A Kingdom of Venom and Vows (Stars and Shadows #3)(27)

I steeled my spine and prayed for the girl who Evren knew me to be to finally show her spirit.

“You were all once loyal to your captain.” I watched some of them blanch while anger crossed the faces of others. “Has that loyalty to Evren completely gone?”

It was silent for a few moments before one of them finally found the courage to speak.

“Our captain betrayed us. There is no loyalty left for the bastard prince.”

I nodded my head and linked my fingers together as I tried to keep myself calm.

“The true heir of your kingdom,” I corrected him and watched as that anger morphed into fury. He bared his teeth as he stared at me, but I continued, “None of you deserved him. The bastard prince, as you call him, was loyal to you all even in his betrayal of this kingdom. His fight is with Gavril, and if he loses, then you men will know nothing but betrayal from the one you serve for the rest of your lives.”

I knew that these men would have lost their loyalty to Evren, but I at least expected to see some hesitation in their gazes. There was none.

All that was staring back at me was pure hatred for their former captain.

“He’s already lost.” The bold guard took a step closer and peered down at me with a sneer. “I heard that the soldiers the crowned prince transported into the Blood kingdom created a massacre before the traitor was able to stop them.”

The blood in my veins ran cold. These men had gone into Evren’s kingdom, into our kingdom, and they had massacred our people?

“What did you just say to me?” I growled, and my hands formed into fists at my sides.

The guard backed up a step, and his face lost its color. His eyes darted from me to his fellow guards.

I could feel the bloodlust rising inside of me. I wanted to taste the blood of this fool, of everyone who had dared raise a hand against the Blood kingdom, my kingdom, and hurt the innocent people there.

My thoughts went to the man who danced with me at The Olde Vine. And Mina. Gods, please tell me she was safely in the palace when this occurred.

The guard’s hand rested on the hilt of his sword, which was sheathed in a leather scabbard and attached to his belt with a black leather strap. His fingers were rough, probably from years of gripping the worn handle to unsheathe the sword to take innocent lives.

But those hands shook with his uncertainty as he faced me.

His voice was harsh but quiet. “The bastard prince has already lost, and it is Gavril, the prince of Citlali, who will rule over us all.”

The spark of power inside my stomach caught aflame, and I could feel it burning inside me.

It slammed into me, stealing my breath, and it didn’t stop until that hole in the pit of my stomach where my magic belonged was full. I closed my eyes as my magic raced through me, and I took a deep breath.

The heat in my stomach rose through my limbs, and I felt it burning beneath my skin, an oil spill erupting from the earth, its flames turning everything in its path black and smoking.

That fire, my magic, begged me to destroy each and every one of the guards in front of me, and I would have done so had it not been for the ornate set of double doors opening in front of me.

There was a gasp from the crowd as the shimmering of my dress bled out into the garden, and Eletta hurried to my side and pressed a giant bouquet of flowers into my hands.

Black smoke wrapped around the delicate white flowers, engulfing them in my power, and just as the music started streaming through the small garden, I stepped into the light of the sun.

The delighted gasps of the guests changed to ones of fear as everyone looked at me, but I only looked at him.

The crowned prince stood at the end of the long aisle that was covered in white flowers. He wore the finest red jacket with a golden sash and a large golden crest of his kingdom on his chest. But it was the oversized crown that sat atop his head that made the magic pouring out of me feel uncontrollable.

I gasped at the feel of it, and I didn’t understand. I had pushed every bit of magic I had into Evren, but this magic was mine. My heart raced as I thought about what that meant. Evren was close.

Gavril’s eyes widened the moment he saw me, his mouth slightly agape. I wondered if he could feel the magic that slithered under my skin.

I suddenly felt the urge to unleash my power on the prince, to make him pay for everything he had done to me.

For everything they had done to my kingdom.

Standing before him, I heard the priest hiss when my dark power came near him. But I didn’t care about his fear.

“Adara,” Gavril said my name, but his voice was strained and filled with his panic.

“Did you send men to massacre my kingdom?” The question rolled off my tongue and tasted of ash.

I was burning from the inside out, and if I didn’t release some of this magic soon, I worried it would consume me.

My vision began to blur, and I felt a thin sheen of sweat on my forehead. My magic was growing, crawling beneath my skin. I could feel it tugging at me, like a tide pulling at my feet.

“I see you found your magic.” That red ring around Gavril’s irises glowed brighter than I had ever seen it before, but I couldn’t find it in myself to be frightened by it.

“And I see you have stolen yours.” I cocked my head to the side as I watched him. “Tell me, prince, did you feel any remorse at all when you killed your mate to gain that power?”

The prince’s face twisted into an angry sneer as the magic pulsed around him. A gentle breeze moved past me, and the scent changed, a subtle hint of death and decay as if Gavril’s magic ate away at his life.