Why couldn’t his people see he was trying to save them? He was smarter than them all. It was why he was king. He hadn’t simply been born to the part. He was ruthless enough to fight and kill for the crown.
“And it’s mine. It will remain mine.” He said the words out loud even as his guard formed a phalanx around the palace.
“My sons will win this day.”
Damn him. The last thing he wanted was to see his brother. His sluagh brother. When this day was over and he remained king, he would force the hags to rid him of all sluagh, all monsters. He would slaughter them all, everyone. Their blood would make the Seelie fields fertile, and then he would dispose of the vampires and the Unseelie and he would rule over all the planes.
Seamus shook his non-corporeal head. “You always were ambitious. It’s too bad I didn’t see how far you would go.”
“You read minds now, brother?” Torin forced his attention to the battlefield. It was a waiting game now. He wasn’t sure if they would march in today or the day after, but he had word that his nephews were on the plane, and that meant they would attack.
“It’s almost a sure thing what you were thinking.” Seamus floated around the room, the act almost a mirror image of the pacing his brother used to do while thinking through a problem. “Why don’t you let Bronwyn go? Can’t you see the hags lied about her?”
The fact that Bronwyn Finn was here in his palace and still breathing made him sick to death. She was here, the one woman who could kill him. Her throat should have been slit the moment the hags found her, but his wife had pleaded their case. “The hags think they can pull power from the girl’s soul. Enough power to defeat the true triad.”
“Which one?” Seamus asked, his voice nonchalant as though he was politely asking about the weather.
Torin turned to his brother. “What do you mean? It’s only a rumor that those idiot boys of yours managed to find a bondmate and create a true triad. I think it’s just a story the villagers tell to give them hope.”
Seamus sighed. “Do you even hear yourself speak? The fact that your own people would even be forced to make up tales to bring themselves hope that one day your reign will end should tell you everything you need to know.”
“They are stupid. I’m protecting them.”
“You are a fool, Torin. You’re justifying your own immorality, but it doesn’t matter, because it isn’t a story. Beck and Cian have come into their powers, but they aren’t the only true triad. My Bron has formed one with the Unseelies. So I ask again, which true triad do they seek to kill, and why didn’t your own hags tell you of this news? I assure you, they knew.”
And yet they had only mentioned that the idiot Unseelie had some small magic. They had not mentioned the triad. Why had they not mentioned the triad?
“Who are you talking to?” Maris asked, walking into the room. If she was upset about the battle about to take place, she didn’t show it, but then his wife was a block of ice that nothing seemed to penetrate.
But he didn’t need anyone to know he saw his brother’s ghost. “I was just musing about why my hags might keep something from me.” He felt his eyes narrow on his lovely bride. So beautiful. So fucking vapid. Could she be in league with the hags? Was it possible?
She huffed a little and crossed to the mirror, smoothing back her already perfect hair. “Well, they are hags, darling. You have to think that at some point in time they will turn on you. I thought you had a plan to take them out when we no longer need those nasty bitches. If you like, you can start it now.”
He was mollified a bit. Seamus huddled in the corner, exactly where he should be, hidden and unseen. “I thought you wanted to keep the Finn girl alive because the hags needed her.”
She sighed, a long-suffering sound. “Well, Torin, there’s a reason you’re the king. I don’t know anything about this. I have no idea why I would say such a thing. Why would I sincerely wish to keep your niece alive? I hate that whole family.” She put a hand to her head. “I actually don’t remember very much about the last few days. Ever since that Finn girl was brought here, my mind has been a bit cloudy. Do you think it’s something I ate? I shall have a long talk with cook just before I have him strung up. So sad to have to find another cook. Good help is so hard to find these days, but there’s nothing for it. I should probably execute the entire kitchen staff.”
She really was an empty, dull vessel, her only contents being pure malice. And she was stupid. “It wasn’t the food. It was the hags.”
Maris’s face twisted a bit. “Why ever should the hags be preparing food? I thought they spent all their time with the Finn girl. One of my maids walked by the room they had her in. She thought she heard some ritual of pulling power.”
“Yes, they said they needed to pull the power in case my nephews have formed a true triad.” The power would be necessary to block whatever they had ascended into.
“See, this is why you’re smarter. I heard that and wondered if we really should allow it. After all when they’re more powerful than all of our armies, what is to stop them from taking the crown?” Maris smiled brightly. “But, of course, it’s surely the very helpful thing you were talking about. You’re never wrong, after all.”
Oh, he wanted to slap the bitch, but she was right. He hadn’t seen. He’d been too arrogant thinking he had power over them. Long ago they had made a deal, bonded and signed by a Planeswalker demon. They would help him ascend and he would hold them at his right hand. The deal was only struck down by death and neither party could kill the other, but if the hags simply allowed him to die, they could take over his kingdom. If the hags used his niece and her power, they could rule with no retribution.
He had to kill his niece and take the power back from the hags.
A loud crack took him out of his thoughts. The sky outside turned black as night, the sun sinking behind an enormous cloud.
“What is that?” Maris asked.
He had only to look at the smirk on his dead brother’s face to know the truth. “It’s an eddy cloud. The rebels are here.”
They began descending from the clouds, their numbers far more than he’d expected. Immediately there were the sounds of metal against metal and a sonic boom as the vampires proved to be terrible allies.
Still, he glanced down, his guard had more numbers and they weren’t without their own weapons.
And none of it would matter if the hags took him out.
Torin ran for the dungeon with only one thought on his mind. Bronwyn’s time had come.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lach fell to the ground, bodies falling all around him, and realized he hadn’t known the true meaning of the word chaos. The sounds and smells of battle assaulted him.
Clanging from swords striking swords rang out across the field. In the distance he could see the White Palace, a gleaming pearl amidst the gloom of afternoon. The cloud they had ridden made it seem more like twilight, but they had hours to go before night.
Dellacourt brushed past him, Kaja in her wolf form at his side and the queen’s hand clutched in his. “Good luck to you, Your Highness. Kaja and I are on Meg duty. We’re getting clear of the field, but I can talk to you through the implants. I’ll look for a way past the guard and into the palace so you can get to Bron.”
Lach clutched his sword and with his instincts guiding him, brought it down on a guard trying to cut through the queen’s torso. First blood and the first corpse of the day. The soldier fell and then almost immediately got back up and bowed to his new master.