Chapter 31 #3
Would the king mess with that himself? Would he be the one altering the positioning?
She guessed not. He’d have attendants for that.
When it came time to move the captive to the gold cuffs on the bed, he’d have attendants for that, too.
She pulled the garment up her body, looking again at the guards. Were they the attendants?
She didn’t think so. They’d been far too interested in nakedness thus far. If they were used to seeing all this, they’d be bored with skin at this point. Anyone in a sex club dungeon in San Francisco could tell you that. She’d had enough dealings with information exchange to glean that much.
She looked at the manacles as memories tumbled into her mind. Snippets of conversations she’d overhead. Dots connecting. A picture emerging.
It’s no secret that simpering clown wants to kill the royalty and take their place but can’t because of the magic locking him in his station.
The king has a tighter hold on me, actually. Once outside of court, his leash loosens.
Tarian cannot help you. Not will not…cannot. You are the only one who can save him. Who can save them all.
The answer slammed into her. The reality of her situation. The reason Tarian had kept her in the dark.
You are the key. The only one who can do it.
It was she who needed to kill the king, since Tarian couldn’t.
Obviously, the Fallen couldn’t either. It was up to her.
She was his freedom. His salvation. She always had been.
To rescue him, she had to kill his jailor.
That was why he’d allowed her to be in harm’s way.
He trusted her, believed in her, to get this done.
She didn’t know if it was because she was the crystal chalice or because she was the only one who would get the opportunity and who would want to, but the way forward was suddenly clear. Horribly, accurately clear.
Her whole body started to shake.
Fuck. This was a risk. A big fucking risk.
But she was making a choice, and that mattered. Come what may, she would get this done. If she had to take a break from reality to distance herself from her body, so be it. Her family was worth it, and she realized with a start…so was Tarian. He was worth all of this. Because she loved him.
She fucking loved him.
She loved his mind and his humor, his brutality and the softness he showed only her and his Fallen.
She loved being with him, touching him, and the gentle caresses he trailed across her skin when they were spent and snuggling in bed.
He’d weaseled his way into her heart and taken root.
She would do this, do anything, to free him.
To save him…and save her family and his.
Taking a deep breath, she finished putting on the mostly see-through garment and bent for her clothes.
Needing a distraction, she shuffled everything around, stood up, and “accidentally” dropped the stolen knife.
Then, in mock terror, she whimpered and backed up quickly, shoving the magical knife into the strap at the back of the garment.
But the garment wasn’t tight enough to hold it.
She juggled it as the guards looked in confusion at their knife.
They startled. The owner quickly bent to fetch it, and the other looked at his sheaths to make sure his weren’t missing.
She tried to twist her knife in the straps, then tried to find another strap with which to hold it.
Her towel, blocking the view of all this, slid from around her bust as she maneuvered.
She gritted her teeth, fumbled the knife, and prepared to attack. Her options were limited.
Instead of falling, though, the knife stopped in its slide.
It caught on the middle of her back, within the satin and lace, and magically stuck to her skin.
It hadn’t wanted to stay put when only half was tucked into the strap, but now that it was covered, it was happy.
That female had given her knife a new trick.
Who the fuck was that female?
By the time the guards looked up, she’d lifted her hands, backed to the wall, and let the towel fall down around her ankles.
“You d-dropped it so I grabbed it, just in c-case,” she stammered.
Guard Two’s face closed down in wary uncertainty.
He wasn’t sure when he could’ve dropped it.
Guard One, however, looked over with a you’re an idiot expression before advancing on her.
He didn’t seem worried about her in the least. Her performances in the court battles must’ve been convincing.
The last certainly had been, with how that other slight champion had handled her.
He grabbed her hand while smirking down at the loose garment, too roomy in the bust and not fitting properly around her hips. If she hadn’t been human, the king wouldn’t have bothered with her at all. She didn’t fit the mold he was looking for.
She tried to slither away, pushing at the guard, begging and pleading with him to let her go.
The other guard hastened over. He grabbed her free wrist while the other was clasped into the metal manacle.
Then the second hand. The leather kept the chill of the metal away.
Its well-worn nature brought in the waking nightmares.
They didn’t mess with the chains. They didn’t worry about her reaching forward and grabbing them or her discarded items at her feet, even though one of their knives had come out of it.
With her dealt with, they hurried out of the bedchambers like their asses were on fire.
They clearly didn’t want to be here any more than she did.
She’d been right, though. They would’ve been missed.
But now she had willingly allowed herself to be caught. She was at the king’s mercy.