Broken But Unburnt

Chapter 38 - Kazimir

Chapter 38: Kazimir

Palace of the Nebula Throne: Kingdom of Idoria

Kazimir had never cared for horses and he had been riding one constantly for what felt like days now. He knew that he had needed to go to Karil. It had been time. But Bijan was on his way to Idoria to take his revenge against the man who killed his father. Kazimir.

He'd sent his lieutenants to slow him now. Earthquakes, mudslides, lightning storms, whatever they could summon to halt his progress through the dunes. And now he was hoping it had worked, that he wouldn't be returning to Idoria to find that it had changed hands again, that it was under Bijan's control. Still, he had risked it. Gisella was worth that. The Kingdom of Karil was worth that. His plan had been thoroughly upended by the girl he'd met in the woods but not so much that he wasn't still intending to follow through with it. There was just one more piece in play now, one more threat to be mindful of. And perhaps this one was the largest of them all.

The gates of Idoria opened at his arrival. That was a good sign.

He rode through them to find Zahra and Jyn waiting for him just inside. A squire took his horse as he hopped down into the sand and looked between them.

"Erol?" He asked.

"Taking care of Bijan," Zahra answered, her voice taut with displeasure. He would deal with that later.

"Where?"

"Only a few miles away," Jyn told him. "We've held him back as long as we could. The Makana are getting anxious. And..."

She trailed off, looking to Zahra for help. Kazimir stopped walking.

"You have a visitor," Zahra growled.

They took him to the dungeons. Anyone who saw him along the way stopped to salute him. He noted that for reference later. He owed the High Priestess a gift of gratitude. She hadn't just turned him into a King. She had turned him into a god. He had attended a few of the sermons she had delivered since backing his cause. She had been preaching rhetoric and prophecy since they had arrived. She had turned the whole country into mindless zealots. That was good for war but not for morale. Kazimir would allow these people to view him as a deity now and deal with the fallout once the battle was won.

"She got here this morning," Jyn said, interrupting his thoughts.

Kazimir looked down to see a girl sitting in the cell in front of him. She was covered head to toe in so much blood that he hadn't recognized her at first. Now that he did, he was positively horrified.

"Seraphina?" He gasped.

"I did it," she said, her voice shaky and distant as she stood. Her round eyes widened and remained on him as she approached the bars, smiling like a lunatic. "I killed him. I killed the tyrant."

"Who?" Kazimir asked, stunned.

"Orion," she answered. "That idiot my father married me off to. The one who kept us apart. He's gone now. He can't stand between us anymore."

"You..." Kazimir trailed off, beginning to shake with the fury building within him. "You killed the heir of Delos. Our only ally. You murdered their prince."

"For you. For the Allegiant. High Priestess Talitha says you are the one true king. That all others will fall before you. Delos will have no king after Helios. You can step in. You can—"

"You fool!"

Kazimir wrapped his hands around the bars and superheated them in an instant. Seraphina yelped and jumped away, pulling her burned, smoking hands back and staring at him in surprise.