Obscenities and spit were hurled at me like projectiles. The outrage was violent enough that Enso stepped to my side. I was grateful Roman didn’t intervene, though his rage built like a bomb ready to detonate. I let my eyes close for one second. Two. I reopened them.
I stepped forward until I reached the very edge of the dais. Codran sat at my feet, his eyes pinned on me, twisted with hatred. He snarled through his mouth gag. I pressed my heel to his head, pinning him down, my lip curled in disgust at the man who felt entitled to hurt me. He was now an insect to be crushed under my heel. I redirected my focus to my bigger problem.
Only two of the vampires in the crowd weren’t looking at me with utter hatred and disgust. Ylva grinned maniacally, which I suspected was her norm, while Mia regarded me with clinical interest, though her father was seething. The rest looked like they would rather devour me. Given the chance, I was certain they would. I allowed my eyes to meet every individual vampire as I spoke. This wasn’t part of my generals’ carefully laid-out plan, but I knew I would need to do this.
I shifted the tip of my heel to Codran’s eye and pressed down until blood pooled around my foot with a disgusting squelch. His scream of agony silenced the crowd. I looked down at their horrified expressions with cold disinterest.
“I understand your reluctance to accept me as your tsarina. After all, I am human, and who would want to be ruled by someone not of their own species?” I yanked my foot back, ignoring Codran’s whimper, and sidestepped him. Every step left a trail of blood across the smoky quartz.
“Never mind that humans have endured this for thousandsof years. They have been hunted for sport and intimidated for the amusement of vampires. Girls are forced into slavery and tortured for vampires' benefit, with no one speaking up for them. I intend to be that voice.
“But that isn’t what concerns you, after all. You aren’t human, so why should you care? Vampires have been hurt by the same systems. Vampiresses mistreated in favor of acolytes. The cruelty of more affluent vampires hurts those beneath them. Those with no title or house struggle to survive and starve. Division among the houses restricts vampire rights, chokes the economy, and harms us all. I plan to work with Roman to eliminate these issues and help us all step into a new age of prosperity. You don’t trust me right now, which is to be expected, but I plan to earn that trust in flesh and blood—of your enemies and my own.”
There was no reverent applause. Only bone-chilling silence remained as my people gaped at me. Silence I could accept; it meant there was opportunity. I didn’t bother bowing; instead, I turned my back to them and plopped into my throne.
Absolutely remarkable, Your Highness,Roman purred.
Hopefully,it’s enough.
Roman remained standing, stepping forward for both of us. “Now that’s out of the way, let’s get to what you all came for.”
The crowd’s immediate switch to savage anticipation was electric. Bloodthirsty creatures indeed. Catina and Enso stepped forward, their hands behind their backs, waiting for Roman’s word.
“Something was stolen from me in an attempt to commit treason against the crown.” Roman stepped behind Codran without looking at him. “We do not accept thievery of any kind. I invoke my right per Article One and Four to challenge anyone who attempts to steal from me in a fair competition. This includes anyone involved in the theft.Therefore, Codran, Iliya, and Gregor of the Bursuc House, you are hereby challenged to a fight to the death.”
The crowd roared to life like a pack of wolves locked onto a kill. They didn’t care who was right or wrong; they craved bloodshed, and Roman was giving it to them in a way that reminded them exactly why he ruled. He turned his back to the crowd and removed his suit jacket, draping it over the back of his throne. Methodically, he undid his watch, removed his tie, and unfastened the first button of his shirt. He pulled the two blades from his hips and set them atop the pile.
It was wrong, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. I bit my lip, and his eyes heated as he noticed my expression.Make them pay.
Of course, Your Highness.
He turned back to the crowd and stepped off the dais. The crowd parted before him, forming a tight circle around the room. A cage, I realized. Catina and Enso dragged Gregor out first, unchaining him and leaving him in a trembling heap. The glow of the torches reflected off his greasy red hair, making him look even more garish and hateful than I remembered. I resisted the urge to shudder. I’d remember those psychotic eyes for the rest of my life. Fortunately, now they would only live on in my memory and the memories of others he had hurt.
“You broke into my home, stole from me, and conspired to kill me and mine. For this, you are convicted of treason and will be sentenced to death.” Roman’s voice resonated like a death knell through the savage room.
Gregor opened his mouth, but only a jumble of words emerged. A cord of horror struck through me as I realized exactlywhathad caused that. It was easy to forget the sheer power of the man who shared my bed, but in moments like this, he was terrifying.
Gregor didn’t stand a chance. Whatever Roman had done to him had left him a mere shell of the man who had kidnapped me that night.I didn’t blink when Roman tore his head from his shoulders. I didn’t wince as that head rolled across the floor, fiery hair sticking to the stone. It was the only time I’d ever seen that face devoid of hatred; his expression was frozen with terror, experiencing the same emotions he had cursed others with.
Roman’s stony expression didn’t falter for a second as Catina dragged the body away. He methodically rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. “Codran next.”
I dared a glance down the line at my sister. Solaris was watching me, her expression unreadable, but I understood. There were no words to explain the feeling of witnessing Codran’s chains fall to the floor. Watching him stand and face death, knowing his time was short. There was no fear, no sadness—only acceptance.
To his credit, he didn’t cower before the demon now stalking toward him. He looked Roman in the face and smirked. “I hope every time you bed her, it leaves the taste of me in your mouth.”
Roman’s face remained stony, even as the very foundation of the house shook. The stone beneath his feet cracked like ice under the pressure. The crowd’s fear was palpable as they experienced their tsar’s wrath.
“I have had a long time to dream of all the ways I would end you. Since I learned who took her, I fantasized about how I would bathe in your blood—a pint for every drop of hers spilled.”
His attack was so swift I didn’t even see it—I only knew what happened because of the ensuing bloodshed. He raked his talons down Codran’s face, across the mostly healed eye I had punctured. Before I even blinked, he was standing back where he started.
He raised his hand to his lips, sliding that demon-like tongue over the blood coating his fingers. “Revenge is so sweet, don’t you think?”
Codran clutched his face but didn’t flinch. Instead, he lungedforward. “Fuck you, you?—”
He dropped to his knees, his bone-chilling scream filling the awestruck room as Roman revealed his powers. Roman’s face twisted with rage, his eyes locked on the count’s writhing body. I could only imagine the horrors he was now enduring. Actually, I could, because I had lived it at his hand.
Roman stepped toward Codran. “The best day of your miserable life was the day you stole my tsarina’s light. I plan to take it back, even if I have to carve it out of your flesh.”
