I open the door. I can’t hide my shock when I see who’s on the other side.

“You?”

Marco.

He brushes past me, and I quickly shut the door behind him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he says.

The king’s wife and his closest friend are conspiring against him. It makes me sad, and it makes me feel sorry for Montes, who is so desperate for companionship.

I force my feelings back so I can say, “The king’s taken everything I’ve ever loved from me.” It’s the truth, and yet it feels like a lie when I say it now.

Marco takes in my office, then rotates to face me.

“What has he done to you?” I ask. The original Marco was many things, but he wasn’t a traitor.

“Trinity,” the man in front of me says, like her name is explanation enough. “He never loved her, not in any sense of the word.”

There hasn’t been enough time for me to understand intricate inner workings of the king’s house. And when it comes to vendettas the devil is always in the details.

“When she died, Montes didn’t mourn her. If anything, he was relieved,” Marco says. “She looked just like you, but it never mattered to him. She was just a copy, a poor man’s Serenity. I loved her, and he let her die. I can’t forgive him for that.”

Love and hate, they are so very interconnected.

“The disappearances,” I say. “You’re the insider that’s been telling the WUN of our plans.”

All those leaders that had disappeared. We couldn’t figure out how the West had known we were going to meet with them.

I swear I see a flash of remorse in Marco’s eyes, and then it’s gone.

“I am,” he admits.

I fight the urge to grab my gun. If it weren’t for this man, countless people would still be alive and several regional leaders wouldn’t be undergoing God knows what at the hands of the West.

This man is worse than the Marco I despised.

It takes me several seconds to get my emotions under control. “So you’re going to help me kill the king?” I finally ask. Saying the words aloud makes it all the more real.

He nods.

I move father into the room. I’m getting that prickly sensation at the back of my neck, telling me that something about this situation isn’t right.

“Why haven’t you done so before now?” I probe.

“I’ve considered it, as have the representatives. But the king has many ways to sidestep death, and I don’t have the clearance or the connections to make sure the king dies and stays dead.”

But I do.

I run my tongue over my teeth.

“How do you intend to kill him?” he asks.

Now for the tricky part, the part I’ve been toying with since I awoke. A plan I’d finalized on the flight back here.

The king is going to die with just as much panache as he lived.

“We’re going to burn the palace to the ground.”

Chapter 48

Serenity

“We need to call Styx,” Marco says as our meeting winds down.

I pull my head back. “Why?”

All I want to do is to crawl into bed.

“He has access to many of the East’s military warehouses.”

Shit, does the king know this?

Of course he doesn’t.

And now I hate deception because it ties my hands.

“We’re going to use the East’s weapons against them?” I ask skeptically.

“Would you rather use the West’s?” Marco challenges.

It’s a loaded question.

“The West has already promised me their firepower,” I say, leaning against my desk.

“They are an ocean away. It will be easy for the king to defend the palace against them.”

I begrudgingly agree with Marco’s assessment.

He gestures to my computer. “May I?”

I work my jaw, then jerk my head yes.

Sitting down at my desk, he sets up the screen for a video call.

Within minutes Styx Garcia’s face fills the screen.

I frown, my nostrils flaring at the sight of him and all his scars. This is the last thing I want to be doing, surrounding myself with these two men.

“My beautiful queen,” Styx says by way of introduction, ignoring Marco altogether, “what an honor to speak with you again.”

I feel my upper lip curl. I’d forgotten just how much I disliked this man.

“You answered quickly.”

Styx’s gaze finally moves to Marco. “I was expecting the call.”

My neck prickles again. This shouldn’t be how it plays out; I should be the one coordinating. Instead I feel like a lamb being led—led to slaughter.

“Did you enjoy your visit out West?” he asks. “The representatives were very eager to see you once I told them that you wanted to arrange a meeting.”

“A videoconference would’ve sufficed,” I say sharply.

“I am just the messenger,” he reminds me.

He does have a point.

“Pretty woman, I hear you’re going to be a widow soon,” Styx says, smiling slyly.

I narrow my eyes at him. That only makes his smile grow.

“Marcus seems to think we need your help,” I say.

“You do need my help. The moment you kill the king, your men are going to turn on you.”

“And you have men willing to defend me?” I ask skeptically.

“Aye, every one of them would die for you,” he says. He hasn’t blinked since he picked up the call, and it’s beginning to unnerve me.