Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
Fuck her. She’s dying.
- King Richard
“What the fuck was that?” I demand as I face the head of my Royal Guard fifteen minutes later, standing in the castle at Valarassi.
It’s always a risk flying through the forest. So many things like to eat us.
But to be attacked by a jungle cat and hawk at the same time?
Not to mention the thirty-odd assassins who descended on us like locusts during a famine?
“They were lying in wait for us. Who planned the route we took here?”
“I did.”
I don’t ask her if she told anyone. Echo keeps a secret better than the dead. And despite my anger, I don’t want to risk her wrath by insulting her honour. Besides, that is not a duel I will win – even if she is heavily beaten up right now thanks to that jungle cat.
“How could they have found out about it?” I ask instead. But as soon as the words leave me, the answer hits me like a fucking hawk.
“I informed Evangeline,” she says calmly at the same time I growl that bitch’s name.
I knew she wanted to use my wife as bait. I didn’t know she wanted to do it to lure out every single assassin at once. Though I should have known she’d try something like this. Patience isn’t a virtue to Evangeline; it’s a fucking sin.
“Find her and bring her here,” I snap at Echo. Then more respectfully, I add, “Please.”
She inclines her head and leaves the small study.
Turning to my queen, who’s still clinging to my side and shaking, I pick her up. Cradling her to my chest, I sit down in the chair behind the desk.
She screams as we crash to the floor, the damn thing breaking underneath me.
The door to the study bangs open. But instead of Echo coming back in, it’s Jace.
His hair wild, his eyes hard, he sweeps his gaze around the room. A knife glints in his hand. Blood pours from him from various wounds but nothing looks serious.
“Echo’s already cleared the place,” I say as I check my wife over. “It was this fucking chair.”
He sheathes his blade as understanding darkens his teal eyes. “Evangeline planned the attack?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve sent Echo to find her.”
He walks over to us and pulls Arienna to her feet. She’s shaking like a leaf in a storm, and I wrap her in my arms as soon as I’m standing.
Jace squats down over the broken pieces of the chair and rifles through the rubble. “Yep,” he says, showing me one of the legs. “Someone cut it nearly all the way through. The other three legs have been tampered with the same.”
“Fucking Evangeline,” I growl.
“Who’s Evangeline?” Arienna asks, her voice trembling as much as she is.
“My ex.”
“And I thought my exes were bad,” she says with a laugh. “Though the broken chair joke is a classic. Very well done.” She giggles harder.
I squeeze her tighter, but my attention is on Jace. “How are Nicholas and Maeve?”
She tenses in my arms. “And Fabia?”
“Nicholas is fine.”
Pulling away from me, she looks at Jace. Her laughter dies abruptly. “And Fabia?”
“Her and Maeve took a couple blows, but they’re stable. They’re with the healers now.”
Her giggles start back up again, but I can hear the relief through the panic. “What happened to her?”
“She took an arrow meant for Nicholas.”
“Where is he?” I demand.
“With her.”
“I want to see her too,” Arienna says, and for the first time, I see roots beneath that shaking leaf. But it doesn’t bring me any relief. Aurelia drew her strength from caring about others too, and it killed her.
“Once it’s safe, we’ll head directly there.”
“I want to see her now.”
“You will put her in danger. We’re the targets, not them.”
She flinches, and I can see her finally understanding what a life as queen will be like. Horror fills her eyes. Pain. Shame. Loneliness. A future of brokenness.
“Lift up your dress,” I say, hoping to distract her. “You said it was uncomfortable.”
She stares at me for a moment, not moving.
“Jace, have someone grab a wand, a bowl of water, some soap, and a towel.”
As he moves to the door, I grab the front of her dress and wrap it around her waist. Placing her hand on the end of it, I squeeze her fingers into the fabric. She holds it up for me.
Nudging her legs apart, I remove the belt, then check for sores on her thighs. There’s a bit of redness, but no broken skin. “You can let your dress back down until the wand gets here,” I say.
“You’re not going to put it back on?”
I look up at her, still down on my knees. “You still want it?”
“I need it.” She laughs, her eyes panicked. “It’s like you’re constantly hugging my pussy, and I really need a hug right now. A long hug. A forever hug.”
Rising to my feet, I wrap my arms around her. “I’m here.”
“But not forever.” She giggles against my chest.
“I am.”
“No. You have your debate in a few minutes. And then you’ll disappear like you did after the market.”
“Arienna –”
She shakes her head as she peers up at me. Cupping my cheek, she giggles. “I love you. But you have duties. And I need to see Fabia. She’s my duty. So I want the belt on. That way, you can be with me even when you’re away.”
Leaning in, I kiss her. My chest tightens. Then expands, blossoming with a rapidness that scares me. I love you.
“I –” I start.
The door opens, and I turn.
Coward.
My heart pounding, I look at Jace as he takes the supplies I requested off the guard at the door. He lays them on the desk. I order Arienna to sit beside them and spread her legs. After I heal the little redness that’s there, I toss the wand back at Jace so he can fix his own wounds.
As I wash and dry the chastity belt, Arienna runs her fingers through my hair. “I love you,” she says so easily.
I swallow as I try to turn my own feelings into sound.
But defeating the Vylians was easier than this.
The last time those words nearly came to be was the last dinner I shared with my sister.
She mouthed them to me, forgiving me for killing her.
Thanking me as she drank from that fucking poisoned glass.
Now they’re wrapped around that horror, and I don’t know how to say them without dragging up that pain. My queen deserves more than that. She deserves to hear them on their own and not with all the baggage attached.
And yet, I want to say them. I want her to know.
But when I open my mouth, the words that come out are, “You’ll need to stand for me to put the belt back on.”
My throat burns with my cowardice. My hands, though, are steady and efficient as I dress my queen, altering the fit a bit so it hopefully will not rub. I’m suited to war, not what comes after. But perhaps in time… I can learn what it means to be a husband rather than just a king.
She looks at me and smiles.
I l–
A knock at the door sounds. Echo enters. “Evangeline will see you after the debate,” she says.
I nod, she leaves, and I turn back to my queen. “I do not have time to have lunch with you,” I say. “And I might miss dinner. When you take the belt off, check yourself for sores. If it’s red, use a wand. If I’m not back in time for dinner, clean it before it goes back on.”
She nods. I kiss her on the forehead, then step around her. “Stay with her,” I tell Jace. “Echo will be at the debate.”
“She was with you on the ride over –”
“So were you.” I reach the door. “Stay with my wife.”
If Evangeline’s plan was to attack Arienna to see which Court member would risk everything to protect her, then Petre’s our traitor. And if she is, then fucking half the Court is too because her sway with the others is strong. What if it’s all of them? After all, it’s all their lives on the line...
I pause at the door, fucking terrified of leaving her alone. Jace won’t be enough to stop them. They might want her alive, but they could kidnap her. Threaten her life to get me to give up mine.
And I’d do it. Even if I know they’re bluffing, I wouldn’t be able to risk it.
I can’t lose her.
“Jace,” I say without turning.
“I’ll protect her as if she was Aurelia,” he says softly.
Despite knowing all that means is I’ll lose both of them if the Court attacks, I nod, then step out into the hall.
The best place for her is far away from me.
The best defence is me figuring out how to kill the entire Court at once.
At least while we debate, they’ll be in the same room with me, so if they make a move against my wife, I can kill them all.
“Echo,” I say as she walks beside me.
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
Speaking in old Razian, something I rebelled against as a kid, I tell her about my suspicions.
Then I give her her orders.
She glances at me, holding my eye for a few paces. The shadows of the Underworld creep across her golden irises, almost like phantom prisoners searching for an escape. If I listen hard enough, I’m certain I can hear them screaming.
The stories say that if a person is resurrected three times, it is no longer them that comes back from the Underworld. It is something the gods put in their place. A monster. A beast. A madness that will eventually break free.
Echo’s said to have been brought back close to a hundred times...
My skin crawling, I don’t look away.
She inclines her head. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Two more weeks, I tell myself as I enter Griffin Hall and begin the debates.
We only have to survive two more weeks...
But fuck, half a month has never felt so long.