Felix went stiff as he looked around with confusion at the dozen guards who were quickly closing in on him, their weapons drawn.
“What is this?” he asked her. “What’s going on?”
She took a deep breath and raised her chin to the guards. “Felix Graebas has revealed himself to be a rebel conspirator. He poisoned my family—he killed the emperor and my brothers.”
“Princess, what are you saying?”
“Arrest him,” she said, her throat raw.
“Are you crazy? The king won’t let this happen!”
“The king already knows what you did, and he also believes you deserve to pay for it with death.”
Amara watched as clarity, then fury, slithered into Felix’s gaze. “You soulless bitch,” he growled.
He then made the error of fighting back against the guards in an attempt to escape. The scuffle lasted only a few moments before he was overcome, beaten bloody, and knocked unconscious.
The guards dragged him away, bound for the Kraeshian dungeon and a swift execution.
Amara had found that she was starting to fall in love with Felix—and love made one weak.
This necessary sacrifice would make her strong again.
CHAPTER 23
JONAS
KRAESHIA
Jonas had spent most of his life surrounded by dirt.
But for the better part of this past week, he’d been surrounded by nothing but water—miles upon miles of it. The peaceful cool of the waves and the breeze had given him a great deal of time to think. And to mourn.
Now his mind was clear again and he was ready to follow through with his promise to kill the king.
“For you, Lys,” he whispered to himself as he stared out at the coastline of the Jewel of the Empire in the distance. “Everything I do from now on, it’s all for you.”
The ship finally docked. Jonas and Nic grabbed their satchels and headed down the gangplank.
and Milo were on the guards in seconds, flashes of steel in their grips.
The guards were dead by the time they each hit the ground.
Amara let out a slow, shaky breath, her wild gaze now meeting the king’s.
He regarded her without any accusation or shock. “I had a feeling you were up to something. But I had no idea it would be this extreme.”
“You call it extreme. I call it necessary.” She swallowed, hard, eyeing his deadly bodyguards with new apprehension. Felix had followed the king’s command. Would he kill her just as swiftly as he’d killed the guards if the king ordered him to?
“I was once given a prophecy that I would rule the universe with a goddess by my side,” Gaius said. “I was beginning to think it was a lie. Now I’m not so sure.” He bowed his head. “If you’ll have me, I would like to remain your husband and your servant . . . Empress Cortas.”
A violent roiling inside of her grew still as she suddenly realized that she’d succeeded.
Bloodlines ruled in Kraeshia, and she was the first infant daughter to survive an emperor’s—and all his male heirs’—death.
An infant daughter that had grown to become a woman.
And the first empress Kraeshia had ever seen.