The Empress' Descent

Chapter 54 - His Pawns

Rass faked taking offense, settling a hand onto his chest. He replaced the journal to his breast pocket and huffed, "You accuse me of harming a maid. Why would I ever do such a thing? Your perception of me is rather unfair, don't you think?"

"You are nothing but a two-faced, conniving bastard." My fury blazed to another level. I swore to the gods above, if Rass had done something unspeakable to her, these chains wouldn't prevent me from leaping onto him. I'd make him suffer a fate far worse than he'd ever imagined. It wouldn't matter if I'd tear my wrists just to get free. What use were these teeth, if not to gnaw at a fellow monster?

Rass fanned himself, as though the intensity of my hatred was reaching him. "I haven't laid a hand on her, nor am I planning to. I will not waste my breath over an insignificant little servant girl who knows but a fraction of my secrets. She isn't a threat, Athelina. However, I have yet to decide whether you are one."

I could only hope he was complacent enough of his present position that he wouldn't bother dealing with Anya. I stamped out the burning scorn toward Rass, saving it for later. It was better to put on a bravado, make him believe he hadn't smothered the fight in me just yet. Which was exactly the opposite of what I was feeling. My mind was reeling, there was a throbbing panic as I worried for Derek and Anya.

I stood straighter and planted a hand on my hip. The chains clanked against one another, and continued when I tossed a hand in the air. I said, sarcastic, "How unfortunate, then, that you remain torn if I am still worthy of troubling yourself over. What with the feats I've accomplished for the past month."

"Ah." He snapped his fingers like a child who had understood the mechanics of a game. "What a pest you were. I was puzzled for a while why you would dare go against me. I assumed it was revenge for casting you aside. But there never was a 'you'. Because you're an entirely different person. Indeed, you gave me some extra work."

I scoffed as pure, undiluted disgust boiling in me. "By 'extra work', do you mean poisoning my cohorts?"

"I had to keep you in line." He shrugged, indifferent. "But like the pest you are, you continuously find a way. Asking Derek for assistance, running to Elian's aristocratic allies. Beautiful, stubborn pest, I closed the doors but you shoved through the cracks and squeezed yourself in."

I hacked out a humorless chuckle. "At this point how am I to expect that you won't hurt my maid, and Derek?"

"You don't get to expect. You lost that privilege moments ago, Athelina. When you let Derek claim the burden of your miscalculation." His gaze turned flat, along with his voice. "This is the best way to deal with you. I take it you've understood by now. I need to destroy this empire before I can rebuild it, shape it after my own liking. And currently...I don't like it very much."

I drew a shuddering breath, having a vague sensation that I'd been unraveling—that he'd been unraveling me—by the minute. First by the skin, then the flesh, until there would be nothing left. Not even bones.

It was jarringly disturbing. Him, cleverly manipulating us with his guise of friendship, earning the trust of the entire court. He could only have utilized his wits to get the officials on his side, pushing them to turn against me, the Empress. And bit by bit, after my death, he removed the blocks that held Solaria together, patiently waiting and moving only when the time was right. To topple it from the inside, lead it to destruction. Rass would permit its rebirth, but when that time comes, he'd create Solaria according to his own design. Which meant—

"You were the one who killed me," I said under my breath. "It was you all along."

It was not Ethan. It was not the Grand General pulling the strings. Rassvyn was the one moving the pieces on the board. He had betrayed the North and his own family by selling them out in exchange for a place in my court. And he did the same to me, fooled and double-crossed. What was so shocking about that?