Fearless (The Powerless Trilogy)
Fearless: Edric 6

Eighteen years after Iris’s death, Edric sees her again.

Not in body or soul, but rather, a reuniting of something long stolen.

Kitt, obsessively loyal as he was, told the king in passing of his meeting with the Slummer who had saved his Enforcer from a Resistance Silencer. The heir spoke vaguely of her alluring appearance—the dripping silver hair she greeted him at the door with, but more intriguing, her burning blue eyes.

The king, upon hearing each unnecessary detail, thought nothing of the girl who would likely die in his first Trial. Having no clear memory of his mother, Kitt saw little more than a pretty face before him. Any portraits of the late queen were locked away or in the possession of the king, who rarely displayed his lost love. But for the few times Edric allowed his son to admire them, he remembered nothing of note to connect the queen and this contestant.

But Kitt had never memorized the eyes of Iris Moyra quite like his father had.

The first time Edric sees his daughter since she was an embarrassment in his arms is when she confidently takes a seat at his table.

Each contestant has filed into the throne room before his and her majesty make their grand entrance. The sight of Paedyn’s eyes—Iris’s eyes—nearly brings the king to his knees. But with a knack for deceit comes the gift of composure. Edric forces a stoic strength into his voice, addresses his contestants, and sits mere feet from the forgotten princess.

The king has not given thought to her, or the disgrace she had temporarily brought to his name, in eighteen years. But with her blue eyes locked on his, that flood of hatred carves a destructive path to his heart once again. She is more than everything Edric despises—she is his weakness.

Paedyn Gray.

An Ordinary, sitting at his table and pretending that she is not. His Ordinary, sitting here as though she is not meant to be dead.

“So, this is the girl who saved you in the alley?”

The king says this to his Enforcer, disguising every bit of bite in his voice with feigned intrigue. But when the Ordinary looks up at her father, he replaces a loathing there to rival his own.

“I must say, I’ve never met a Psychic before. Your powers are… intriguing.”

A sham. A lie. A disgrace to his name.

These are all things Edric could have said in that moment, but he knows how to play his cards. He will not show his hand any more than she will. Instead, the king will watch her squirm until the moment he finally puts an end to her pathetic, Ordinary life.

A rehearsed explanation leaves Paedyn’s lips at a calculated pace. Not too fast—this would make it seem like the lie it is—but not entirely slow, because why would she need such time to think on her own ability? It’s admirable, really, her commitment to passing as an Elite. Even becoming the lowliest of them is a challenge.

Every word, every reasoning, is so deliberate that the king might have believed her if those eyes weren’t so incriminating. Kai seems unworried by his inability to sense her power, or perhaps, the Enforcer is simply too distracted to question her reasonings further. But Edric says nothing of the truth he knows, because this Ordinary will die in his Trials, and he need not raise a finger to do it.

This time, he will not make the same mistake. This time, he will watch her die.

What a shame, to have survived this whole time for nothing.

Nothing. Just like the daughter before him. Like the powerless child who killed his wife, the waste of Elite power.

Paedyn mentions the man who raised her, forcing the king to further fortify his unbothered expression. Edric believed the surname Gray died with the man whose growing uprise became a pawn to satiate the king’s appetite for power. Adam Gray was meant to help eradicate the remaining Ordinaries, albeit unknowingly. But the Healer’s life was swiftly ended after he stumbled upon a secret meant solely for kings.

Only, the forgotten princess having been raised by the former Resistance leader was not a detail Edric was informed of.

Still, it feels good to blame another man for the weakness she is. For that reason, Edric happily confirms what she already believes to be true.

“Ah, yes, your father. Adam Gray was a great Healer. A very educated man.”

To her credit, the girl feigns surprise at the king’s memory.

“You… you knew my father?”

The king answers her question, though the both of them already know the answer.

“Yes, I did. He would come to the palace during fever season to help our own court physicians when there were too many patients to attend to.”

That is how Edric became aware of Adam’s plan to raise up a Resistance. His Mind Reader gathered the information while briefly passing in the halls. It was hardly shocking to discover the Healer’s agenda, considering his continual refusal of the bribe offered him. The king could not buy Adam’s silence about the legitimacy of this Ordinary disease, but as a resident of the slums, he seemingly posed little threat.

Only, he raised the king’s daughter into something that mockingly resembled an Elite.

Edric rises from the table, his eyes on those that once belonged to his wife.

I will watch her die, just as I have my wife. I will mar her heart, just as she has mine.

Calum does not need the king to vocalize the rage that roars within his head. He can read it easily enough, like a scribbled scroll rolled out before him. Edric’s anger is an all-consuming ailment, one the Mind Reader has grown to understand better than most. And he knows now the reasoning behind this wrath.

“She was a baby. I could not bring myself to kill her.”

The king’s eyes flash. “And now an Ordinary sleeps in my castle. Competes in my Trials as if she is worthy.”

“Forgive me, Majesty.” Calum hangs his head solemnly, folding sweaty palms behind his back. “I should have disposed of her like you asked. But I’ve kept an eye on her for years, ever since working with Adam and the Resistance. She was never meant to replace her way back to the castle—”

“But she saved my son,” Edric spits, angered still by the Enforcer’s inability to defend himself against a Silencer. “And now Paedyn Gray is here to taunt me with her mother’s eyes.”

The Mind Reader’s throat bobs. “I know.”

“I want her dead.”

“She will be,” Calum reassures. “The Trials will likely kill her, but before they do, we can use her.”

This intrigues the king. “I’m listening.”

“The Resistance is ready. This is what you have been waiting for all these years.” The Mind Reader tips his blond head. “We only need someone to help us replace a way into the Bowl after the third Trial. Finally, you will have a sea of Ordinaries in one place.”

“The tunnels,” Edric muses. “You want her to lead the Resistance through the tunnels.”

Calum allows a rare smile. “She only needs someone to show them to her.”

The king knows to whom he refers.

With a plan in place, Edric leaves his Mind Reader with a twisted sort of glee at Paedyn Gray’s arrival. He would get to use her, get his revenge, before eventually watching her die. The king could think of little more that would bring him such enjoyment.