over the table, the flames enfolding me in their dark embrace. “I could kill you right now and no one could stop me.”
“And in killing a king, you would have all of Vanyimar hunting you down,” he retorts. “Including your mother.”
Clenching my hands into fists, my knuckles scrape across stone as the fire blazes upward with an earsplitting roar, blasting all those who are present with its sweltering heat.
“There's that infamous fury of the Gods Wrath.” Luthais laughs with a slow clap. “Quite frightening, actually. Yet we both know you won't act on it.” He smirks, his entire demeanor brimming with arrogance. “And now you've learned a valuable lesson. I hold all the power, while you have none.”
Rage claws at me, shredding my insides as if a wild animal begging to be released. With a snarl, I give in to its seductive call. Summoning my flames, I gather them to the center of the table and condense the fire into a ring of frolicking tendrils.
Luthais leers, but that leer turns to a frown, then abject fear when the flames begin crawling towards him, slithering up his armrests to engulf the top of his chair. “Darius,” he warns, a tremble to his tone.
He cries out, tucking into himself as the flames reach for him, curious licks lapping at his skin. They crawl toward his neck, his face, then his tunic, branding him before retreating once again.
“Darius, stop!”
Inhaling a euphoric breath, I relish in his screams and cries. The sight of his panicked movements. The scent of terror from the one who thought he could challenge me.
“You’ll be executed for this!” he screams, slapping at the flames singeing the ends of his blonde hair.
Bestowing the same arrogant smirk he offered me only moments ago, I say, “Anyone who tries will suffer the same fate as you.”
