Crais(75)

“Emperor Christian was greatly beloved,” Quarn said. “Once the news is released there will be devastation across First World.”

“The beauty is that my role is undeniable. I was born to be Emperor; it’s my destiny.” Lucas arched his brows, cocky as always. “That’s something you’re yet to understand, Abby. You weren’t raised on First World, but we take our obligations and traditions very seriously.”

I shook my head at him. “I know what you’re doing, and you might as well stop right now. I know my destiny and I don’t care what the universe has cooked up for me. I’ll make my own choices.”

And I chose Brace. Always.

“More importantly, you should stop speaking if you value your current health and well-being. I could change that for you very quickly,” Brace drawled, seemingly calm, but his eyes suggested otherwise.

Lucas snorted. “You might be an all powerful Walker, but don’t underestimate me. I always get what I want.”

We reached the double doors to the main room. The guards opened them for us.

“Not this time.” Brace ended the conversation.

Not ever.

We made our excuses to leave. To be honest, I already regretted going there. My guilt over Lucas disappeared quickly when I was in his presence. He was just that annoying.

“I wish you were coming with us.” I hugged Quarn. “This castle gives me the creeps.”

I was lying: I loved it here, everything felt ... comfortable. I needed to get away immediately.

“What? No hug for me?” Lucas stood close, too close for my comfort. I couldn’t understand his shift in personality. Why was he suddenly acting so forward?

“I could punch you in the nose,” I offered. “Show you how I really feel.”

He laughed. “You protest too much.”

He reached for me, running his hand across my cheek and down my shoulder. Before I could let loose my anger, an arm swung out, separating us, followed by a fist smashing Lucas in the face and sending him backwards across the room. Brace had reached the end of his patience.

Guards rushed in from every different direction. Brace stood there casually, showing zero concern.

“Stop,” Lucas ordered from where he was sprawled on the floor.

The men paused about three feet from us with their weapons drawn.

“All of you leave. This is a private matter.”

They hesitated but eventually turned away. Lucas, who had pulled himself to stand on shaky legs, limped across the room.

“I might have deserved that,” he acknowledged to Brace, reaching up and attempting to stem the blood flowing from his nose.

“Touch her again, even look at her sideways without her expressed consent,” Brace replied, “and I will kill you.”

I was pretty sure he was kidding.

“Let’s go, Red.” He held out his hand.

I threw one last glance at Lucas before tracing us straight to the field. I’d done my good deed by visiting him. I didn’t need to own this guilt any longer.

I brought us to the edge of the lime green grass area, expecting to see my family scattered around. Instead a far more chaotic sight greeted us.

“Out of the fire and into the flames. Welcome to the world of Walkers,” Brace said as we stood there taking in the crazy.

There were at least a thousand Walkers in the huge mountain clearing. I could see that in the short time we’d been gone seven widely spread territories had been erected. Large banners stood over the entrance to each zone. They had the clan names written in English and another language, and behind that were the unique marks of the clan. I could see Doreen’s zone nearest to us, the red lace design flashing at me.

“Why are everyone’s marks on display?” I said, noticing five different mark-wearing Walkers. It looked as representatives from all the clans were already there.

“It’s part of the gathering rules, so we always know who we’re dealing with,” Brace said, pointing out the large moonstale stones that were set up on poles and had been erected around the perimeter.

Kind of the way I remembered lights around abandoned football stadiums. Of course the bulbs and glass were smashed on those, but I got the general idea. I paused my observations when I noticed Josian’s fiery hair glowing in the centre of the field. He was turning in a slow circle, pointing out various things to the men who were standing either side of him.

“Aribella.” I jumped as his voice boomed from miles away.

Clearly he had spotted us. At the sound of my name, every single Walker in the vicinity stopped what they were doing and flat out stared.

“Wow, looks like they’ve heard of me.” I met a few pairs of curious eyes before turning to face Brace.