“Don’t play coy,” said Reid. “Is it true?”
“You’ll have to be a bit more specific,” smarted Arbina.
“The child claimed to be growing inside your daughter’s womb,” said Councilwoman Ebonrath.
Arbina shrugged. “Yes… it’s true,” she said slowly.
Murmurs sounded around the room, and Aydra watched Arbina’s eyes squint at them. “What? They’ve all been able to do this,” Arbina added.
“If they have all been able to grow a child, then why is she the first to conceive within her womb?” another council member asked.
Aydra met the Nitesh’s gaze, and Arbina smiled wickedly down at Draven.
“Because of the being she has mated with,” Arbina cooed.
“We should freeze her roots,” called out a council member. “Make it so that she cannot attempt this destruction again.”
Arbina’s eyes widened. “What?” She stepped forward to the man, towering over him as thunder rumbled in the distance. “Try and touch my tree. I dare you.”
“No,” Aydra cut in. “Do not stop our line because of this.”
“Why should we not? It is by her doing that this monstrosity lives inside you,” said another council member.
“Our child is not a monster,” Draven growled.
The guard struck him hard across his cheek. She heard the growl from his throat, and knew it was taking everything in him not to encircle the guard with his wind.
“We are not the ones to punish my mother,” Rhaif said then. “If Arbina will be punished, it will only be by the Nitesh’s doing.” His gaze met the Nitesh’s. “What say you?”
The Nitesh shifted on her feet. “I must convene with my own mother before I can do anything.”
Rhaif’s hand waved at her. “Then leave. Come back to us with your answer.”
The Nitesh turned to Aydra once more, but Aydra shook her head. “Go,” she whispered.
The Nitesh disappeared in a tornado of smoke.
“On the matter of the child,” spoke up a council member. “I move for immediate eradication.”
Aydra’s stomach dropped.
“As do I,” agreed another. “This child cannot be allowed to walk this land. It is an abomination.”
“A cursed demon inside her womb. We must execute the entirety of her to be sure to rid us of it.”
“What— no,” Draven cut in. “I am the reason she is with child. Take me. Not her.”
“Do not worry, Venari. You will be executed as well,” said Reid.
“There is no law against it—”
The whip came down on his back again, and this time he was thrust forward to his chest. Aydra’s heart skipped at the sight of him in pain because of her.
“Draven—”
He pushed up to his hands, and visibly shook the pain of it from mind as he met her eyes.
“All in favor of the Queen Aydra’s termination,” called Councilwoman Reid.
Aydra’s attention averted around the room as hands slowly raised. She could feel her body beginning to tremble.
Each council member, one-by-one, voted for her death.
Until it was only Rhaif left to vote.
Her heart throbbed in her ears.
She pulled against the chains around her arms, starting to take a step forward, but stopping upon seeing the Belwarks shift their weight. She swallowed hard and met Rhaif’s gaze.
“Rhaif…” she heard herself whisper.
“She is your sister,” Draven managed.
“Brother, please!” Nyssa shouted from the gallery.
Rhaif didn’t move. He stared at Aydra in a way that told her he was truly battling with the decision. A tear dropped down his cheek, for one brief moment, she thought he might say no—
“Burn her.”
Aydra’s heart stopped.
“NO!”
Nyssa and Dorian’s screams echoed in the room.
The noise of Draven’s shouts were distant in her ears. Her core felt void of every emotion as breath refused to catch. She couldn’t look away from the stare of debilitating hatred coming at her from her brother now that he’d made his decision.
This was the day she’d told herself would come.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
DRAVEN DIDN’T SEE Aydra for the rest of the day.
He was dragged, screaming, from the Throne Room and up into their tower dungeons. The door was slammed behind him as he was thrown inside.
He couldn’t stop the tears crawling down his face.
His love. His life. Both being put to death because of their love. Because of a child that had never grown within one of the Lesser being’s wombs before.
The sun had just begun to set when he heard footsteps on the steps, but he didn’t know who to expect as it was only one person. He shot to his feet, thinking maybe it was Balandria or Dorian.
“Nitesh?”
The Nitesh pulled her hood off her head and plopped down outside his cell door. “Sit, Venari,” she demanded. “Sit!”
Draven frowned, but sat nonetheless.
The Nitesh launched through the bars and grabbed his shirt, lifting him off the floor.
“What—”
“The Sun, Venari?!” she hissed, throwing him backwards. “You released the Sun for her?! You know who the noir phoenix is. You know breaking such a curse could start something you cannot finish.”
Draven’s jaw set. He rubbed his chest where she’d grabbed some of the hair on it, eyes glaring at her though the bars. “And I would do it again. For Aydra.”
The Nitesh’s nostrils flared. “My mother did not place such curses lightly,” she seethed. “Do you realize what you could have done?”
“It was one ritual,” he argued.
“A ritual that if continued to its potential or in the wrong hands could undo every curse my mother has ever placed upon this land.”
“Maybe I should have completed it,” he smarted.
“It is not the time!”
Her nostrils flared, and he knew if she’d been able to slap him she would have. “It’s the Sun, Nitesh,” he argued. “It merely allows her to take flight in her creature form. She is still imprisoned within the phoenix. What harm could breaking an Architect free bring onto this land?”
“You do not know such Sun,” she uttered. “She will think herself judge, jury, and executioner in this form.”
“She deserves freedom,” Draven snapped. “As every other being and Architect of Haerland does.”
The Nitesh’s lips pursed and twisted, her golden eyes blazing through him.
