Adelina held her father’s hand, keeping watch over his fitful sleep. King Orion was mostly skin and bones under the heavy blankets. The windows were shut against the cold night air, and the fire roaring made the room stifling. Sweat dripped down her spine and it made the new marks sting.

She wasn’t the only one in her father’s room. Giselle and Raena sat silently next to her, holding their own vigil. Their mother was on the other side of the bed, clutching onto Father like it would keep him from leaving her for just a little while longer.

Only the machine displaying the king’s vitals made any noise. Occasionally the fireplace popped and crackled, but that was it.

Ian sat next to that fire, head on the top of the backrest and he snored slightly. Her brother was too skinny and he looked ill. He’d been mistreating his body as he tried to find a cure, but there was nothing he could do any longer. Maybe he would finally take care of himself.

Asher and William stood at the foot of Father’s bed, staring at him with their arms crossed over their chests. They’d been like that for the better part of an hour.

Adelina wished she could have a moment alone with her father, but she took comfort knowing they’d been able to spend time in the royal library together, and all the times in the royal study when it had just been the two of them.

Another hour went by.

Adelina had begun to count her father’s breaths. They’d stopped twice now.

Every time she waited for the final breath she felt the knife lodged in her heart twist a little deeper, sink a little further. Adelina wasn’t ready for her father to leave. There was still so much she wished she could say and do with him…

William muttered something about guard duty before kissing Father’s forehead and disappearing. Adelina barely noticed.

Her eyes were dry from barely blinking. Not once had she moved and her bones began to ache.

Asher muttered a prayer and held Father’s hand for a moment and then he too left.

It was difficult for her brothers. Emotion was not something they were taught to handle. They were all meant to bury it, to hide it from prying eyes. Cool logic was what the people needed from them, but in these moments the emotions were too much and they all dealt in their own way.

The coronation was the following day and Raena looked exhausted. There were lines on her face and even their mother looked worried when she was able to look away from the king.

“Get some rest, Rae,” Giselle said quietly. “Someone will fetch you if anything changes.”

“Raena?” Adelina asked when her sister nodded and stood.

A question had been weighing on her mind all night, and she’d wrestled with it ever since she’d gathered her jewels and gold from the Guild. Adelina feared what her sister would do while she was away.

Would Raena promise her to someone else without consulting her? Her sister mentioned she could say which of the males she preferred…and it was a gamble, but one Adelina would benefit from.

“Yes?” Raena asked.

“If you believe Varan will be a good husband, then I would like to make it official with your permission.” Too much was at stake and Raena would be Queen in less than twenty-four hours.

Raena smiled and tugged Adelina’s hair like she used to when they were children. “I’ll sign the paperwork before I go to sleep.”

Adelina nodded, still not looking away from Father. The moment she did, she knew he would stop breathing and his hand would go slack. Maybe if she kept watch through the night she’d have him for a little while longer.

Raena left them and Ian never stirred.

Relief filled her and Adelina was thankful she would be able to marry a male she loved, though if she had her way he wouldn’t be the only one.

Ian hadn’t moved in hours, but the small snoring reassured her he too was alive. It wasn’t long before the queen fell asleep as well, curled up in the armchair.

Giselle sat right next to Adelina, but she refused to say anything. Nothing about her favorite sister was familiar anymore. Giselle had put up a wall around her and no one could get through it. Adelina had too much to say to Giselle, too many things she wanted to ask her about – to ask for advice about Varan and Nash, but that sister didn’t exist anymore.

Adelina knew she loved Varan without a doubt and she trusted him implicitly, but Nash – she’d been drawn to him in a whirlwind, a forbidden romance. Her trust with him had to grow. They had a lot of work ahead of them, and she looked forward to it in a way.

“I see you and Raena grew close in my absence,” Giselle said, breaking the awful silence in that room.

Giselle had made quips any time Adelina saw her after that council meeting. Something about the events in that meeting angered Giselle and Adelina couldn’t figure out what it was.

Adelina chose not to respond, squeezing her father’s hand instead. He’d somehow made it through midnight.

Varan’s mercenaries were trustworthy at least. Fifteen thousand souls had pledged their lives to her over the vid-cast. It touched her. Adelina still couldn’t believe how many people rallied to help her gather what she needed for a fool’s errand. She wasn’t special; she was simply doing what anyone else in her position would do.

“I watched the Games, Lina,” Giselle said, trying to get a response. “I saw what you did.”

Then the recording for the pirates had been made and sent out. There hadn’t been a response yet, but Adelina didn’t expect one. When she saw a pirate with her mark on their flag she would have her answer. But deep down, she hoped with all her heart the people would put their differences and opinions aside to fight a common enemy.

“You aren’t natural,” Giselle hissed.

Adelina whipped her head to the side and held her sister’s gaze. “What did you say to me?” She couldn’t help the growl that rumbled among the words. Giselle had been trying to get a rise out of her ever since the executions and she’d finally succeeded.

“I saw the genetic workup of what you are.” Giselle crossed her arms and she looked disgusted.

Adelina wanted to ask how, she wanted to ask if Ian had betrayed her, or if Giselle had accessed the files when he wasn’t looking. She did have access to his labs after all…it wouldn’t be difficult for her to look through his work. Giselle had a sharp mind and knew enough science to figure such things out.

Adelina should have destroyed all the evidence when Ian had suggested it.

“What happened to you Giselle? Did the Neprijat infect your brain?” Adelina was shocked by her own words, but Giselle – her beloved sister, had outright attacked her.

“I simply see how things really are, and how they need to be. Raena is what we need. These days to come will be brutal and deadly. We need someone as vicious as she to get us through the hard times, and now you’re fleeing. Call it what it is, little sister, you are running away.” Giselle’s hissed whisper cut like a plasma blade, deep and true.

Adelina actually flinched because Giselle was right. She wasn’t running from the war though, but from Raena.

“I will succeed. You will see,” Adelina whispered. It was all she could say against such hurtful words. “When you are trapped behind the shield and the Neprijat are at your throat, remember how much you are disgusted by me when I end up your savior.”

Giselle snorted. “You may be a true Draga despite the pollution of your courtesan genes, but you are simply not strong enough or dominant enough to manage any of your claims, no matter how much the thief helps.”

Adelina was done—finished. She shot to her feet and turned on Giselle, the female who had been her only ally for cycles. “Get. Out,” she bit out the words and drug up every ounce of dominance she could, every drop down to the very last dregs – and released it, focusing on Giselle. “Get out now, before I make you.”

Her strange jasmine scent filled the room and Giselle’s head actually bowed. Ian and her mother were awake now, eyes wide as they took in the scene. Her hands clenched and Adelina felt the sharp nails like knives. Giselle tried to speak but she couldn’t under the weight of Adelina’s dominance.

When she realized she couldn’t win, Giselle’s eyes widened. Then she got up and left.

Adelina was so angry she was shaking. Her hands trembled as she sat and took hold of her father’s hand again. It might have been her imagination, but he squeezed back.

No one spoke. Ian and her mother would never say anything. They would keep her secret, but would Giselle?

“I didn’t tell her,” Ian whispered across the violence still lingering in the room.

“I know,” Adelina reassured him, glancing at her mother. Adele nodded and they left it at that.

Adelina kept her eyes locked on her father’s face, refusing to cry. Giselle didn’t deserve the satisfaction of making her cry. Those would be saved for her father, because a male as wonderful and powerful as he shouldn’t leave them so soon, not when they needed him so badly.

Her forehead rested on the back of his hand and Adelina wished she could do something, anything to save him from this. If Mala had any mercy for them she would have sent Ian the cure, or protected the king against whoever poisoned him.

It all made her so angry, and the despair Adelina felt rising up – thick and choking would drown her if she wasn’t careful.

A message from Raena came through. It contained the signed documents, accepting Varan’s request for marriage and the digital announcement on the livestream. Adelina breathed a sigh of relief. At least her future was secured to a male who was kind and honorable, and he loved her. Varan was just the right amount of vicious to enhance the royal family and blend in a way few others could handle.

Adelina stayed bowed over her father’s hand, whispering prayers until just before dawn…when her father’s heart finally stopped beating and he took his last breath as the sun tinged the sky a bruised pink.

For a moment the world stopped – and Draga lost a king.

“Long live the queen,” Adelina whispered.

Adele threw herself on Orion’s chest, sobbing when she realized he was truly gone.

Adelina didn’t cry as she watched her mother. Or when people suddenly filled his bedchamber, she simply felt numb.

She got up and walked past Ian. Her brother’s face was broken as he stared at their father’s body, hands in his pockets. Ian didn’t even blink when a physician shoved by him.

Adelina walked silently down the hall as it felt like hundreds of people ran past her.

She pressed her hand to the portrait on the wall and the panel slid open. The royal library was silent and almost peaceful. It felt empty without her father.

Adelina walked around to the fireplace where her father had sat day after day, finding books she could use and setting them on the table in a stack for her to take.

Her fingers trailed over the chair he liked to sit in. The room was cold. But there was a stack of books on the table next to his chair, ones she hadn’t gone through yet. Adelina tapped the books with a nail that was still unnaturally sharp.

The last books her father would ever set aside for her.

She didn’t dare take them. If she did there would truly be nothing left of him.

Adelina tipped her head back and screamed and screamed until her throat was raw and still she did not cry.

How could her father leave her with Raena and Giselle, all alone against the vicious world? Adelina wasn’t ready to be at their mercy. The trip to the Hai galaxy was only a temporary solution. When she came back they would be there, waiting.

Her father had led them in peace for decades. King Orion was the greatest king Draga had ever known, and the kindest.

That kindness had been given to her all her life and he’d never ignored Adelina, never told her what she couldn’t accomplish, and never looked at her submissive status as a weakness. Father had always believed in her and now that piece of her was gone; the piece that felt loved and cherished no matter the situation.

Those tears finally fell for him and Adelina let them. She let them mark her face and leave trails down her cheeks and neck. She would miss him, so very, very much. But her papa had done everything he could for her and their people until his last breath.

Now it was her turn.

Giselle burst into the library, looking haggard and frightened.

“Raena’s dead,” Giselle gasped.

Adelina turned away from her sister. She wanted to laugh at the absurdity—the insanity of such a declaration. Somehow her eldest sister was dead. She had to be going mad.

Then Adelina turned back to Giselle and arched a brow. “Long live the queen.”

Giselle shook her head in denial. “No, no, I can’t.”

Adelina wiped the tears from her cheeks and felt herself shutting down inside as she left the secret library and headed towards Raena’s rooms. Giselle trailed behind her.

The emotions she felt boiling up inside were going to make her snap if she wasn’t careful.

Every single feeling demanding her attention was shoved down so she could focus, so she could function and get through this new crisis. Her hand on Raena’s door was scanned and she was given access. Adelina stood at the threshold and stuffed the grief down deep.

How she felt about Raena…Adelina didn’t actually believe she was dead. It was so impossible, so strange, and so sudden. How?

Someone spoke in stuttering words at her and Adelina barely caught the meaning as a dull roar filled her head. She rubbed her temples as she tried to focus. “Get out.”

“Your highness?”

“Everyone out,” Adelina demanded. Her eyes went to the washroom door and dread filled her. “Only a royal may enter.”

No one questioned her and they all filed out. Soon it was just her and Giselle.

Apparently a servant tasked with fetching Raena had found her in the bath with both wrists slit and blood covering every surface imaginable. No one had dared touch anything. Instead they went to the next in line to the throne; Giselle. And Giselle had panicked, running for Adelina.

Her sister’s panic was understandable. Giselle didn’t want power, or to be queen. She barely wanted to be a royal and now she would have the entire kingdom to run. Any tiny bit of freedom she’d carved out for herself – the new warrior status, the secret lover – it would all be ruthlessly ripped from her the moment she was crowned queen.

Still, somehow Adelina was the one standing in the doorway to Raena’s washroom with Giselle on their sister’s bed, head in her hands.

Adelina shut down all her emotions as she studied the scene before her. Logic was all that would get her through this without a panic attack and at the moment she was the only functioning royal available.

“I can’t be queen, I just can’t. I don’t know anything about ruling a galaxy and what if I die in battle. You will rule? You’re not capable.”

“Giselle, if you can’t shut your mouth I will shut it for you.”

It looked like a suicide. It was exactly how Raena would have chosen to kill herself too. She’d mentioned the method after the talk about the Neprijat getting their hands on them. Adelina wasn’t ready to believe it was a suicide despite what she saw with her own two eyes.

Only Raena’s scent was in the room though and then the servant’s scent that had gone to fetch her after their father had died in his sleep. Her shreve was even on the small table next to the bath, open to the documents she’d signed to finalize the match between Adelina and Varan.

Blood stained the floor red, but none of the water remained as the floor had soaked it up.

Her sister’s skin was whiter than it had ever been in life.

“It wasn’t you,” Giselle said. “You were with father all night, mother confirmed. The royal library recorded your entry and there is no time between when you left father’s room and when you entered the library,” she rambled.

“I’m so glad you managed to rule me out,” Adelina muttered, crossing her arms as she tilted her head and sniffed again. No, there was too much blood to really smell much else. The cuts were deep and straight. There’d been no hesitation and no sign of struggle.

“Servants think she couldn’t handle the crown, even nobles think she did it herself,” Giselle went on, getting up to pace. “Maybe it’s exactly as it appears.”

“You really believe that?” Asher demanded when the door slid open to admit him. He strolled in and locked it behind him. So many faces tried to peer around him as the door closed.

Adelina breathed a sigh of relief and made room for her brother. They both stood there on the threshold with their arms crossed in silence. Neither of them wanted to take a step further into that blood-soaked washroom.

“Her rooms have already been scanned and all records sent to the Justice Keepers,” Adelina told him. She dropped her voice so Giselle couldn’t hear. “Was it you?”

Part of her was appalled she considered her brother, but he had been just as frightened of what Raena would do with her power as Adelina had been.

Asher’s lips quirked. “No, though I thought about it. You?”

“I thought it better to direct her,” Adelina confessed. She hated admitting it, but at the moment Asher was the only one she knew was completely loyal to her – other than Varan. Nadyah had been keeping secrets, she could tell by the sound of her courtesan’s voice when she lied.

“This is messy and Giselle never wanted to rule,” Adelina said.

“I had the same thought,” Asher admitted. “It could truly be a suicide. Raena was losing control the closer the coronation came.” He leaned forward to look at her shreve and noticed the content. “Unfortunate timing.”

“Yes,” Adelina agreed. “If it had been me I would have done it before she signed my life away to a male.”

“How can you two be so cold and callous?” Giselle demanded. “Our sister is dead.”

“So is our father, your highness,” Asher said as he turned on her. Giselle cowered – nowhere near as dominant as their brother.

Adelina had shut down the part of her that felt the death of her sister, the part that keened deep inside with pain and fear. If it wasn’t a suicide any of the royals could be next. After everything, Adelina simply couldn’t handle her emotions and feelings so she turned them off, taking after her brother that way.

“I have no idea how to rule,” Giselle said, throwing pleading glances at the both of them.

“Asher, will you help her?” Adelina asked, ignoring Giselle. “After all this is what we trained for, and I cannot stay. The Drakesthai could turn the tide against the Neprijat.”

Her dark brother raised an eyebrow as he assessed Giselle. “It won’t be easy.”

Adelina wanted to say damn it all and let her brother rule Draga, but there was too much to deal with and the people would lose their minds at such a drastic change with no warning at all. Perhaps later they could pass the crown to the best suited to rule. Asher had the dominance if need be.

“So was Raena murdered?” Giselle asked. “I had all the royals vetted, and every single one of us was accounted for. Asher, you were with the soldiers all night training.”

Those dark eyes shuttered and he turned back to survey Raena. “I couldn’t sleep. Contrary to popular belief I do have feelings and I loved our father.”

Adelina understood her brother better than any of their siblings did. It was difficult not having a place in the world, to have to hide emotions too deep to express. She wrapped her arm around his waist and held him close while they silently contemplated what to do next.

“Submit the records as to our family’s whereabouts, your people’s whereabouts and I will do the same with mine,” Adelina said with a shrug. “Leave the rest to the investigators. There is nothing we can do to change what has happened and if Raena really did leave us to deal with all this…” Adelina couldn’t finish the thought.

If Raena had left them then Adelina would be furious.

Raena had always thought of herself first, but this seemed untimely. Her sister wanted the power of queen. It simply didn’t make sense for her to take her own life.

Their father was dead and now so was her sister. Her heart ached and there was a hole she knew would never leave her. No one could replace her father and king, and despite all Raena had done—Adelina loved her.

“We need to crown a queen and put our family’s souls to rest,” Asher murmured. “Best we get ready.”

“Who will make the announcement?” Adelina asked.

Asher shrugged and bumped her with his elbow. “That is your duty until you leave, sister. You are Giselle’s heir.”

The words settled in her gut, heavy and volatile.

Adelina was now the Heir of Draga.