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“Open the fucking door,” Rokath growled, slamming his fist against the heavy wood. Behind me, Kiira shifted from foot to foot. The Kral’s Guard had taken one look at Rokath’s furious expression and wisely positioned themselves on the floor below us, out of the way of his wrath.
Still, Xa
Rokath never made idle threats.
“One,” he started counting like Xa
Which, currently, he was acting like a very spoiled one.
“Two,” Rokath pronounced, his tone threaded with violence. Before he opened his mouth to utter three, the door flew open, exposing the Kral of the Demons.
Dressed in a smart tunic and pants, rings glinting on his fingers, he sneered at us. “What do you want?”
The utter exasperation in his tone very much matched the one I wanted to express with him. Rokath didn’t respond, merely shouldered past his cousin, leaving space for Kiira and I to enter in his wake. I didn’t apologize as I accidentally jostled his torso as I passed.
Kiira, unfortunately, appeared more apologetic.
“What is the meaning of this?” Xa
“You haven’t been available for days,” Rokath stated, leaning against the window and crossing his arms over his broad chest. Kiira and I took a seat on a plush couch between the two males.
I honestly couldn’t understand Xa
No one spoke. Heated glances volleyed back and forth.
Who would be the first to crack?
“First, I have one question for you, Xa
The Kral raised a skeptical brow. His hair was tied neatly back, not a single strand out of place. His beard appeared recently sheared, revealing his carved jaw. It was as if he wanted to show the world how put together he was when everything else was falling apart around him.
“What is that?” he drawled as if he were bored with our appearance.
Rokath paused, and my heart raced against my ribs. Every muscle in my body tensed, even as I leaned forward ever so slightly, waiting for him to speak. Kiira did too.
“Did you hire someone to kill Assyria and Kiira?”
The question cracked the air like a stone through stained glass.
Xa
“Let me rephrase.” Darkness stained Rokath’s expression as he glared at his cousin. “Did you arrange for, in any way, someone to attack Assyria?”
The Kral’s attention flicked to Kiira for the span of a heartbeat before returning to my mate. “No.”
Rokath’s fingers dug into his biceps. “Then why don’t I believe you?”
“That is your problem, not mine,” Xa
“You would lie to us? After everything?” Kiira snapped, surging to her feet.
Xa
“But you would to Rokath?” she challenged, undeterred by the smooth way he crafted his words.
A muscle feathered in his jaw, and he took a step toward her. “Kiira…”
Rage engulfed our bond in a fiery inferno. A look of horror crossed Kiira’s face. My brows shot up my forehead.
Clutching her chest, the High Priestess shrank away from her Kral. “No, you don’t get to ‘Kiira’ me. Not now. Speak the truth.”
Rokath shifted off the wall, vibrating with barely-restrained fury. Xa
A roar shook me to my core as Rokath lunged for his cousin. Ebony exploded from both of them, sending vases crashing to the ground. I leaped to my feet, calling on my own magic, ready to assist my mate.
The onyx cloud cleared for a blink, revealing Xa
“We have to do something, they’re going to kill each other!” I snapped at Kiira.
Shadow unfurled from her hands, and she wielded each thick whip with expert precision. Snapping it into the darkness, she removed some of the smoky air. Rokath had Xa
“You can’t kill him!” I screamed, barging forward. If he did, Rokath would become Kral, and he didn’t want that. The idea had shaken him so much that he hadn’t slept at all last night. As much as I wanted retribution for Xa
With a hard shove, I knocked Rokath and Xa
“Listen to your mate!” Kiira shouted at Rokath, magic spooling around her and forcing back her cousins’ powers.
But both males were too far gone in their fury to hear us. Diving into the well of magic in my chest, I yanked with all my might on our bond. Still, they fought, blood flying as they exchanged bone-jarring blows.
With a snarl, Rokath punched Xa
A bronze blade flashed as Rokath drew it overhead. “Stop!” I screamed, one last desperate attempt to change his fate.
But he drove it down.
“I was raped by Ollmund Varrir!” Kiira yelled. Her voice fractured on her attacker’s name.
Rokath halted with the dagger mere inches from Xa
“What did you say?” Rokath whispered, and that was far more terrifying than any growl or snarl I’d ever received from him.
I whipped my head to her, watching as her face crumpled.
“Ollmund Varrir raped me.”
I ached to go to her, to comfort her once again. Yet I didn’t dare move with the males still on the precipice of violence.
The blade clattered against the stone as Rokath’s hand slackened. His haunted expression seared into my memory as he rose off Xa
“When?” Rokath gritted out.
This time, I did move toward Kiira, wrapping my arms around her and holding her tight. I’d protect her, even if these two idiots didn’t.
“He came to Varbad not long after you left, attempting to influence me to secure Orith a match with you, since it is known that I have sway over you, Rokath. When I told him no–” She shuddered, and I kept my grip, letting her know I was there. That he wasn’t moments from touching her again. “He put something in my wine while we were speaking. I didn’t even notice.”
“He’s a corpse the moment I lay eyes on him again,” Rokath snarled, grief and rage scorching down our bond. “I have half a mind to return to Uzhhorod this very minute and flay the skin from his bones.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Xa
She cocked her head as she stared him down. The moment of truth had arrived—the moment Kiira had feared.
“Would you have? With how much influence he has over the other nobles? With how they already whispered of losing this war? He would have only stoked the flames of their fears. Plus, no one cares when a female is raped. It would have been my word against his.”
“I believe you, Kiira. I would have believed you then!” Xa
I watched the Kral crumble to pieces. Yet Kiira held strong, which made me all the more furious at Xa
Venom spit in each word. My chest heaved from the vehemence of my soliloquy. “Females are forced into beds with lecherous males, into marriages we didn’t choose, into bearing children we didn’t ask for, and when we resist, we’re branded fallen—discarded, disavowed, destroyed. The silence we’re made to endure is oppressive. Kiira was born noble, and I was elevated through marriage, but it made no difference. We are still treated like breeding pets—collared by your version of faith, paraded for others approval, leashed to the egos of the males who claimed us.”
I released Kiira and stalked toward the fucking Kral. “You didn’t simply veil our bodies. You taught the world to call our submission sacred.”
Xa
Rokath spoke again, his gravelly voice scarcely louder than a whisper. “We went too far. Do you realize the pressure you put on me too? Do you understand everything I have sacrificed to ensure the Angels haven’t advanced past Ustlyak into Demon territory?”
Xa
Kiira snapped first, her voice cutting through before Rokath or I could react. “Watch how you speak about our cousin’s mate. If you don’t stop with your horseshit, I will walk out of here and tell the world what we did, Xa
His mouth thi