Last Stand (The Black Mage #4)(51)

“She’s had it in for me forever.” I clung to his shoulders, hating myself. “You know what she’s like!”

“I do.” Darren turned back to his brother. His whole body radiated rage. “This has gone on long enough, Blayne. Derobe that woman and toss her in the dungeons. I am done having Mira slander my wife.”

“Brother—”

“No!” Darren’s voice rose to a shout. “Do you have any idea what Ryiah has been through? Imagine if Derrick had been me, Blayne. This is unacceptable.”

“Brother.” The king’s cool eyes flashed. “Do you know whose idea it was to give you the key to the Red Tunnels?”

I felt the prince stiffen.

No.

“It was Mira’s.” Blayne paused as the truth sunk in. “Do you recognize this room?”

Darren’s pulse hammered against my own. And then it stopped.

“I don’t suppose you told her there was a map.”

“You gave me the key,” Darren’s throat was thick with emotion, “to test Ryiah.”

And I thought it was a gift from the gods. Fool that I was.

“Your wife’s been sniffing around the palace for months,” Mira snarled. “No one believed me, but then your rebel escaped and the Pythian ambassador stalled…” Her eyes gleamed. “Two coincidences. Ones a husband could easily overlook.”

“Even you admitted something was wrong.” Blayne’s gaze locked on his brother. “I didn’t want to believe Mira, but what other choice did I have?”

The prince’s grip tightened almost painfully. “Ryiah would never betray us.”

“There was never a key for the map, brother.” The king was shaking his head. “That isn’t even the true map. It’s in my chamber.”

It was a trap. All along.

“Search her.” Blayne’s order was clipped. “Continue what Mira started, and by all means, if she’s innocent, I’ll behead Mira myself.”

Mira let out an indignant gasp. I was too numb to do anything but stand. I felt like I was outside of my body, watching this horrible scene take place from afar, knowing I would lose.

Darren didn’t make a move.

“Brother,” Blayne’s voice had taken an edge, “why do you think Joren sent forty warships only to renegotiate terms after the two of you arrived in Langli?”

There was only silence, and I held my breath. I couldn’t run and I couldn’t cast, not with all of the guards and Darren watching… I couldn’t. I knew I should, but I couldn’t.

“I’ve offered him everything our father couldn’t.” The king’s gaze slid to me. “Joren must have received a better offer from the rebels. The one thing I could never offer. A Pythian in my place.”

I felt it the moment Darren recalled our conversation. The jokes about Pythus. A Pythian Queen. Innocent, but now… Darren’s shoulders tensed. His pulse stalled and then his grip fell away.

The prince took a staggering step back, and then his whole body changed.

Darren swallowed. His eyes were wide. “Tell me they are wrong, Ryiah.”

And so I lied. I looked the love of my life in the eyes, and I lied.

Darren took a hesitant step forward, and then another. His palm reached out to mine, and I took it. A lump rose and fell in his throat.

“I believe you.”

“Brother?” Blayne’s bark shook the room. “What are you doing? Search her!”

“I don’t need to.” The prince’s lips pressed against my brow, and I relaxed. Darren was choosing me. This was over. Mira would lose. I could breathe. I could think. I could—

His second hand dipped and found the sheath at my thigh.

I tried to move, to catch his wrist as it caught on the scroll and key dangling from its silken cord.

“Always prepared, love?”

Darren’s eyes found mine, and what I saw… it tore me apart.

I saw us. And I saw the moment we died.

“The problem,” the Black Mage declared bitterly, “is that I don’t trust myself.”





11





I had watched my own brother suffer, wasting away in these cells. It was only fitting, I supposed, that I would join him in the end.

Had I believed him at the time, Derrick might have escaped.

I might have been able to make a difference.

I might have been able to save us all.

“It pains me beyond measure to see you wasting away in this cell.”

“Does it?” I looked up through the bars. The tyrant was taking me in, an ugly scowl framing his mouth. Blayne wanted to know how I could betray the Crown.

And I wanted to know how he could betray his own country.

“Ryiah.” The king was curt. “You know it could be worse.”

I didn’t reply. The both of us knew the only reason it wasn’t was because of his brother. I was the inconvenience blemishing Blayne’s immaculate plans. He wanted to know what I knew.

“You were given more status than any female in this land.”

Silence.

“Is that it?” The king took a step closer. “You want more? Did King Joren promise to make you a Pythian queen? Or was it something else?”