Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127722 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Faron held my gaze but didn’t move an inch.
“Bend. The. Fucking. Knee.”
“You said you would spare my life. Why?”
My jaw clenched and my teeth ground together, because all I wanted to do was give a flick of my sword and slice his head from his shoulders. I wanted to stick his head on a pike in the market for all the citizens to see. I wanted to throw the rest of his body over the cliff—where it belonged. “Because my wife asked me not to.”
Raw confusion took over his face.
Ivory stepped out from behind me and revealed herself.
His eyes shifted to her face, and at first, there was just pain. Pain at the betrayal. Pain at the secrecy. Pure and raw devastation.
That gave me a bit of satisfaction.
But then that pain transformed into rage. Blinding rage that stretched out his wrinkles, that furrowed his eyebrows, that made an ugly man that much uglier. “Ivory—”
“It’s true… You really did that.” The tears were in her voice but absent from her face. It wasn’t a question, just a painful realization. Elora’s existence was enough evidence, but hearing me describe it again without his objection was the final nail in the coffin. “How could you?”
“How could I?” he asked incredulously. “You’re the one who betrayed your own family. Your father. Your brother. You gave the enemy the keys to our kingdoms. You married the man who will strip away everything I worked so hard for—”
“Worked so hard for?” she snapped. “Murder and rape. That constitutes hard work?”
“He’s a pretty man who’s tricked you into bed and fooled your heart, but he’s no better than me. While we suffered down below and begged for asylum, they rejoiced up here and abandoned us to our misery. We made it to the top of the cliffs in peace, and you know what they did?”
Ivory stood beside me, breathing hard.
“They forced us back down. Threatened to kill us if we didn’t return. Your husband can pretend he’s better than me, but he and his whore mother—”
My sword was out of my scabbard. “Just give me a reason.”
Her hand went to my wrist and steadied it.
He watched me for a while before he turned his gaze on Ivory. “They aren’t better than us, despite what they say. They’re lies, Ivory. And you’re too stupid to see that.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she said. “Maybe all of that is true. It doesn’t justify what you did to her. Nothing ever justifies holding a woman down and forcing her against her will, and I’m absolutely ashamed to call you my father.”
His look of rage continued, reserved for Ivory.
“We’re going to change this world. We’re going to unite the Kingdoms and take down Necrosis once and for all. There will be no lottery. People won’t be confined to the bottom of the cliffs against their will. Our world will be a free place—for everyone.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Ivory stilled, as if her father had crossed the gap between them and slapped her in the face.
“Did you really stab me in the back for this?” he asked, unable to contain his attitude. “For a plan that has no chance of success? I gave you a life of luxury and royalty, and this is how you repay me? Judge my sins all you want—but we’re family. And you don’t do that to family. You don’t do that to your father. To your brother. You’re ashamed of me? I’m ashamed of you. I’m ashamed that my daughter is too fucking stupid to know how the world really works.”
For the first time in her life, Ivory was rendered speechless.
I stepped forward with my sword at my side. “Bend the knee.”
His eyes flicked back to me, vicious.
“Bend the knee. Or die.”
His face contorted into an angry look of malice. He couldn’t contain it, couldn’t prevent himself from rupturing. He withdrew his sword and swiped to cut me across the throat.
I blocked the hit, pushed his sword down, and then punched him so hard in the face he fell back. “Bend.” I stood over him and kicked him hard in the back. “The.” I grabbed him by the shoulder and forced him up, on his knees. “Knee.”
41
IVORY
Once my father officially surrendered, his army did as well.
The ring of fire around the city burned out, the screams of the citizens abated, and it looked like a normal day once we were at the castle. Storm perched on top of the castle and admired the view of the city below, and Pyre lay on the grass of the castle grounds, enjoying the sunshine as it heated the metal of his armor.
There was no resistance from any of the soldiers or the guards, and that showed me how faint their loyalty had been. I suspected it wasn’t because of their lack of morals, but their lack of belief in their ruler.