The Play-Toy Of Three Lycan Kings-Chapter 439: Justice II

SAGE

"Justice! Justice! Justice!"

The chant rolled through the arena like a living thing, rising and falling in waves, thick with relief, rage, and triumph. I heard it. Of course I heard it.

The sound vibrated through stone and bone alike. But I found myself only half-present in it, because the four towering beasts surrounding me were far more engaging.

Their minds brushed against mine—not words exactly, but impressions, images, emotions layered atop one another in a strange, shared mental platform that felt as natural as breathing.

Congratulations pulsed warmly from them, deep and rumbling like distant thunder. Beneath that was something else. A question.

Why did you take so long to free us from her evilness?

There was no accusation in it. Only curiosity. And something that might have been mild reproach.

I smiled up at the molten-scaled one, running my hand along the heated ridge of its snout. "I am sorry," I told them silently, pushing the thought outward so all four could feel it. "I did not know how. I did not know who I was."

A ripple of understanding flowed back to me. Then amusement.

They had been bound under the Queen’s rulership for years, forced into obedience by darkness and twisted contracts. I felt the weight of that as if it were my own failing.

"I will not let that happen again," I promised them through that strange mind-path we now shared. "Whoever the next queen is... she will not be like this one."

The thought of the next queen stirred something else in me. Who would it be?

I wasn’t sure I would be up for it, since I was going to... marry Adam.

The realization made me blush. Yes, I would marry him. I would return to the pack. And I would stand beside him.

But could I truly divide myself between the pack and this community?

My thoughts must have rippled too loudly, because El’s presence pressed gently against my mind.

Do not worry about what is not yet required, she said calmly. The Goddess always takes care of her people.

I exhaled slowly and nodded to myself. She was right. I had spent too much of my life trying to control outcomes before they arrived.

I pushed reassurance back toward the beasts. "Whoever the Goddess chooses, I will make sure that person is fit. I will make sure they are worthy."

A wave of deep laughter echoed through our connection. They did not doubt me.

The chant of "Justice!" grew louder again, dragging my attention outward.

"What do we do about them?" I asked, meaning the Queen and her children. I directed the question to both El and the beasts.

The answer came immediately.

Kill them, the beasts replied as one.

No hesitation. No moral wrestling.

El agreed.

Tsk, any surprise there?

The taint must be eradicated, she said quietly. The rot is too deep, Sage. The children have shown no repentance. They will become like her in time if left alive.

I swallowed. I searched myself for resistance. For mercy. There was none. Only clarity.

The beasts shifted then, massive bodies moving with surprising grace as they parted to create a path for me. For a fleeting second, I was struck by how small I must have looked walking between them—dwarfish, beneath creatures that towered like living mountains.

Yet none of them made me feel small. Only protected. I moved forward, then paused mid-step as another realization struck me.

The battle was only half won.

Vampires did not move freely during the day. They would not yet know what had happened here. By evening, word would spread, and whatever loyalists remained could attempt retaliation.

It was nearing dusk. I could not afford delay.

"I will need your help," I told the beasts.

Their response was immediate and unified. Your wish is our command.

My throat tightened unexpectedly. I had made so many mistakes before. So many wrong turns, wrong trusts, wrong hesitations. And yet here I stood, having righted something enormous.

"Thank you," I whispered—to them, to El, to the Goddess herself.

Through the bond, I sent Adam a pulse of emotion, a love so fierce it almost hurt. I won. Then I reached outward along another familiar thread.

Congratulations, I sent to Darius, warmth lacing the thought. And, It is done.

His answering swell of pride and satisfaction reached me faintly in return.

With that, I resumed walking toward the Queen and her children.

My power had calmed, no longer roaring like a tempest beneath my skin. But I knew my eyes still blazed molten gold. I felt it in the way the world looked—brighter, sharper, edged in shimmering outlines of energy.

When I stopped before Duke, I saw the reflection of that gold in his pupils. He did not like it.

For a fleeting, detached moment, I wondered if I looked monstrous.

How do I kill them?

Beheading, El replied without softness. Call the sentinels. They carry blades for this very purpose.

So simple. So final. But I hesitated. Duke had once been my friend. At least, I had believed so.

I searched his face now—searched for remorse, for regret, for some crack in the mask that would suggest he had been manipulated beyond his will.

What I found instead was envy. Jealousy. And something dangerously close to hatred.

"How could you still follow her?" I asked him quietly. "Even knowing she may have killed your real father?"

His jaw tightened. "If she did," he replied coldly, "then he probably deserved it."

Something inside me went still.

I reached outward with my senses, searching for threads of black magic coiling around him—proof that he was still being controlled.

There were none. He stood in this willingly. Ambition had rooted itself too deeply. A lost cause.

I moved to Raul. He did not even look at me. His gaze remained fixed on his mother, as if willing her to rise again and undo everything I had done. His loyalty was unshaken.

Of all of them, his death would sting me the most.

Rachel stood rigid beside them, fury and disbelief warring in her expression. I did not even pause before her. There was nothing to salvage there.

Finally, I stopped before the Queen. "Any last words?"

She lifted her head slowly. Her eyes were steely. Defiant. Calculating. And in that instant, I knew El had been right.

If imprisoned, she would seek the darkness again. She would claw her way back to it. She would never stop reaching for corruption.

There would always be another attempt. Another war. Another generation threatened to be destroyed.

Determination settled fully into my bones. From henceforth, I would listen when El spoke.

I stepped back and raised my hand. "Sentinels," I called.

The quafars approached immediately. Their swords gleamed with a faint golden sheen, reflecting the dying light of the day.

I pointed at the four figures before me. "Behead them."

There was no ceremony, no hesitation at all. The blades rose and fell in fluid, practiced motion.

Four bodies crumpled to the floor in seconds.

It was almost anticlimactic. As if they had never truly deserved the tension they once commanded.

A heartbeat of stunned silence followed.

Then the arena erupted. Shouts of joy. Cries of relief. People embracing one another across divides that had once seemed insurmountable. Witches hugging colleagues from other communities, including Adam and his brothers. And the ancients.

I watched it all from the center of the field. Fulfillment flooded me, heady, overwhelming, almost intoxicating.

For the first time in what felt like lifetimes, I allowed myself one small, private breath of peace.