Estrella
My heart thunders against my ribcage. My pulse roars. Mother, Castor, Tess-all gone. And with the wedding in an hour, I cannot yet mind-link to Anwen. I am alone.
With the man who murdered my father.
An oil-slick smile splits Floyd's face as he circles me. The dagger in his hand shines. I lift my chin, and fear burns into rage. Floyd does not check his work when he's confident. I merely need to buy myself enough time to identify what he's missed.
"You pretended to be our ally," I say.
"Not true." He shakes his head slowly. "I would've been your ally. Once you realized the Solberg snake for what it is."
"You lied." The word whips out from between my teeth.
My wolf screams, and I feel the beginning of a shift start to take me. But there's a pressure on my skin. Like a net, or the change in the air before a storm. I do not know what protections King Kieran laid upon the castle. With all the willpower I have left, I force the shift down. I will not risk this chance to end Floyd Winters.
"That's politics." His smile grows. "Or did your father not teach you that?"
Fury bubbles through my veins. Were we at home-had Bright ceased fighting me for a single moment-I would have the ritual dagger Yana used during my coronation on my belt. Dun's Crossing traditionally prefers their women useless. I am unarmed.
"Do not speak to me of him with his blood on your hands."
Floyd studies his palms mockingly. "I don't see it. Yours, though...."
"Was one Sollabella life insufficient?" I ask. "How many leaders will you slaughter in your quest for petty revenge?"
He chuckles. "Don't oversell yourself, Luna."
"What could that possibly mean, coming from an envoy who has not held a valuable position at his home court in years?" I ask.
He scowls and lunges, blade a hairsbreadth from the tip of my nose. "Nessa said you were fucking uppity, too."
I breathe in slowly. There is a smell, but I cannot think about that. I cannot flinch. Not in front of this man. His gaze darts over my face, clearly watching for signs of fear. He is savoring this, deep in the pit of his sick heart. I will starve him.
"Would you like to know what else Nessa said?" I grit out. "I wonder how much of the show she put on for us rings true."
His jaw works. "What do you mean?"
A crack in his armor. I should press my advantage, use those little tricks and tactics that come so easily to Anwen. None of them spring to my tongue, staring into the eyes of this murderer.
"She said my father's death was incidental." Fire burns in my veins. Why will it not burn on my fingertips where I need it? "That my family is nothing more than pawns in your game against King Kieran."
Floyd pulls the dagger away, throws his head back, and laughs, his greasy hair catching the light. "Of course, you'd take that personally."
A lance of hurt spears through my chest. Father's life was a card Floyd played. Something he took as easily as breathing. As if it never mattered at all.
Not as long as I have a say.
"He loved going out on the canoe, even though it made the rest of us sick," I murmur.
"What?" Floyd furrows his brow.
"His favorite fruit was a particular type of grape that only grows in Thunderpeak, so Mother would have a bushel delivered in secret for his birthday every year." My voice grows louder. Tears sting my eyes. "Wordplay made him laugh like nothing else, and he loved to laugh."
Floyd opens and closes his mouth a few times. "I-you're joking, right? You think fun facts about your father are going to change anything now?"
"Contrary to what you seem to think, I'm no fool," I snarl. "But that doesn't mean you shouldn't feel what you've done. You killed a living, breathing man with likes and loves and a family."
"King Isai was incidental." Floyd leans in close enough that I can smell the sour liquor on his breath. "But you? You're on purpose, you little bitch."
I haul back and snap at him. My teeth scrape his grizzled cheek before he dodges out of the way. I spit his taste onto the floor, and the cold bites into my ankles.
The cold. If it hurts enough, Anwen will feel me. He'll know. And he'll free me from this Goddess-damned ice so I can tear Floyd Winters limb from limb, as he deserves. That's what Floyd missed.
I grind the tender flesh of my ankles against the jagged edge of my prison.
"You're barely fucking civilized!" Floyd yells. "I'm doing the world a favor, putting you down like a fucking dog."
He advances on me with the dagger out, and my heart leaps into my throat. Rage will not save me. Fury, revenge-they only lead to standing in front of a woman who wanted nothing more than to save her father's life with a dagger.
Punishment is not justice. Restoration is. I cannot restore Father-I cannot even restore the months Floyd took from us with his lies-but I can make sure I am around to see the world restored. I will not let Floyd turn me into a mirror of himself.
Whatever it takes. Even finding a way to fit Anwen's words into my mouth.
"What was Nessa wearing before she left?" I blurt.
Floyd slows. "You can't stop me."
The ice starts to shred my ankles. And I've got a plan.
"Indulge me. A last wish." I swallow down a smile. "What was she wearing?"
He shakes his head. "Some fucking dress. What does that have to do with anything?"
"What does she do in her spare time?" Fighting the smile is getting harder and harder. "What is she looking forward to, after this?"
"I-who fucking cares?" He waves the knife wildly.
"Nessa does." Pain skitters along my skin. Anwen has to feel it soon.
"What are you talking about?" Floyd shouts.
"My father had a man in his court named Moses. A good, loyal man. Until the day someone walked up to him and suggested that he might be Alpha." My grin slips free, wide and wild. "Moses tried to kill Father the next day. He didn't get further than the doors, but all the same, he tried. Isn't it strange how sometime, someone only needs an idea suggested for it to take root and flourish?" I lean forward. "Who suggested that Nessa pretend to betray you to us after all?"
Floyd's eyes go wide. His pale skin turns a sickening, mottled red.
"Shut up!"
He slashes wildly with the dagger, and time slows. Even with my limited training, I can see the instability in his stance, his weak grip on the blade. My next move should be simple-duck and roll to the right, toward the smaller dressing room, where I could at least gain a modicum of cover. Father taught me most of all how to avoid an incoming strike, how to disarm opponents and purchase enough time to flee.
None of my trainers ever instructed me on how to dodge with both my feet frozen to the floor.
The dagger connects. A bright line of pain sears from my sternum to the bottom of my ribcage. My vision swims, and I crumple to the floor. The jagged ice at my ankles barely pulls my notice.
Floyd cackles. "You want to talk about your father so Goddess-damned bad? Enjoy talking to him when you meet him in the sky."
From a weapon that small, the cut is long but shallow.
"You are"-my breath rattles up my throat-"a fucking fool."
I reach for the power I know is there, the scrap of the Goddess hiding behind my breastbone, waiting for the chance to heal. My body heats as it leaps to my call. I begin to glow, brighter and brighter. With one palm on the slash across my chest and the other on the patch of ice, I close my eyes and-
"Ah!" The pain doubles over itself, deepens. My stomach lurches. The burn turns from fire to something corrosive, eating into my skin.
That smell. Stronger, now, under the stink of my own blood filling the room. Herbal and sickening.
"Come on now." Floyd leers down at me. "Did you think I wouldn't come prepared?"
The blade is coated with wolfsbane.
Ice turns to water around my feet, but the gash merely bubbles black and red. My vision starts to go gray at the edges. With the poison coursing through my veins, with blood pouring over my wedding gown once again and taking my life force with it, I cannot heal myself. Not fast enough.
Anwen, I call weakly, as though he can hear me. I need-