Page 17 of Renegade Kings

One moment he was standing there, and the next he was gone.

The others didn’t have time to move, but smartly, none of them reached for a weapon either.

I strode forward, the men I had yet to claim as my own parted in the doorway to allow me to pass. The magic was riding me hard. It was like nothing I’d experienced before. I could feel its will for more and it would be so easy to relinquish control and let it do as it pleased.

The muffled scream from above was easy to ignore. He was dead anyway, he just hadn’t realised it yet. Later, the loss of life would no doubt upset me, but I didn’t have the luxury of thinking like the old me anymore. I was back in Nymeria. Back in the warped reality of court politics and power struggles. Weakness would only be exploited, and I intended to make a lasting impression that would keep me and mine safe in the days to come—or at least as safe as they could be in these circumstances.

“Does anyone else wish to question my choices?” I asked, standing tall at the top of the palace steps.

The guards had backed up as far as they dared. Their eyes wildly glanced around them, at not just me, but the forest and vines that surrounded them. Perhaps now they were seeing the mistake they’d made. Spring magic filled everything in this place. It was wild with life and untapped potential, and everything here was mine. The trees, the plants, the very ground they stood upon. All of it would bend to my will. And the power of it all was intoxicating.

Rhidian dropped to one knee, his head dipping in respect as the guards slowly followed his example. “It is a joyous day for Nymeria to see the Spring Court alive once more,” he said, annoying me more than he realised. This wasn’t my choice, this was his choice, and I wouldn’t soon forget it.

“We should take this inside. There is much to discuss,” Fizzle said carefully.

My gaze landed on the owl gryphon I’d once considered a friend. His betrayal was too new for me to trust him right now, but he was right about needing to move inside. Spring magic may be returning to this place, but that didn’t mean the wildness of Nymeria had left. I could feel it brushing up against what the court had once been like an itch in the back of my mind.

The two forces were essentially the same thing, and rather than spring pushing Nymeria out, it was blurring around the edges. And it wasn’t just happening outside amongst the trees. It was happening inside me, too.

Everything was changing.

Dean’s hand gently touched my shoulder, his grip tightening as I subtly leaned into his touch. I pushed my mind away from the magic. Pulling on the sense of belonging they all instilled in me, I centred my mind on the here and now. Grounding myself in the familiar.

It wasn’t easy.

Nymeria wanted something from this place. Something from me. And I was afraid to open myself up enough to listen to it. The power in this place was more than any one person should have control of. It was enough to pollute even the most pure of minds, and I was no way near as good as that.

But whatever we’d started here, I couldn’t back away from it now. It was already in motion, and unfortunately for me; it seemed like Fizzle and Rhidian were the only source of information available to me. Which meant no matter how badly my feelings might be hurt from the secrets they’d been keeping from me, I had no choice but to trust them right now.

Chapter 8

Ryder

It was happening. Maybe not quite as I’d thought it would, but it was happening nonetheless.

Alyssa had claimed Tank as her mate and their bond was solid enough that he’d somehow become a fae king without even being a fae. Talk about a mind fuck.

I could see the fury in Dean as soon as the words had left Rhidian’s lips. He wouldn’t be able to hold himself back from her for too long. Maddox had all but declared her as his when his lion had exploded out of him back at the marsh. In fact, I was the only one who hadn’t made my intentions crystal clear to her.

But it was Dean who had stood at her side as she’d claimed the Court as her own, facing down the men who thought they could take control. And she’d leaned into his touch. She’d accepted his support in a way that had these strangers looking at her in confusion.

What we needed now was privacy, and the second we had it, it was time to lay everything on the table. All the feelings. All the hopes. It was time to make a declaration.

But first, we needed to get through whatever this was. And I was pretty sure I could keep it contained until then, even if the urge to throw my arms around Alyssa and run away with her was becoming more than I could resist.

Our footsteps echoed off the stone of the deserted palace as we followed Rhidian to wherever he’d decided they were going to explain themselves. Alyssa seemed to know where we were heading because I could see the tension slowly building in her the further we moved into the palace.

As we had since we’d reached this place, we clustered closely around her. None of us wanted to stray far, and I caught how Dean and Maddox kept reaching out and trailing a hand across her arms or back as if to reassure themselves she was still there.

Part of me was jealous that they’d found that connection with their animal so easily. They already seemed so different and yet completely the same at the same time. It was more like they’d just become more of what they’d been before rather than any actual change. Even I could feel the animal inside them, and they’d embraced it with open arms.

As usual, I was just lingering in the background. I could feel the wolf. He stalked the depths of me, watching and learning. He hadn’t tried to force his way to the surface like Dean and Maddox’s animals clearly had. Instead, he was content to sit back and wait, watching the events unfurl around us.

When it came to Alyssa, he moved closer to the edges of my mind, but never close enough that I felt like he was pushing me aside. She intrigued him. Whenever Alyssa caught his attention, my mouth watered with a need that wasn’t my own. I wasn’t far behind him, though. I was just as obsessed with the blonde beauty in our midst. It had been like this even before I’d first taken notice of the wolf inside. But his need for her built my own to an impossible level. And if it was this hard to resist for me, I couldn’t even comprehend what Dean and Maddox were currently going through.

Rhidian stepped to a set of doors and gently pushed them open, almost reverently as he cautiously stepped inside. My breath caught in my throat as I followed him through with the others.

The throne gleamed in the dappled sunlight that came through a skylight, slightly obscured by a twisting pattern of vines that had grown over the glass. It looked like it was carved from emeralds as its green glow radiated across the room, tinting everything with the colour of spring.