Zarya sucked her breath in sharply at the insult that accused Darling of having slept with his father.

The commander lifted his chin arrogantly. “We stand together and intend to support whoever comes forward to dethrone you.”

Darling slowly nodded his head. “Fine. Make sure you give Kere my best when you slide into hell.” Faster than she could blink, Darling pulled out two League assassin short swords.

The commander drew his blaster and aimed it for Darling. Before the man could pull the trigger, Darling cut through him with an ease that was as swift as it was brutal.

Total chaos erupted as the guard corps finally realized that Darling was more than capable of delivering his justice by his own hands. And that that was what he fully intended to do.

They scrambled for weapons and the braver ones attacked him. With the same precise skillful moves she’d seen him use as Kere against the League, he tore his attackers to pieces. As they came for him, they learned what she’d known for years.

Nothing rattled Darling in battle. He was Kere—the god of death—and no one could stop him.

When it was finally over, Darling was wounded, but standing in the middle of several dozen bodies. With his head lowered like a feral predator, he scanned the area to make sure there were no more threats to him.

Once he assured he’d killed them all, he cleaned his swords off on his own sleeve and then returned them to the sheaths that were beneath his cloak. With the back of his hand, he wiped the blood from his exposed chin, and nonchalantly stepped over the bodies on his way out the door.

Darling didn’t stop until he’d returned to the palace and met Maris in the back gallery hallway.

“You’re hurt.” There was no missing the concern in Maris’s tone.

Darling didn’t answer. Rather, he walked past Maris and entered the reception room so that he could open the bar and yank a bottle of Tondarion Fire off the shelf. He removed the top with his teeth, before he poured the searing alcohol over the wound on his arm. Then he took a deep draught of it.

Maris headed toward him. “Dar—”

Darling cut his words off with the point of a sword that he aimed at Maris’s heart. He’d pulled it out so fast that her vision hadn’t even registered his movements. It was almost as if Darling was a Trisani who’d manifested his weapon into his hand with his thoughts.

Maris froze while Darling drank half the bottle in a matter of seconds. “You can’t keep this up, Darling. No one is going to let you live if you continue to slaughter everyone who’s ever wronged you.”

“Let them try and I’ll burn it all to the ground and take as many of them with me as I can.”

“This isn’t a game.”

Darling sneered. “It’s never been a game, Maris. And I’m through talking.” He smiled then, but it was filled with bitterness and hatred. He said something to Maris that she couldn’t understand before he lowered his sword and walked away.