“Careful,” Kieran murmured, his hand now hovering near mine.
I had a feeling if a viper did spring out of the box, Kieran would catch it with his bare hands.
And I would also scream.
Slowly, I lifted the lid the rest of the way. A pillow of crimson satin appeared within, and nestled in the center was—
I jerked back, stumbling. Icy shock coated my throat. No one spoke. No one else moved. Not even Kieran, who stared into the box, his hand still hovering over it. Not even me.
My heart started pounding. My breath quickened. Kieran’s hand trembled and then closed into a fist.
The wedding band made in Spessa’s End shone a lustrous gold, matching the one I wore.
Always and forever.
The same message was inscribed on both. Neither of us had removed our rings since the ceremony.
And this one hadn’t been now, either, for it remained on the finger I had placed it on.
Chapter 6
That was his ring.
That was his finger.
That was a piece of him.
Kieran shot forward, smacking a hand down on the lid, but I still saw what lay inside. I would never not see it. Not if I lived thousands of years. I wouldn’t forget.
Piercing howls echoed from within Massene, shattering the stunned silence as I stared at the ruby-adorned box. Someone spoke, but I couldn’t make sense of the words. The shock and bitter-tasting horror pressed against my humming skin. I had no chance to shut down my senses. My icy disbelief and anguish crashed into others’， but it was what lay under the agony that choked me—the sour, suffocating churning of guilt that was mine. All mine.
Because I had caused this.
It had been my message that had antagonized the Blood Queen. My hand that held the blade that’d severed King Jalara’s head. My actions that had guided the Blood Queen’s hand. I had taken the risk, believing she wouldn’t harm him. Not when she needed him. I’d been mistaken.
I had brought this onto him.
The crack in my chest was a crevice that fractured and broke wide open. The flood of eather spilled from the chasm, brimming with unfettered rage and endless agony. The charged energy hit the air around me. Ancient power surged, rising once more, deep from the agony, absolute and final. A silvery-white aura crowded the corners of my vision as I sparked light and…
Tendrils of dark light arced and pulsed through the silvery aura as the eather manifested around me. Light lanced with shadows gathered near the ground, churning around my legs.
Delano edged Perry back—away from me. The wolven sank low to the ground, his ears flattening as Reaver stretched his head to the sky, emitting a strange, staggered sound.
In the back of my mind, I knew I was making them uneasy—that the raw anguish was calling the wolven to me. I might even be scaring them, and I didn’t want that. But all…
All I saw was his ring—his finger in that box.
I shuddered, and from that cold, hollow fracture in my chest, icy wrath and vengeance poured out.
That was all I became.
Not Poppy.
Not the former Maiden and now the Queen of Atlantia.
There would be no more waiting. No carefully laid plans. No hesitation or thought. I would tear through Solis, sweeping across the kingdom like the plague she was. No city would be left standing. I would rip the Blood Forest apart to find her precious Malec, and then I would send her the gift of her love in tiny pieces. There would be no place for her to run. Nowhere she could find shelter.
I would lay waste to the entire realm and her.
Turning stiffly, I splayed my fingers wide as I started walking toward Cauldra Manor—toward the waiting horizon of Oak Ambler. The reeds and tall stems of lavender parted, shrinking back. The pines trembled.
“Poppy!” a voice shouted, and my head snapped in the direction of the sound. The wolven halted a few feet from me, his wide eyes fixed on me, the blue now luminous, his pupils no longer black but glowing a silvery-white. “Where are you going?”
“Carsodonia,” I spoke, and my voice was full of…smoke and shadow. Full of death and fire. “I’m going to slice every finger from the Blood Queen’s hands, one by one. I’m going to peel the flesh from her body.” A shiver of anticipation swirled over my skin. “Then I will rip her tongue from her mouth and tear her eyes from her face.”
“That sounds like a damn good plan.” Kieran’s voice had changed, too, roughening as he took a step toward me. “And I want to be right there beside you when you do it. I would love nothing more than to help you.”
“Then help me.” My voice…it slithered with the wind, carrying far as the shadow-laced light rippled along the ground. Through the tall, bushy weeds and flowers, sleek, dark shapes raced toward us. The wolven. They too would swarm the cities, a sea of claws and teeth and death. “You can all help me.”