Grace Goodwin - Ascension Saga - 6

Earth.

Coincidence? No.

I played the recording, watched Pawl’s eyes widen as he realized exactly what I had found. Not only did it prove his guilt, but his father, Danoth, had been with him when he received the order from Lord Wyse. It seemed evil ran in the family.

In the comms, there had been no mention of the queen by name, no direct orders, nothing substantial. Nothing I could take to Princess Trinity or the Optimus unit that was strong enough evidence to take down their leader.

But I knew. I knew , and I wasn’t above breaking the law to protect what was mine. Faith. For her, I’d kill a thousand males just like this one.

“I don’t think you understand me, Pawl.” I leaned forward, slipping the holographic comm back into the pocket of one of my best tunic jackets. I looked like I’d just come from the palace. Well-dressed. Powerful. Connected. It was all part of my plan, even though I hadn’t slept since I’d walked out of the Jax mansion and out of Faith’s life.

I didn’t expect her to forgive me. I’d left Faith with my parents’ dead bodies—fuck, had it really happened? Any moment now, I expected the news of what had happened last night in my family home to spread like a wildfire. Announcements would be made, my family shame exposed to the world, my family name worthless after hundreds—no thousands—of years of loyal service to the queen and her royal bloodline.

All because my mother wanted more.

More. More money. Power. Prestige. Status.

Now she was dead and had nothing. Not only was I, her precious son, not going to be a powerful ruler, I would be a penniless orphan and an outcast once my mother’s treachery became known. I could only imagine what had occurred inside that dining room once Nix and the other guards arrived to find my mother and father lying dead in the dining room, and my mate, tear-streaked and broken, kneeling beside them.

I left the Jax mansion knowing Faith would be safe, protected by Trinity and all her royal power, by the warriors Nix and Leo, and by Leo’s father. I knew that what I planned would place Faith in danger. And I didn’t want her to see me like this—desperate and angry and willing to kill. I’d lost my entire family, my parents, my home, my life. I would not see Faith fall. I could give her up, save her from the monster these traitors forced me to become, but I would not risk her life, or expose her to the kind of evil pulsing through the veins of the coward before me.

I’d yet to hear anything through the news sources of my family’s downfall, but it was only a matter of time. The truth would come out and I would be ruined.

Before then, I intended to make sure that Faith—and her family—were out of danger, even if I had to cut Pawl into pieces to do it.

“Faith Herakles is my mate. So let me be clear. I will let you sit in your own piss and feces for days. I will flay the flesh from your body one small strip at a time as I kill you and smile when you scream. I will let you rot, tied to that chair, as maggots eat out your eyes. I will do the same to your traitorous parents.”

“Wait. Wait!” he said, tugging at his restraints. “My mother has nothing to do with this. She’s innocent. Weak. She’s been content to live in the palace and throw parties, but nothing more. Please, I beg you to believe me. My mother knows nothing.”

“Ah, so it is your father and grandfather who have raised you to be a traitor. You follow in their evil footsteps.”

He remained silent, even pinched his lips together. But there was no denying the truth of the holographic message I’d just replayed for him and the camera.

“Faith is mine. Where is her mother? Where did you take the queen after you dragged her from her bed like an animal?”

“Thor, you’re insane. What are you doing?” he asked, instead of answering my question. “We’ve been friend for years. We grew up together.” Sweat ran from his temple, down his cheek and into the creases in his neck. I watched the slide of liquid, oddly detached. Numb. My parents were dead. My life was in ruins. Worse, Faith could never be mine. I would not drag her down with me. I would watch her take another male as her mate, raise a family, live and breathe and love another.

Numb was better than the pain I had locked away at the idea of her in the arms of another. I wondered if I’d ever feel again.

“We grew up together, but we were never friends.” I slid a jeweled dagger—my mother’s dagger—from my boot. It was a work of art. Polished platinum, it was a ceremonial piece, not meant for battle, but bestowed upon her with honor when she had retired from the Optimus unit after four decades of service. The blade was not made for war, but it was wickedly sharp. To prove the point, I walked around Pawl until I stood behind him and placed the dagger on the side of his ear. Slicing up toward the ceiling of the dark room, I cut the hair along that side of his head on a single sweep, chuckling out loud as the dark strands fluttered in a scattered mess onto Pawl’s lap.

“Thor?”

“Faith is my mate. Lord Wyse—your fucking grandfather—tried to have her killed. He sent you to Earth. What do you think Trinity and the royal guard will do to you when they find out you kidnapped the fucking queen!”

“Thor!” he repeated, this time his tone pleading.

I ignored it and continued. “Lord Wyse is the reason my parents are dead. My mate will be dead if he’s not stopped. What value do you believe I place on your miserable life?”

He exhaled shakily. “None.”

“Now you understand.” I pressed the flat of the blade to his sweat covered cheek and waited.

“I don’t know where the queen is now. But I know who does.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “Tell me.”

“He’s Lord Wyse’s personal guard. His name is Marish. He has a scar on his face, from the corner of his mouth to his neck, like a hook. He went with me to Earth. When we transported back, he took her. I don’t know where. I went home—”

“To take out Trinity.”

He was shaking now, the fingers of his hands trembling against the arms of the chair. “Yes. I was sent home, back to the palace, but they transported somewhere else. I don’t know where they took her. I swear I don’t.”

Damn it. I believed him. I knew I wouldn’t trust such information to a male of his low caliber. “And Lord Wyse? Why does he want the queen now? After all these years? Why not leave her alone on Earth?”

“He needs the royal gemstones. He wants to be king.”

The idea was ridiculous. “Alera has never had a king. Not in thousands of years.”

“Tell that to him,” he countered. Now that he was talking, he’d relaxed, a bit of his arrogance settling back around his shoulders. He even had the nerve to smile as he continued, telling me of his plans to seduce Trinity when she first arrived at his parent’s home, how he’d learned of her Ardor from Lord Wyse and decided to take matters into his own hands. He’d intended to fuck and murder his own cousin. But he’d been late arriving back at the palace and the royal consort had slipped into her bed first.

“You thought, what? That you’d mate your own cousin? Do you fuck your mother as well?”

That had made him angry, and he puffed up, face turning red as he cursed at the male. “No. Fuck you, Thor. Insult my mother again and I’ll—”

“What? Go on. Do tell.” I pressed the flat of my knife into his cheek so that the meat covering his bones edged over the blade, a shallow sliver slicing open from the pressure, just enough to make him wince. “Thor. No. I wasn’t going to fuck her. I do not need a mate. I said I’d seduce her into bed. Get her alone. Then kill her.”