The Amulet Of Nicmir (The Scripts Of Neptune, Book 1)

Chapter 19

It didn't take long for Kiro to find and end Gulir, not in the state he was in. He saw the hallways he walked through a haze of red, the pain in his heart closing his throat and feeding his rage.

He hadn't realized he was going to the throne room, not until he stood before the massive doors. When he looked down at his hand, a part of him was appalled at the blood, sticky and warm, dribbling off his blade. But a deeper, more savage part of him snarled in sick satisfaction.

And in that moment of brief cognizance, he realized the horrible, horrible truth of his actions: he was acting just like his father.

And worse: he didn't care.

Kiro felt his countenance darken with rage as the image of Wren, pale and dead, lying on that accursed cart like some worthless beggar's body, flashed in the forefront of his mind and stuck there like putty.

His father would pay.

Baring his teeth, breathing hard, Kiro yanked the door open with his bloodied hand, his steps tense and angry as he stalked in.

Agnir glanced up, and his eyes hardened. Without a word, he waved off the man he'd been speaking with and stood, his mouth flattening as he swept Kiro with his cold gaze, taking in every inch of him.

"I'll assume this is about that servant girl," he said, taking a measured step away from his throne.

"You killed her!" It ripped from Kiro's throat as a scream, a shout of pain and terrible heartbreak. The tears he'd kept at bay for so long leaked out, streaking his cheeks as he stared desperately at his father.

Agnir smiled, his golden eyes glittering icily. "Do you feel that? That rage?" He chuckled, but the sound was dark. "I remember the first time I felt it like that. I was your age, actually. My master at the time forced me to kill the woman I loved."

Kiro stalked forward, his movements slow and smooth, like a cat circling its prey. He let the pain out of its cage, let it consume him in a firestorm. His voice was deadly calm as he spoke, "And tell me, father, what did you do with the monster?"

Agnir turned as his son circled, never breaking their locked gazes. "Oh, I killed him. But I later saw what a valuable lesson he taught me, one that I failed to learn for far too long afterward."

Kiro stopped. "And what would that be?" he hissed.

"That love is fickle," Agnir spat. "It leaves you to bleed and die alone. Believe me when I say I have done you a favor ordering your lover's death."

"A favor?" Kiro's knuckles went white as his hand, trembling with rage, tightened around the ivory hilt of his blade. "She was to be my wife. She carried your grandchild, and you murdered her."

"You had not yet married when she conceived," Agnir argued sneeringly. "You know as well as I that such behavior is both against the law and frowned upon in our tradition."

"As are genocide and murder," Kiro snapped, leaning forward as he prowled. "That hasn't seemed to bother you in the past."

Agnir's face darkened, and he lowered his head a fraction. The fractured, milky light from the chandelier above him shadowed his eyes. "My actions have been for the good of the world, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Our country will be far better off without those animals."

"They're living beings, the same as you and I," Kiro growled. "Kariana saw it. Mother saw it. I see it. Why can't you?"

"They are monsters!" Agnir bellowed. "Mindless beasts who know and want nothing more than war and conflict! Do you know how many families have been torn and burned by their feud? There is no reasoning with such people. They must be wiped from the face of the world."