Free Web NovelChapter 346: Chapter 346
"I have thought long and hard about our last encounter," Aeron said, his voice low and intimate, as though he were speaking to a lover rather than a rival. "About how we left things on... unfortunate terms. I realized that I may have acted inappropriately, that I went too far with some of the statements I made. And so, I decided to come here in person to extend my sincerest apologies for my behavior."
Nheera opened her mouth to respond and in the blink of an eye, Aeron’s hand moved. In a single, fluid motion, he raised the sword and leveled it at her face, the sharpened tip hovering perilously close to her skin. freewёbnoνel.com
Her gaze dropped first to the blade, gleaming cold and merciless in the light, then lifted slowly to meet his eyes. A flash of shock sparked through her chest, followed swiftly by fear but she crushed both emotions down as soon as they rose. She could not afford to let him see even a crack in her composure.
She forced her breathing to steady, even as her pulse thundered in her ears.
"What is the meaning of this?" she demanded, her voice sharp and affronted.
Aeron smiled faintly.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have the most exquisite neck?" he murmured, still using that disturbingly tender tone. "It holds your head so beautifully. I would truly hate to see them parted." His eyes flicked briefly to her throat. "Tell me, how many people do you think would celebrate your death?"
"Have you gone mad?" Nheera snapped. "I am your queen. You have no right to threaten me. You are gravely out of line. People have been executed for far less."
With the tip of the blade so close, she dared not move. Even the smallest shift could draw blood.
"What are you going to do about it, my dear?" Aeron scoffed softly. "Run back to your spineless excuse for a king and tell him what transpired here? Tell him how I held a sword to your face?" His lips curled in mockery. "Will you repeat what you did to Ragnar and drag me before a court on charges of treason?" Contempt flashed in his eyes.
"You forget so easily who between us holds the true power," he continued. "Your authority begins and ends with your marriage to the king. Strip that away, and you are nothing, Nheera. Nobody of consequence. Nobody of value."
His smile sharpened. "I, on the other hand, may not wear a crown but I possess something far more useful. Freedom. The freedom to do as I please. I could slit you open from neck to navel and still find a way to walk free."
His smile was a terrifying thing to behold.
"If I were to kill you right here," Aeron asked softly, "how long do you think the king would mourn you?" When Nheera offered no response, he continued, his words cruel. "A few months, perhaps. Long enough to keep up appearances, of course, not because he ever loved you or cared. And when that period of grieving ends, he will do what men like him always do. He will bring one of his many lovers into this palace. He will marry her. Crown her."
"She will sit upon your throne," he went on, savoring each word, "sleep in your chambers, walk these halls as though they were always hers. And within a year, she will give him a child, a son. One he will finally dote on, because the boy came from a woman he can actually stand to be around. In the end, he might even thank me. For giving him such an opportunity." freewebnøvel.coɱ
With every sentence, he painted her greatest fear in vivid, merciless detail, breathing life into it until it loomed before her like a storm. Yet Nheera did not flinch. She did not tremble. She simply stared at him, unblinking, her gaze hard and defiant, as though daring him to make good on his threats.
"One word from me," she said coldly, "and you will be bound and dragged away in chains. Do not forget where you stand."
The threat only widened his smile.
"Do it," Aeron urged softly. "Call for your guards. Give me the excuse I need to bring everything you have built crashing down around you." His eyes gleamed with certainty, with the terrifying knowledge that he could ruin her with nothing more than a single word.
"Do it, my dear," he said softly, almost indulgently. "Call for them, so I can finally air out all the secrets I have kept for decades. Those eager courtiers you so carefully entertain, always starving for the next morsel of gossip. How do you think they would react if they learned that it was you who killed their beloved crown prince? That you drove a blade straight through his heart and shoved his body into a ditch, all so you could secure your betrothal and place Zeriel on the throne as the next king?"
He took a step closer. "And how do you think Ragnar will react when he discovers that you forced his mother to flee the capital in the dead of night, pregnant, terrified, and utterly alone, while you sent your guards after her to hunt her down like a dog?"
Nheera scowled, her lip curling with contempt. "That bastard’s mother was nothing more than a lady’s maid who whored her way into the king’s bed," she snapped. "I doubt anyone would waste sympathy on her." Even now, standing on the precipice of death and absolute ruin, she did not retreat. Her spine remained rigid, her chin lifted in defiance.
"Oh, but it doesn’t end there, does it?" he asked, though he already knew the answer. "So many bodies. So many names added to the list of people you have killed and your ledger of sins. Lady Taryn’s husband. Ser Casilo’s parents. Lord Tomar’s daughter and don’t even think of denying it. I have proof." His mouth twisted into something cold and satisfied. "The list just keeps going on and on."
By the time he finished, the room felt heavy, suffocating. Nheera’s eyes burned, alight with raw fury and hatred, fixed squarely on him.
"Why are you really here?" she gritted, each word dragged from between clenched teeth. "What do you want from me?"
"Your soul," he said calmly, "so I can crush it in my fist. I want your suffering."
