I clenched my jaw. “Do we have a deal or not?”
He gave me another slow, assessing once-over, then fished a small device from his pocket and raised it to his lips. As he spoke, his voice echoed throughout the stands.
“Citizens of Lumnos, as you have seen, this is a historic Challenging unlike any before.” I shot him an irritated look. He ignored me and continued. “As Regent, it falls to me to determine the strongest from among the Challengers. Well, an unprecedented event calls for an unequally unprecedented response.” He swept his hand in a broad arc across the line of Challengers, then to me. “I defer my selection to the Unchallenged Queen. Let her prove her worthiness as much by her choice of opponent as by her victory.”
Shouts of protest immediately erupted, but none more vehemently than from the Challengers themselves. A few bolted forward to argue with Remis, but more curiously, a number of them gathered around Jean Hanoverre.
“This is not what we agreed to,” one of them shouted at him.
“You said you would be fighting her, not us,” another said. “You need to fix this.”
“If we had known she could choose us, we never would have—”
“What’s going on?” I cut in.
Several faces turned to me with mixed levels of panic. Even Jean seemed to have a shadow of uncertainty over his cocky demeanor.
“Your Majesty,” one of them began, “forgive us, we were tricked. House Hanoverre, they said—”
“Silence,” Jean snarled at the sniveling man.
“No, I’d like to hear this,” I said.
“House Hanoverre told us all the Houses had to act as one,” the man blurted out. “They said if everyone raised a Challenge, House Corbois wouldn’t punish any of us.”
“It was his idea,” another Challenger insisted. “Punish him, not us!”
Several of the others shouted their agreement.
I focused my glare on Jean. “House Hanoverre isn’t brave enough to stand on its own?”
He glowered. “I’m no coward. Choose me to fight. Unless you aren’t brave enough.”
“You aren’t the most powerful, Jean,” a low voice cut in from behind me. “It’s my right to fight her.”
I didn’t need to look to know who that voice belonged to.
A firm hand clamped on my shoulder and forced me to turn. “You will choose me.”
Luther’s menacing expression was unlike any I’d ever seen. His eyes were their own kind of weapons, tipped with poison and aimed to kill. His features were honed to a brutal razor’s edge, radiating a malice that had my breath catching.
There was no trace of the loyal man I thought I’d known. There was not even the frosty indifference of the Prince.
This was Luther the warrior. Luther the executioner.
“The most powerful Challenger must be chosen. Those are the rules.”
I smiled icily. “Following rules never was my strong suit.”
He yanked me closer, his voice dropping to a hush. “If you don’t fight me, they’ll never accept you as Queen.”
“If you hadn’t noticed, they already don’t accept me.”
He didn’t react, his face revealing nothing.
An explosive silence fell between us, the air thick with violent threat.
“Was any of it real?”
I had intended it to be an accusation—a bitter condemnation of every lie and faked emotion.
Instead, it came out heartbroken.
His brows drew in, low and tight. “War is coming. Thousands of lives are at risk, and the realm needs a strong ruler. If you can’t use your magic—”
“Then I deserve to die?” I whispered.
Veins rose on his throat as he let me go and looked away. “You will choose me,” he rumbled. “End of discussion.”
I forced myself to scrounge my composure back together, falling back on old habits as I channeled all my hurt into a molten, destructive fury. These people didn’t deserve my weakness—they deserved my wrath.
“I’ll choose whoever I want,” I bit back. “I don’t answer to you, Prince. I’m the fucking Queen.”
For a heartbeat, something familiar flashed in his eyes—something that looked a hell of a lot like pride—smothered in an instant by a callous glare. I spun on my heel before he could get in any more jabs and returned to Remis’s side, quickly joined by Teller. My gaze traveled back and forth across the Challengers.
“Choose the weakest one,” Teller said firmly. “Get through this alive. We can figure the rest out another day.”
Survive. At whatever cost, to whatever end.
Our father’s keystone lesson.
Remis began to fire off a list of the weakest Challengers including, notably, several of the people who had been arguing with Jean Hanoverre. He offered insight into their power and their vulnerabilities, giving a step-by-step guide for exactly how to defeat them.
Teller nodded emphatically and offered his own shrewd perspective—which of the Houses were the least influential, which ones I could most afford to make enemies of. Even Remis seemed impressed as he gave my brother a wary side-eye.
All the while, I could not tear my gaze from Luther. Searching his face. Looking for the truth.
“Which ones are the strongest?” I asked.
“Diem,” Teller warned slowly.
“Other than Luther?” Remis said.
I briefly closed my eyes, then nodded. “Other than Luther.”
“Jean Hanoverre, or perhaps Roderyck Byrnum, or—”
“Please don’t do this,” Teller begged.
“What about Rhon Ghislaine?” I asked.
Remis frowned. “His magic is quite strong, but defeating him would impress no one. They would say you targeted House Ghislaine because it’s the lowest ranked. It would be the worst possible choice—all the consequences of someone weak without the benefit of an easy win.”
I looked up to the sky, squinting against the bright sun. “If this is how you Kindred show your sense of humor, your jokes could seriously use some work.”
“No,” Teller pleaded. “Choose anyone else.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face and sighed. “He killed a mother and child in Mortal City, Tel. I witnessed it myself.”
Teller hung his head. His shoulders sagged.
He knew me too well—my path was set.
If my worthiness was to be judged by my choice of opponent, then let this decision be a reflection of my soul. I would not kill the weak merely because it was easy, nor kill the cruel because it was gratifying.
I would kill only the guilty—and only when justice allowed for nothing less.
The Descended might never know my true reasoning, but so be it. They had already deemed me unworthy. I would hold myself to a higher standard.
I raised my voice to the crowd. “I, Diem Corbois, Queen of Lumnos, choose Rhon Ghislaine as my Challenger.”
I took Teller’s hand and dragged him toward the tent that had been set up for my preparation. Remis’s voice thundered around us, repeating my decision to the arena, followed quickly by a fresh wave of booing and indignant protests.
I nearly slammed into Luther’s chest as he stepped into my path.
“Go back. Tell my father you choose me.” He was panting for breath, his face haunted and wild. “The crowd will accept it—they’ll prefer it. They want to see us fight.”