Hades
Her words ripped the air from my lungs, stole the strength from my muscles, and filled me with an entirely different kind of shock.
"I would take it all from you if it were only my life on the line." She took a breath, and I watched her expression harden, her eyes darkening like thunderclouds. "Alas, it's not. The stakes are higher than me... than us. On the line are citizens who were kept in the dark about my family's conspiracies—and the doom the Blood Moon will bring."
Her voice faltered, just for a heartbeat.
"People with lives. With loves. Families. Dreams. And aspirations. The same innocents you reduced to statistics—acceptable losses in your grand operations."
Her voice cracked.
"My people are not statistics. In this court, in this council, I will vouch for them."
The fire in her eyes flared, and I could feel it scorching across my skin.