Page 102 of Threaded
Andrian’s non-existent restraint slipped further, his shadows desperate to choke off the words as they spilled from his father’s throat.
But the sick, morbid twinge of curiosity … of fuckingjealousythat raced through him … he couldn’t hold back his next question.
“What do you mean?”
Julian laughed, a cold sound that conflicted with the fire blazing in his gold eyes, no real humor behind it. “You don’t know about her? About what she truly is? This woman who you, for some reason and against all my express commands, allowed to Select you to her Armature? She comes from nothing and has quite the reputation back in her town. The daughter of a healer and a low-ranking soldier, aslutwho slept her way through the entire town since her first Solstice at eighteen.” He paused, a cruel grin spreading across his face. “I hear she even welcomed multiple men into her bed on the last Summer Solstice. Tell me, are you prepared to share her when she inevitably does the same to you?”
Andrian forced hard against the swell of anger threatening to sweep over him. It would do him no good to explode here, even though the implication behind his father’s words nearly brought him to his knees.
Of course, he wasn’t prepared to share her. He may have said as much in the library, yesterday, but that’d just been an attempt to push her away. He hadn’t meant it.
But … hadshe?
“Her past has no bearing on her present, on what kind of queen she might end up becoming. You don’t know her. Honestly, I don’t even know her … but I’m starting to.”
Julian laughed, a cold, hard sound. “So … you’re falling for her. Is that it? I will give it to you, she is beautiful. But then again, the queens always are. It is so they can wrap their weak little Armature around their fingers and trap you down with the sweetness of their Goddess-blessed pussies. Beauty and good sex do not make a good queen. But then again, you’ve always been weak, and I am not surprised you have confused the two.”
For a moment, the conversation Andrian had overheard between his father and Shawth flashed through his mind. He’d been so sure the obstacle they’d been discussing was Ryenne, that whatever work they were planning involved the aging Queen. But now, hearing his father spew such hate … he began to wonder if he’d been wrong. Began to realize just how much danger Mariah was actually in.
Shawth and his father had always craved power. And Mariah would never be one to share it with them.
Andrian knew if he remained in that room any longer, he would end up slitting his own father’s throat. And as much as the man before him might deserve it … he couldn’t have that kind of blood on his already-marred soul.
Not yet, anyway.
So, he turned on his heel and strode for the door. “If all you wanted to do was insult my queen, I have no more interest in continuing this conversation.”
His father’s laugh was cold and scorching at the same time. “Yourqueen, is it? My dear son, what I wanted to do tonight was remind you what will happen toyourqueenshould you continue to forget your blood and the promise I made to you all those years ago.”
Andrian froze in his tracks. He tried to fight it, but his head tilted back over his shoulder, meeting his father’s smoldering gaze.
“Hear me closely, Andrian. I do not care if you have been captivated by whatever it is about her you find so …appealing. She willneverbe queen; I will make sure of that.”
Everything in Andrian turned to ice. Even his heart stopped beating in his chest as his father spoke his next words.
“If you so much asthinkabout accepting the bond from her, or of assisting her in any way towards the growth of that useless power she stole from a family far more deserving, then I willpersonallyassure her death. In fact … I will forceyouto be the one to serve as her executioner.”
CHAPTER45
“Ican’tfuckingdo this anymore.”
Mariah collapsed onto the couch, the skirts of her black gown twisted in her legs, her hands covering her face and pressing into her eyes. She didn’t care if she smudged the perfectly drawn lines of kohl; the night was over, and too much had happened for her to give a shit about her appearance anymore.
The couch dipped slightly beside her, and then a hand grabbed her wrist, wrenching her fingers from her eyes. She cracked her lids to meet Delaynie’s wide blue gaze, her perfectly curled auburn hair cascading around her shoulders. Her voice was soft and calming when she spoke.
“Tonight was … a lot. It is more than understandable to be feeling overwhelmed. No one will fault you—”
“Overwhelmed?!” Mariah pushed up, Delaynie recoiling from her like a startled hare. She knew the girl didn’t deserve her coldness, but at that moment, she didn’t care. Words and rage and fear were coiling in her chest, and she paced to the wall of windows, gazing out at the starry night sky and the Attlehon Mountains. She focused her gaze on her reflection in the glass, noticing the fevered flush to her skin and the wild look in her eyes.
She hardly recognized herself. None of this is what she’d wanted. She didn’t belong here. This didn’t have to be her future. She was still her own woman, could still make her own future. Goddess be damned.
“‘Overwhelmed’ is an Enfara-damned understatement.” Mariah’s voice was a pained whisper, her rage and desperation clogging her throat. “You heard what Donnet said tonight, in front of every powerful representative on thecontinent. And you know what the worst part of it is?” She choked on her next words, wiping away an errant tear that spilled from her eyes. Not even sure if Delaynie was still listening, or if she’d been left alone in the room to confess her sins to the mountains and stars, Mariah continued, “The worst part is that it'strue. All of it. I earned my reputation in Andburgh. I’d always thought I would leave when I turned twenty-one, would never see them again. So, what did it matter what—or who—I did? I took three men to my bed on the last Solstice. Fucked them under the stars that night in our own little twisted party.
“I deserve it. All of the insults they throw at me. And the longer I’m here, the longer I’m convinced the Goddess … she must’ve made a mistake. I don’t belong here. Ican’tdo this.” Her voice never wavered, despite the pain pulling at her throat, in her chest. “I shouldn’t be here. It never should have been me. I have half a mind to just run away, like I’d always planned to do. I could go west, or set sail across the sea, and put this entire Goddess-damned palace and city andkingdombehind me. Everyone would be better off, anyway.”
“Don’t youeverfucking say those words again.”
The voice, which sounded behind Mariah, back towards the entrance to her suite, snapped Mariah’s attention away from her reflection, whirling around on her feet.