Chapter 133 The Lie
I held the black glass high above my head, the thick gold wire of the hilt biting directly into the open, weeping burns on my palms. The iron chain connecting my wrists went taut, a cold, heavy weight pulling at my shoulders.
Below me, Klaus remained perfectly still on the jagged obsidian block. His chin was tucked to his chest, his eyes closed. He was offering his heart to the blade, completely surrendered to the lie I had spun. The dark, necrotic veins of my ancestor's curse pulsed sluggishly against his pale skin, waiting to be severed.
"Do it, Siren," the Emperor hissed from the ivory dais behind me, his dry, papery voice vibrating with sadistic hunger. "Break the Anchor."
I drew a sharp, shallow breath against the crushing grip of my midnight-black silk corset. I lowered my arms, letting the heavy dagger descend toward his chest.
I didn't rush. I let the blade sink through the stagnant air until the sharp black tip hovered a mere inch above his bruised flesh.
I leaned down, bending at the waist. The heavy silk skirt pooled around my soft leather slippers. I brought my face so close to Klaus's that my nose brushed the dirty, sweat-soaked strands of his silver hair. I could smell the burnt ozone of the hissing iron collar, the sharp metallic tang of his silver blood, and the deep, clean salt of the ocean underneath it all.
I stopped.
I turned my head a fraction of an inch, pressing my lips almost directly against his ear. I dropped the freezing wall of ice in my mind, letting the blood-bond snap back into existence with a violent, crushing rush of warmth and terror.
"Wait for me," I whispered.
Klaus’s sapphire eyes snapped open.
The hollow, bottomless devastation in his gaze vanished instantly, replaced by a blinding, electric shock of realization. The tether between us exploded with a surge of adrenaline so massive it made my teeth ache. He knew. In a single fraction of a second, he understood the entire deception.
I didn't give anyone else time to react.
I dropped my center of gravity, shifting my weight entirely to my back foot. I violently twisted my hips to the left, using the momentum of my entire body. I didn't aim for the heavy blackened steel breastplate of the man standing beside the altar.
I drove the obsidian dagger upward, burying the nine-inch glass blade directly into the narrow, unarmored gap beneath Commander Thorne’s jaw.
The glass punched through boiled leather and flesh with a horrific, wet tearing sound.
Thorne’s red eyes bulged behind the slits of his visor. A thick, hot spray of bright crimson arterial blood erupted from his neck, splashing across my face and the heavy black silk of my gown. I tasted the hot, metallic copper on my lips.
Thorne let out a gurgling, wet choke. His hands flew to his throat, his gauntleted fingers desperately clawing at the black glass embedded in his windpipe.
The heavy iron leash attached to Klaus’s collar slipped from Thorne’s grip.
The Throne Room shattered into absolute, screaming chaos.
"Treason!" a lord shrieked from the gallery, the sound piercing the air as hundreds of vampires scrambled backward, pushing against the velvet railings in a blind panic.
"Kill them!" the Emperor roared, his voice cracking into a high, furious pitch that shook the chandeliers. "Cut them down!"
Thorne’s knees buckled. He collapsed backward, his heavy armor hitting the polished black marble with a deafening crash.
The moment the leash went slack, Klaus erupted.
He was starving, bleeding, and crushed by the heavy iron suppressor collar burning his throat, but the sheer, primal fury of the Grand Admiral fueled his dead limbs. He surged upward from the obsidian block, a feral, deafening roar tearing from his chest.
He threw his heavy, chained arms over the head of the closest Imperial guard rushing the dais. Klaus caught the man’s armored neck in the thick span of the iron chains binding his own wrists. With a brutal, twisting wrench of his hips, Klaus snapped the guard’s neck, using the man’s falling body as a shield against the heavy halberds swinging toward him.
"The keys!" Klaus shouted over the deafening noise, his voice a raw, tearing scrape. He kicked a fallen halberd shaft, snapping the thick wood in half, and drove the jagged splinter directly into the visor of a second guard.
I didn't freeze. I threw myself onto the blood-slicked marble, ignoring the sharp pain as my knees hit the hard stone.
I scrambled over Thorne’s twitching body. The Commander’s hot blood coated the floor, making my leather slippers slide out from under me. The iron chain connecting my wrists severely restricted my reach, but I dug my hands frantically into Thorne’s heavy leather belt, searching for the thick iron ring.
"I have them!" I screamed, my fingers closing over the heavy, cold metal of the keys. I yanked them free with a loud clink.
I pushed myself up, spinning toward Klaus.
"Behind you!" Klaus roared, his sapphire eyes wide with terror.
I ducked instinctively, throwing my weight sideways. A heavy broadsword cleaved the air exactly where my neck had been a second before, the sharp wind of the blade ruffling my dark hair.
A massive guard lunged at me, raising his sword for a downward strike.
Klaus abandoned his defensive position. He threw his massive, chained body entirely in front of me, taking the blow meant for my skull.