Rejection on the Alpha #1

29. Darkling Throne

Not every council member was good, I could agree with but one small thing where Martin did what no one else would do. But he tried taking the good and the bad...don't land a bomb where the good are present. Don't light a fuse with the girl on fire.

Sacrifice such vengeance for another day, for a more reliable battlefield. For a battle you'll know you'll win.

But he didn't. He chose a battlefield that was once my home and he turned it into a spectacle of itself. The way he turned me. A spectacle used for whatever dangerous beliefs he rebelled in and people stuck to the accord, they followed like lambs off to the slaughter. Kade stares for one singular long moment before he used his abilities to dissolve from my vision at once. The guard driving nods to me, the window back down while I sit down slowly next to a wolf I wanted burned alive. But the plan—as ever—was never simple. A simple plan would have been detected, tracked, traced and dissected, even in its simplicity and foolish capacity. I wasn't foolish.

The wolf sniffed and jolted up next to me, only I had my eyes closed to the crisp, the scratch gone, and so was his memory of exactly one full hour, "How did we fall asleep?" Reina grunts out, complaining about having a sickly stomach. I blink my tired eyes and glance over.

Martin has his eyebrows pinched, hands rolling against each other, palms clenching closed while he looks at his knuckles, "Perhaps something in the air." Robert mumbles, cuddling into her and closing his eyes, Martin turns to look at me.

He reaches over, "Did I hit you in your sleep?" He asks me slowly.

I shake my head, "No, how much longer is the ride?" I mutter, running my fingers through my hair. My lie wasn't caught in any web of his, he leans back, his eyes scrapping the edge of the snowy black and white mountains. The rock formations at the very bottom were the size of caves, trees and structures that had to deal with harsh conditions, enough to remain standing where they did.

"It's a portal. Less than half an hour and we'll be within reach of the kingdom. Tonight, we ensure every civilian gets word. I've returned with what I need to fulfil my destiny and claim my throne." He's more cliche than a blood moon.

I stare at him, "You needed a mate to claim a throne?"

He traipsed his eyes to mine, they were in answer and conflict all at once, "Not only, but a condition enforced by many votes. I'm not fit until there is stability on these grounds, and you, My Queen, are just that. Stability. You should take advantage, here—you cannot fight me in ways you could before. Here, your every look my way will be examined to the finest detail. One slip, and I will show you what true punishment looks like." Like everything else he has down was just child's play and this, right here, this was the big leagues.

He can't hold a woman down, so he's abusive instead.

Because that makes logical sense. Not.

"The initiation won't be long." Robert murmurs.

I snap my eyes to them, "You said I'd have time." They implied it wouldn't be the second Martin struts through the doors of what I knew was a lost kingdom. The air, it felt different when the car rolled to a muddy stop in front of a village aged with the lack of life, like something from the in between. Life and death, it's stuck in a time continuum of some kind. Mud and grime, horses for transport, food scarce with low medical care and henceforth, barely any people around. Martin gets out of the car. The wheels can't move from their position, I follow him to the horses. Pausing at something against the back of my skull, like the ghost of a cold touch against my hair.

"I don't have all evening." A gravelly voice echoes and I freeze in horror as I look at the horse Martin moved in front of me.

"Did he just..." I trail off while Martin just gives me a monotonically blank look.