Crown of Blood and Ruin: A romantic fairy tale fantasy (The Broken Kingdoms #3)(10)

Head high. Do not falter. I was consort to a king. To cling to him like a frightened child would only give us a weakness to be exploited. It would give Valen a weakness. If he could stand tall, then so could I.
“Kvin Lysander,” Valen said. The timbre of his voice rolled like a dark storm across the ravine. “What do you want?”
“I will not speak with you,” said my father. “An imposter.”
Valen laughed, a little wickedly. “An imposter? Yet you come here in service of a false king. A king this land did not choose. I believe we may understand the word differently.”
“I am here to speak with my daughter. Move aside little prince.”
Arrows raised from our side at that. To insult the Ettan king, for our folk, meant death.
Valen held up a hand, a silent command to hold. He looked back to my father. “If Elise wishes to speak with you, then she will.”
He turned his black glass eyes to me, a gentle smile on his face. I gave a subtle nod, then stepped forward.
“What is it you want?” I said, embarrassed how my voice trembled when Valen’s was smooth and cutting.
“Daughter,” my father said. “You have been manipulated by the fae long enough. I have come—in truce—to bring you home. To your people. Your family. Our blood is gods’ chosen to rule this land, and if you remain here, I fear it will be your end.”
Where hesitation had been a moment before, now a hot, strike of anger boiled in the center of my belly. I laughed and leaned over the ledge of the tower. “You fear for me? How strange. Where was your fear when you fed me to the wolf, Jarl Magnus? Where was your fear when your first daughter slaughtered half of Castle Ravenspire to steal the crown? Take your pitiful pleas elsewhere. They fall on deaf ears, Kvin Lysander.”
“Elise,” he snapped. “You will return.”
“Why? Why fight for this? What am I to you? If this is all for control, then you have wasted your time and the lives of those men who stand with you. You control me no longer.”
Even from a distance, the heat in my father’s eye crackled between us. “You will be known as a traitor, Elise. You fight against your own people, and I will not leave this as our legacy. You were born to a duty, and you will see it through, or I would rather you be dead.”
Silence dug deep into my skin. The folk of Ruskig kept the bowstrings taut. Not even the ravens moved as they waited for the next word.
“Elise,” Valen whispered against my ear. “You are more than he says. Do not forget it, and do not let him forget it.”
I did not feel more. To have the scrutiny of both Timoran and Etta on me left me reeling, wishing I could disappear in the ground.
Until I looked at the Night Prince.
Trust, affection, love lived in those eyes. I took his hand again, drawing him to my side, so all could see.
This time my voice didn’t waver. “I wish all to hear—I am not of House Lysander any longer. I reject the False King Calder and his queen.”
“Elise,” my father warned.
I raised my voice above his. “I stand with the people of Etta, but also those of Timoran.” I gestured at the ravens. “Look who you follow, who you serve. A king who murders for power. “See the land around you. See how it is once more alive with fury. And you fight against it. My father says we are gods’ chosen—he lies.” I raised my voice, refusing to have anything I would say misheard. “I stand with the true king. The king of both people. Born of both Timoran and Etta, I serve, and will only serve, the Ferus bloodline. Stand with us or leave. This will be your only warning before we force you to go.”
“Hells, woman,” Valen muttered under his breath, drawing me into his side. “I have many plans to show you every improper thought rushing through my head the second we are alone. Prepare yourself.”
My face heated. Only Valen Ferus would be indecent when we faced an enemy.
“Elise, if this is your choice, then I wash my hands of you, daughter.” My father turned his back on me.
“I believe that is what I just said,” I retorted, drawing a few laughs from the Guild of Shade.
Amusement was short lived.
Down the gates, shouts rose and the whistle of our archers releasing arrows filled the space between both armies.
“Dammit,” Halvar cursed. “They’re breaching the wall!”
As the first knight, Halvar leapt into the chaos, shouting commands as a group of Ravens drew blades, attacking a gap in the stones.
More Ravens spilled from the forest. My fists curled tightly at my sides. All this was a ploy. A chance to infiltrate Ruskig again. To kill as many folk as possible. Maybe slit my throat if they got the chance.
Valen tossed the circlet from his head and drew his axes. He faced me, his eyes saying a thousand things. A gentle touch to my face was more than a thousand words. We didn’t need to speak, I already knew. Fight. Return to me.
Then he went after Halvar. The earth shook as his fury shredded the rock between us and a gap widened between the forest and Ruskig.
“Elise,” Tor said behind me. He held out a bow. “We’ll take the towers.”
I nodded. Not as skilled as other archers, still I’d been working on aim for several weeks, and fared better with a bow than hand to hand fighting. Tor shouted at me to stay low, he commanded Stieg and Casper to prepare their fury.
“Where is the king?”
“Ari,” I said with a sigh of relief when the fae climbed into the tower box.
Tor pointed to where Valen had gone. “Stay by him, confuse the Ravens until they go mad, Ari.”
With a playful wink, Ari raced after Valen. Once adversaries, now they were practically inseparable.