Something pinches my mind, and I open my eyes to find the ceiling above me. But that's not my focus. Immediately, the king's voice whispers into my ear, ordering me to come to the throne room. I don't wait to hear the rest; I already know who's here. The day has finally come, and in response, my mother's voice rings out in my head.
Make him pay for what he's done.
I can still see her amber eyes staring back at me, the color identical to my own, the silent promise shadowed in her stare that everything would be all right. And it will be—tonight, everything will finally be all right. I will avenge them both, my mother and father, by killing the banished prince of Esaria. He tore me down, and in an attempt to make me who he wanted me to be, built me back up once the pieces were too shattered to fit together.
The leather buckles tighten easily underneath my steady hands. From head to toe, I dress myself in my favorite leather armor, straps and buckles meant for holding weapons covering my arms, thighs, and slink across my abdomen to tighten everything together. I select an array of weapons: throwing knives, daggers, twin shortswords for the sheath against my back, crossing against my spine, and a single sword—a twin to the king's, sheathed at my hip.
The last step of the ensemble is my mother's necklace, pressed flat against my chest, and the only brightness on the browns and blacks of my outfit. My boots are fitting, strapped high against my shins, and as I look at myself in the mirror, no life in my eyes, I realize this is my destiny. This is my fate.
Not death. But to kill Renit Marron.
The king's order taps against my skull once more, and I open the door to Celestine's empty chambers and stride out into the hall. My steps are unhurried, yet they're motivated. In my head, I imagine killing him one way or the other—slowly, after he's received enough of a beating that I can't recognize his face past the bruises and cuts.
Make him pay for what he's done.
I promised my mother I would make the prince pay. Tonight, I will not let her down.
The last thing I care about is how the prince made it into the castle without trouble. The last thing I want to ask about is whether or not he's here to kill the king. None of it, not down to the smallest crumb of details, will stop me from what I'm about to do. This day should have happened months ago, the first day I arrived here at the castle, but it'll have to settle for tonight.
In the next few minutes, I'll be face to face with my lifelong enemy, the destructor of Arego, the killer of my parents and my own soul. Once, he was the king's weapon—only to be shoved aside by the king's third hand, and left out to dry in the summer heat of Esaria. Now he's nothing. I'll stomp on him, make him wish he was never prince in the first place, then I'll kill him. No matter what, this will end with Renit dying. I don't care.
As I turn down the hall to the throne room, spotting the guards standing outside the arched doorway, I rip a throwing knife from the baldric across my chest and press it against the back of my thigh to keep it hidden from the prince.
Already, the king's voice carries over to me, and I'm filled with the pleasantries of my savior. The smell of him wafts over like roses, coddling me in a warm embrace, and I allow that subtle strength to carry me to the entrance of the throne room. I stop, standing there in the opening, and come face to face with the prince I'm destined to kill.
He turns to me, releasing a shuddered breath from his throat, and takes one step in my direction. My heart is cold, reflecting onto my features. I stare at him down the bridge of my nose, eyebrows drawn in, lips in a disgusted frown.
"Here she is!" The king exclaims from the mezzanine. His voice booms throughout the throne room, echoing against the stone, but I don't allow that to distract me. "The king's third hand, isn't she marvelous?"
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Aligning the Forgotten ✓
Fantasy[Book 3 of the Grounding the Storm series] Renit's worst nightmare has come true. Roux isn't at his side, and he's banished from his throne and his crown, leaving him nameless and on the run. While trying to escape his father's cruel reign, he has t...
