“Who is that?” Regis asked, perplexed.
Zaphira’s fork clattered onto the plate and her hand shook. “My food taster.”
She smacked her lips together and then reached up to grab her throat in anticipation. Staring at Kailani, she leapt into a standing position. “You can save me! Regis, she can save me!”
The queen was coughing now, clearing her throat uncontrollably. She stumbled forward, falling onto the table as she gasped for breath and rolled onto her back, looking up at the ceiling.
The necromerian king went from being about to cut my finger off to zooming over to Kailani and pressing the blade to her throat. He was so fast it was unnerving. A worthy adversary had this been a fair fight.
“Save her,” he commanded and then looked at the guards. “Uncuff her!”
The queen’s lips were purple now, white spittle forming on them as she rasped for breath.
Kailani stood, looked down at Zaphira and smiled. “I would rather die than save her. So kill me now and be done with it.”
Pure pride flooded through me at that. Kailani was an alpha: she had no fear of death.
Regis snarled, moving to do just that when I burst from where I sat, cracking the guard behind me over the head. As I did so, the whistle of arrows tore through the room and then the sickening thunks of the tips embedding into flesh.
I blinked and then backed up as the necromerian king fell backwards, three arrows in his chest and one in the side of his head.
Two more thuds and then each guard went down, an arrow right in each of their hearts.
The curtains moved at the far wall and then Raife stood before us, bow drawn.
“You okay, ladies?” he asked us, but kept his eyes on the gasping queen. She was barely breathing, her body twitching and seizing before us as she clawed at her purple face.
We both nodded and I reached down and grabbed a tiny ornate key the guard had hanging from his waist belt. I used it to free Kailani and then she was able to unlock mine.
Leaning forward, Raife held the tip of his arrow to the queen’s throat. She had acquired all these powers and yet was too weak to use even one against him.
“This is for my family,” he said and watched as she twitched and gasped for breath, suffering greatly.
Her eyes bulged wider.
“And my brother,” I added.
Kailani got close to her, leaning into her ear. “And every other person harmed by your existence.”
One last twitch and then she went still, lips crusted white, face purple and eyes bulging. It was a horrific sight and yet I didn’t feel satisfied. Grasping the steak knife, I rammed it into her chest, right where her heart was. “Just in case,” I told the room.
Raife dropped his arrow tip to the ground and fell back against the wall. He sighed, looking relieved. For years he’d chased that revenge. I had no idea what it had done to him but it would have eaten me alive. Knowing I would go home to Cyrus’ dead body killed me but this brought me at least some measure of comfort.
“Not to ruin the moment but in times of war, if we take her head to her lead general, he has to call a cease fire. People are probably dying on the front lines so …” Kailani glanced at her husband.
Raife nodded, pulling the sword from his hip and Kailani looked away as he took the queen’s head clean off. Knotting his fingers into her hair, he exited the dining hall with me and his wife beside him. Now that I was no longer cuffed, I pulled the power I had borrowed from Axil to the surface.
If anyone tried anything, I would make them kneel.
Raising her head into the air, Raife gave a battle cry and walked out the front doors of the Nightfall castle.
The warriors perched on the front steps looked up at him startled and when they saw the head of their leader they gasped in shock.
They pulled out their weapons, but I used my power to blanket them with a command to freeze.
“The war is over!” Kailani bellowed. “Your queen is dead and as such you must surrender and open the gates!”
I relaxed my power over the two dozen men and one of them stepped forward and turned to another and nodded. “Get General Ibsen.”
The guard took off and then we waited as another guard ran to the front gates. Everyone seemed confused as to what they should do. Their leader was dead, I had the power to control them, and the war between our peoples was over.
A moment later the front gates of Nightfall City opened and dozens of wolves ran inside. I grinned when I noticed the Royal Wolven Guard with Lucien leading them. It looked like they had been able to win on the front lines then make their approach all the way to the castle. People backed up in fear and guards dropped their weapons. I scanned the people flooding into the city. Among them was Madelynn, and—
The moment I saw Axil in human form, with my little brother holding his hand and walking next to him, I started running.
“Axil! Oslo!” I called to them, my feet pounding the ground as I closed the distance between us. My little brother broke away from Axil first and ran to greet me, crashing into me with a big hug. He was covered in dirt and twigs but otherwise seemed unharmed. Axil was next. Pulling me into his arms with Oslo squashed between us, he captured my mouth in a kiss and then placed his hand on my belly. “You’re okay?” he asked.
I nodded.
I was now. The queen was dead and my little surviving family was safe and secure.
TWENTY
It was a bit chaotic over the next hour. I’d sent Oslo back to Lucien’s castle with some trusted guards to remain with Arwen’s twins until this was over. Soldiers watched wearily as the kings and queens of Avalier amassed in the front of their castle steps. They were disarmed by our wolves and asked to wait off to the side. Their queen’s head was displayed on a spike in the center of town for all to see. The war was over, and we would not tolerate any uprising. Arwen and Drae had just arrived and now we were all assembled.
General Ibsen had surrendered and left to fetch Queen Zaphira’s eldest heir. Apparently, she kept them spread apart within her realm.
We’d blown the horn of surrender and the fighting at the borders had ceased as well.
We released the prisoners from the dungeon and every Nightfall citizen was told to wait in their homes. A curfew was in effect and we wanted as few people on the streets as possible in case there was a skirmish with the new Nightfall king.
We were about to tell Zaphira’s son that we’d killed his mother and the war with our people was over. If he didn’t pledge an alliance with us, we’d kill him too. She had six more living sons if I’d heard Drae right. So we’d kill each one until one of them signed a peace treaty with our kind and stopped the fighting.
The moments ticked by and then finally two men rode through the open gates, each atop a horse.
One was General Ibsen and the other was a man whom I assumed to be the new king of Nightfall. As he neared, I took him in. He sat tall and was muscular. More than the elves, less than the wolven. His dark wavy hair fell in a stylish quiff to his sharp chin and his eyes were dark hazel. I was pleased to see that they held a kindness that his mother’s had lacked. It was hard to deny how handsome he was.
He stepped down off his horse and stood before all eight of us. He wore metallic battle armor with the Nightfall crest; it was clean and looked unused. It was clear he hadn’t been on the battlefield lately and was probably only wearing it as a formality. He glanced once at his mother’s head on the spike but I saw no emotion there. Either he was good at hiding it, or he simply didn’t care that she’d died.