“I got this one, Don,” I say to the raging Brother before I grasp the edge of the heavy marble game board, saying to Brighton, “You should’ve just said sorry.”
A rainbow of beautiful, stone-carved creatures tumble off the checkerboard surface, clattering against the top of the wood table as I lift it up. Brighton’s eyes shift to me. Her black, lacy eyebrows flap like bat wings. I swing the marble game board as hard as I can. It connects with Brighton’s cheek. A tooth flies out of her mouth. She falls to the ground with a desperate moan.
I swing the game board back the other way, and it connects with Ryker on the other side of the table. Dominos don’t fall this easily. Panting a little, I hoist the board over my head, intending to throw it across the table at Ashland, when it’s caught in someone else’s grasp. I’m lifted off my feet as an arm encircles my waist.
Kyon murmurs in my ear, “Drop it.”
I don’t. It’s wrenched from my hand and tossed back onto the table, where it makes a tremendous noise.
“Don’t get in my way,” I growl at Kyon, my breathing heavy from exertion.
He turns me so that we face the room, which has gone silent except for the moans of the two priestesses on the floor. With his arm around me, Kyon holds me pinned to his body. I glare at everyone. I hate their shocked faces. They have no idea who they’re dealing with, and it shows. None of them has ever had to survive a juvenile lockup.
I refrain from jerking my arms in an attempt to make Kyon release me. It won’t work, so it’s useless. I don’t like the fact that he’s been testing me ever since we entered this room, like a science experiment. He knew what would happen in here, though. His ability to read me is a bad thing.
He evaluates the priestesses writhing on the ground. “Fulton,” he calls. Fulton enters the room as if he’s been monitoring the situation the whole time. He has medics with him who immediately attend to Brighton and Ryker’s medical issues. Once sedated, they fall silent as the medics work on them. I may have broken Brighton’s jaw—it hangs at a funny angle when they quickly take her from the room. Fulton remains by the door, watching me.
Kyon’s hand smoothes my tussled hair as he says to the group before us, “It’s as I said. Kricket is a singular alpha female. You’ve all witnessed it. The beta females of the group will seek to protect her.” He gestures in Phlix’s direction. “The Virulences have no outward effect on her, because she’s not someone who is at all suggestible.” His hand rises to the idle musicians, who are currently eyeballing me with a mixture of fear and dread. “She has little fear of males.” Now he gestures toward Ainsley’s direction. “She only respects an extreme alpha male, and even then, she will constantly test his mettle. You cannot mix her in with the general population of priestesses. She’s savage. She’ll eliminate all of your potential alphas, even the ones with enhanced fighting capabilities. She’ll outsmart them, outmaneuver them, and in general, reduce them to sniveling weaklings at her feet.”
“She’s no good to us if she cannot be controlled, Kyon,” Ainsley says, scrutinizing me like I’m a piece of meat.
Kyon frowns. “We need extreme intelligence now more than ever to rule Ethar. Things are changing. You’re going to have to change with them. Kricket will rule. She’s the one—she’s your empress. It’s the prophecy; it’s unavoidable. And I will reign by her side.”
“Your father says that she’s impure. The priestess born of two worlds and two houses cannot be allowed to govern—”
“My father,” Kyon glowers, “is desperate to keep you all in line—to maintain the status quo. The truth is Excelsior fears her, just as he feared her mother when she slipped away from him! He knew the prophecy. He couldn’t stop it then . . . he cannot stop it now.”
Fear wraps itself around the necks of everyone in the room. They’re restless. They need to run from this change Kyon is presenting, or they need to make a deal with Kyon so the fear they feel won’t bite them anymore. Kyon’s wolfishly strong heartbeat thumps through my own chest as I lean against him. The arm clutching my waist eases, allowing me to come down