Chapter 41 – Kian #2
Fear contorts his features at my words, and he shakes his head. “It wasn’t what it looked like! Come on, man.”
I scoff. “So you’re telling me you did not drug and assault a princess of the realm?”
Dylan straightens, somehow managing to look down his nose at me from his position on the floor. “She wanted to be there. She came to me, trying to get away from you. She’s always wanted to be with me.”
Without warning, I throw a punch into his cheek, bone crunching beneath my fist.
Dylan screams pathetically. “You broke my jaw!” His voice comes out garbled.
“You know what we do to rapists here?”
“I barely touched her,” he cries out.
I yank him up by the collar of his shirt and throw another punch into his gut. He spits blood, and I pull his head back by his hair. “What did you give her?”
“Hells if I know,” he whines, bracing himself for another hit.
“Where did you get it?”
“She’ll kill me,” he rasps.
I laugh darkly. “Not if I kill you first.” For Dylan, I might be willing to make an exception to my moral code.
His eyes flash with fear as he stumbles over his words. “You . . . you can’t. The king would never allow it.”
“Watch me,” I threaten. “Where. Did. You. Get. It?”
He puts his hands over his face, cowering into the wall. Hurting him isn’t even satisfying.
Pulling my dagger out, I tip his chin back with the blade. “If you won’t speak, perhaps you don’t need your tongue.” I press the blade in and drag it up his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood. “Or perhaps I should cut out your eyes for daring to look upon my wife?”
There’s a frenzied panic in his eyes, and the scent of urine fills the air. Pathetic.
“Lady Astoria,” he spits out with more blood. His confirmation is enough to have her brought in for questioning, but I will still need to play my cards right.
Unable to stop myself, I throw another punch to Dylan’s gut, and he doubles over, falling to the piss-soaked floor. It takes all my self-control not to use my dagger and carve him to pieces, but as much as I hate it, he is owed a fair trial.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. It was a mistake,” he cries. “She made me do it. I didn’t have a choice.”
I stomp on one of his hands, and he screams again. The satisfying crunch of bone should disturb me, but I’m angry. “You disgust me. You’ll be lucky if you’re sentenced to a quick death for attacking the princess, for daring to touch what is mine.”
Dylan lies in a puddle of his own blood and piss and whimpers pathetically as he cradles his broken hand.
“You’d better hope she wakes up from this unharmed, or I’ll be back, and I won’t be so nice.”
I knock on the cell door, and the key clicks in the lock.
“Call for a healer in a few hours,” I order the guards. “He needs some time to think about what he’s done.”
“Yes, sire,” the guard replies, locking the door back up.
I hoped it would make me feel better, but all I feel is fury and fear as I march back up to my wing. Raelyn has to be okay. I’ll accept nothing less.
“Kian!” my father’s angry voice rings out, stopping me in my tracks.
Hasn’t he yelled enough today?
“What’s this I hear about Lord Havordshire’s son being in our dungeon?” he spits out as he gets into my face.
“He assaulted and poisoned my wife!” I retort.
The king frowns. “I’m sure it was a misunderstanding. Your wife was looking a little peaked earlier in the garden. Perhaps she is ill.”
I can’t believe the words I’m hearing.
“He was found on top of her in a bedroom.” I seethe.
Father crosses his arms. “Who’s to say she wasn’t there by choice? Perhaps she should be in the dungeon for forsaking her vows.”
“You’ve got to be joking right now.”
My father’s eyes burn with ire. “Watch your tongue, son.”
I point toward my wing. “She is unconscious in our bed! The alchemists are trying to figure out what she was drugged with. How dare you accuse her of misconduct?”
My father raises a brow, not even fazed by my words. “I was told she was seen with Dylan Havordshire alone in the garden and willingly followed him up the stairs toward the north wing.”
“That doesn’t make her guilty of anything.”
He tilts his head, a menacing smile on his face. “It does not prove her innocence either.”
“I’m sure she will make things clear when she awakens.”
Father tuts. “You’d better hope so.”
“Why not use your truthsayers to question Dylan?” I ask. “I’m sure they can confirm his guilt.”
“Lord Havordshire is to be released immediately. I have no intention of interrogating him at this time. If I find you go against my wishes or lay another finger on him, there will be consequences.”
I bite down on my tongue to keep from saying something I’ll regret. Of course Father would be on Dylan’s side. I just have to hope Raelyn can explain when she wakes up, but Lady Astoria’s words that Sera overheard haunt me: “She won’t remember a thing.”
I stalk down the hall toward the alchemist’s chambers.
“Please tell me you have something,” I say as I barge in without knocking.
Hennig looks up from his instruments and sighs. “I don’t have good news for you, I’m afraid.”
“Spit it out.”
“The drink appears to contain an overpowered version of the suppression tonic that Raelyn brought when she first arrived at the palace.”
Shit. Her stepmother must know. But why in the hells would her father have told that conniving bitch?
“Is that what knocked her out?” I ask.
Hennig shakes his head. “There’s also a sedative and paralytic in it.”
“Can you counteract it? Wake her up?” I ask, holding my breath.
“I can try,” he says, but I can tell he’s holding back.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“There are also memory-altering herbs present. I have no idea how much they will affect her—how much she will have forgotten.”
Hells.
“And there’s nothing you can do to counteract that?” My voice rises in pitch.
The alchemist shoves his spectacles up his nose. “I’m afraid not. Now, if you can wait a few minutes, I’ll put together what I know I can safely give her.”
“Of course.”
“Is there anything else about the princess that I should be aware of?” Hennig raises a brow, and I wonder what he suspects, but I need to protect her, and at this point, I don’t trust anyone in the palace.
“Not that I can think of.”
The look he gives me holds so much judgment, I almost cave, but I stand my ground and choose to pace back and forth instead as he puts together his concoction.
“Okay, give her half now and half tomorrow morning.”
I nod, carefully tucking the vial into my pocket.
“If she doesn’t wake tomorrow, come back and I’ll make more. Whatever they gave her was potent.”
My heart aches painfully as I hurry back to my wing. I’m not sure what I’ll do if she’s forgotten me again. We were so close . . . I thought we were finally getting our chance after all these years, and now? This is my fault. She was mine to protect, and I failed her.