The Blood Spell (Ravenspire, #4)(109)
The king was still staring at the queen. At Nessa, who’d wrapped her arms around herself and edged to the back of the dais.
“Look at me, father,” Kellan said firmly as grief opened wide and hollow within him.
If the king couldn’t be disarmed or stopped, there was only one solution. He was going to have to figure out how to kill his father. The thought was a cold, creeping frost settling over his bones.
“Look at me,” he said again, his voice shaking.
“Dinah used the wraith to do this,” Blue said beside him. “This isn’t really your father. It’s what little was left of him—the memories in his bones that the wraith used to re-create him.” Her small hand brushed against his back, a comforting touch that said she knew he was in agony. “If any part of him remains here, he’s trapped behind the control the wraith has on him.”
Kellan swallowed hard as his father’s face swung toward him again. He kept his sword up, kept pressing back against the blow the king wanted to deliver, as the guards tried again to bring his father down. One sword to the stomach. One to his chest. One through his neck.
Black goo oozing. The sickening smell of brine and decay. His wounds knitting back together effortlessly.
And still his father stood, empty eyes staring at his son, his sword pushing, pushing, pushing, trying hard to land a killing blow on the prince.
“Call off the guards,” Blue said softly. “If he turns away from you, he might kill them. They can’t stop magic with a sword.”
“Stand down,” Kellan said, his gaze locked on his father. Was there a flicker of awareness in the king’s eyes? A shred of the man who’d loved his family and his kingdom so well? “Father? Can you hear me?”
As the guards backed away, their swords still raised, Blue crept away from Kellan’s side, and slowly circled the king, studying him intently.
“Be careful,” Kellan breathed as she frowned and moved closer to the king.
“Oh yes, do be careful.” Dinah Chauveau walked through the open door the guards had used to enter. A tall, knife-thin figure in a tattered black shroud hovered just behind her, the gaping black pits where its eyes should be focused on Blue. “We wouldn’t want anyone to be hurt. Well, anyone besides the royal family. The king has strict orders not to let his wife and children survive the night.”
“No.” Kellan pushed his sword harder against his father as panic crashed through him.
He wasn’t ready for this. Would never be ready for this. Blue was going to sacrifice herself to kill the wraith, and then he would have to kill the remnant of his father. What would be left of him when it was over?
“I see it,” Blue whispered, her face close to the king’s. “A thread where his cheek meets his right ear. It’s nearly translucent. That’s the magic that’s holding him together.”
“Isn’t this lovely?” Dinah’s voice vibrated with rage. “All the people who ruined my life gathered together under the same roof. Well, everyone except for my dear little sister, but I’ll deal with her shortly.”
“What is the meaning of this?” the queen demanded, her regal expression back in place, though her body still trembled, and her eyes kept darting to the king. “How dare you free that creature and bring it here?”
“How dare you?” Dinah stalked toward the dais, the wraith trailing behind her, a soft, keening sound escaping its mouth. “You and Talbot, the royal council, the de la Cours, and my sister all plotting together behind my back.”
The queen’s brows collided. “If you have a sister, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. Nobody plotted anything against you. If you were using the wraith sixteen years ago to bargain for power for yourself, then I’m glad we took it away from you.”
“Are you?” Dinah’s smile sent a shudder over Kellan’s skin as he leaned against the force of his father’s weight. His palms were getting clammy, his grip starting to slip.
“Father,” he whispered, hoping the flicker of life he saw in the king’s dull eyes was real. Terrified that if it was, that meant he truly would be killing his father all over again.
The queen’s spine grew ramrod straight, and she glared at Dinah. “The wraith is an abomination who feeds on the blood of children to gain its power. It deserved to be imprisoned—”
“Actually, it deserved to be destroyed,” Blue said, the wild, reckless light back in her eyes as she left the king’s side and walked toward the wraith. The creature jerked its face toward hers and lifted its bony nose as if trying to identify Blue by scent.
Kellan could barely breathe. She was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. “Father, please. Lower your sword.”
The queen met Blue’s eyes for a long moment, and whatever she saw there had her lifting her chin and staring Dinah down. “Yes, the wraith deserved to be destroyed.”
“You can’t destroy the wraith,” Dinah mocked. “You can’t even destroy the remnant we dragged out of the sea to hunt you down and kill you. I’m going to enjoy watching you beg for your life, Adelene. I know I begged for mine.”
“You’ve never begged for anything in all the years I’ve known you, but now you will have that chance.” The queen’s voice filled the room. “Dinah Chauveau, I charge you with treason against the crown. You are hereby sentenced to death. Guards!”