“Sacrifices like our mother’s magic?Our mother’s life?” Keir snapped. “You took her magic. And it killed her bit by bit.”
The king didn’t deny it. “Your mother had to willingly siphon the magic.”
“So you forced her into it,” Krew bit out.
The king pulled out the new sword on his belt from its sheath.
I gasped. It wasn’t a new sword at all. With his hand on the hilt, there was purple magic wrapping along the blade and into his hand. His own magic was surging along the surface of his skin, begging to be used.
The king stayed on the dais and walked to be in front of Keir before turning to walk in front of Krew. “You were so close. So close. Yet you forgot that you were not the only one who could create a fake.”
I inhaled sharply. “So it was the sword.”
He gave me a nod. “You weren’t wrong. You just didn’t steal the correct sword.”
“So let me get this right,” Keir began, “we stole the wrong sword. You used the fire to weaken us enough to put these damned gauntlets on us, and now you are just going to kill all three of us, thus leaving the superior Wylan you’ve worked so hard to build without an heir?”
The king now strode down the dais to our level.
My eyes frantically went to the tall windows. This was all happening too fast. We needed to stall. We needed more time.
“My sons have been consorting with the disloyal. Helping the disloyal. That sort of treachery will not be allowed.”
Realization dawned on me. He wasn’t going to kill the heirs. He was going to kill me. To punish them.
“You will only make me a martyr,” I offered at a whisper as Krew’s magic went into overdrive next to me. “The disloyal movement will not end with my death, in fact it will strengthen it.”
The king stopped to look at me. “I do not intend to kill you, Jorah of Nerede.” His eyes flicked to Krew and then to Keir. I stilled as the king strode directly for me. “But in all your scheming and planning, half of which even made me proud at times, the two of you forgot one very simple detail.”
My magic was now pounding with every beat of my heart. We weren’t going to be able to stall our way out of this. My eyes went to those damned keys on the guard that remained to the left of us. If only we could get ourselves free, we’d have a chance.
Despite my recoil backwards, the king grabbed me from around the neck. He still had the sword in his left hand, but it was just out of reach. Not to mention with the gauntlets on my hands, it was not as if I could make a grab for it. But I could possibly kick it out of his hand if I waited for the right moment.
The king kept his hand at my neck as he leaned over me. He looked directly into my eyes as he said, “I can always make more heirs.”
I snorted a laugh of disgust. I couldn’t help it.
“You laugh?” the king asked.
I grinned. “Nara is not Enchanted. At your core, you are all about your need for power. So yeah, make more heirs with Nara. They will not be as strong as Keir and Krew and you know it. You’ll leave Wylan vulnerable yet again.”
The evil grin that slowly crossed the king’s face made my magic pulse. “Why would I need Nara when I have one of the most powerful Enchanted in Wylan within reach?”
Krew had to be restrained by multiple guards.
I felt his anger and mine multiplying together.
“It’s the bond. He’s threatened by your bond,” Keir said to me. “He wants your bond gone.”
It all slid into place in my head. The threat about making more heirs. His promise not to killme. Krew and I being a threat to the world the king had worked so hard to create, in which he was the most powerful Enchanted in the realm.
The king wasn’t going to kill me, but hewasgoing to kill Krew.
I cocked my head and stayed still as hatred flowed through every inch of me, vibrating with my rage and my magic I couldn’t use. “You are going to kill Krew.” I clenched my jaw tightly. “Say it.Say it.You are going to kill your own son. Your own flesh and blood.”
The king moved in even closer, so our eyes were inches apart. “I am.”
“I will never become bonded to you. I will never willingly give you even a drop of my magic,” I told him.
