Page 147 of Threaded
“Alright, that’s enough.” Shawth shifted in his seat as she spoke, yet Mariah caught amusement dancing in his watery blue eyes. “While I must admit it is entertaining to sit here and watch you taunt our dear Lord Laurent with your exploits with his son, that is not why we are here. You said you had a proposition for us; let’s hear it.”
Mariah snapped her attention to Shawth, internally grappling with the molten rage threatening to flood her control. She forced herself to calm, taking a single inhale, and then started to speak, the practiced words flowing from her tongue.
“My Lords. We all know how valuable unity between the Crown and the Royals is to the continued prosperity of Onita. Such a partnership has existed for thousands of years, and is, without a doubt, one of the sole reasons why our kingdom is the most powerful on the continent.” She paused, directly meeting the stares of both lords, letting them see the sincerity of her words before continuing.
“As Lord Laurent has said, we’ve certainly had our disagreements in the past. I know I’m young, and proud, and to you I must appear naïve to ruling. However, I know I cannot do this alone. The queen rules from her seat in Verith, but Onita is vast. The continued cooperation of the lords and Royals is imperative to ensure our borders are protected and our people are fed.
“My request to you both is this: join my court. If you do,bothof you, the other lords will follow. Help me continue to maintain Onita’s prosperity in the centuries that are to come. I intend to rule in a way honoring Qhohena and Priam, and I hope to bring back the ancient glory Onita enjoyed in its earliest days, before, during, and after Xara’s rule. Already, my improvement of the Solstice has proven to be a massive success: the pillars have never been more full, our kingdom now flowing with moreallumethan it has seen in a thousand years, the wards finally at a strength to quell whatever threat is brewing in the Kizar Islands. Our people will prosper—”
“Yes. Let’s talk about the Solstice, shall we?” Shawth’s voice was cold, his gaze …excited.
Mariah’s blood turned to ice as the realization struck her like a blow.
Thiswas why they’d agreed to meet with her. Not because they had any intention of listening, of ever working with her.
This had all been a trap. One into which Mariah had walked all too willingly.
Her heart hammered in her chest as Shawth continued.
“You, a common-born, disgracefulwhorefrom the outskirts of the Crossroad City actually did it, didn’t you? You managed to take control of our most sacred night, to convince so many in this city you areblessed, that the meaningless magic in your veins somehow makes you chosen for something more than what you are: a figurehead for greater men. You perverted something pure and used it to revel in your sins, to disgrace your station, your title, and the very throne you somehow think isyours. No magic will ever make you a queen, Mariah; only blood can do that. You can fuck as many lord’s sons upon that ancient and glorious seat as you like, but you willneverbe my queen.”
As Shawth spoke, Laurent’s face slowly turned into a vile, twisted grin. Mariah held her face in a vacant expression, all her thoughts and focus trained on staying utterly still. But beside her, she could feel Andrian thrumming with rage, his shadows again dancing in the air around him.
All while she kept herself blank. Unfeeling. Numb.
“Did you really think we would not know about your sacrilegious cavorting with my son? What was it he said to you? ‘Let me fuck you on your throne’?” Laurent snorted. “Pathetic. As if that throne will ever belong to you. Although, I must say, if you’ve acquired a taste for men of Royal blood, I am sure I can service you better than my son ever could.” Laurent was all burning, undiluted rage, the embodiment of the flames dancing in his veins. “After all, his blood is tainted by that cold LeuxrithianbitchI was forced to marry and bed. Maybe one day I can show you what it is like to fuck a true Onitan Royal—”
Laurent’s head snapped back against his leather chair as shadows wrapped and twisted around his neck, his arms, his legs, even sliding around his mouth, gagging those vile words and trapping them in his mouth. Mariah simply watched him struggle, his eyes bulging as he grappled for breath, his son’s magic squeezing tighter and tighter. Giving herself to the cold numbness curling through her veins, she rose from the couch, holding the gazes of the lords before her.
“Release him, Andrian.”
And despite the uncontrollable anger rolling from him, he obeyed.
The shadows vanished from Laurent immediately, and he doubled over in a wracking cough, his hands going instantly to his throat, the skin around his wrists and ankles already turning an angry red.
“I will only say this once.” Her voice was flat and cold and dark. Both lords watched her, looks of pure loathing in their eyes.
“I tried to make peace, but it seems I’ve failed. Despite your treasonous words, I’m Qhohena’s chosen, and I carry the power of the Goddess in my veins. I don’t need you. If this is a burden the Goddess wishes me to shoulder on my own, then I will.” Finally, something flickered deep within her, a tendril of light that brought with it a fury so potent, so chilling, it almost felt foreign.
It was all those threads of silver, separated again from the gold. Zadione’s magic leaped up, fueled by that spark of rage, and wound itself into her veins until it was all she could see, all she could feel. It seeped to the surface of her skin until she was ringed in an unholy silver light, wrathful and avenging like the goddess of death who’d bestowed that power upon her. A tremor of fear stole into the eyes of those two Royals, and she let herself bathe in the sick joy it brought her.
“You will both leave Verith.Immediately. You’re no longer welcome at my court or in my city. You may return to your family strongholds, where you will live out the remainder of your miserable existences. If I ever see either of you again, I will not hesitate to cut your tongues from your mouths and feed you your own testicles before I roast you over a spit.”
Without another word, Mariah strode for the parlor room doors, stepping into the foyer and the manor exit beyond, Andrian following closely at her heels.
Before she left that manor built of stones the color of hate, she threw a final command over her shoulder.
“You have until sundown to be out of this city. Should you fail, I will not hesitate to chase you both from Verith like the rats you are.”
And with that, Mariah left the two lords. The carriage ride back to the palace was as silent as death. Andrian, by her side the entire time, was frozen in his anger, his rage so potent she could taste it. She could offer him no words of comfort that would be true.
So, Mariah only held his hand, and steeled herself for the future that had found her.
CHAPTER61
Andrian had never felt a rage quite like the one burning through him now.
While in the carriage back to the palace, when Mariah had felt so cold and numb seated at his side, he’d felt only unadulterated fury. An anger so intense it stole his breath, hammered his heart, pulsed his magic through his veins.