Chapter 52
Fifty-Two
Every citizen has the right to challenge another to a fight in a fairy ring.
Give him Hel, Fabia. - King Richard
“‘Sup,” the commoner says, and I hate him instantly. I hate him even more when my wife grins widely and lurches off her throne, looking as if she wants to hug him.
What is it with her shitty taste in men?
Before me, obviously.
Tightening my hold on her hand, I tug her to a stop. My blood chills as my eyes narrow on the man. He’s a brownie, which makes him one of the criminals I was asked to bring back.
“Lief,” she says happily from the top of the dais.
“Ari, babe!”
A low growl rises in my throat. I don’t like that Arienna knows him, and I sure as hel don’t like that he feels like he knows her enough to use a nickname.
“You’ll address her as ‘Your Majesty’,” I growl. “Anything else and I will cut out your fucking tongue.”
“Richard?” she says, turning to me in surprise.
But my eyes don’t leave him. My free hand twitches with the need to draw a knife as I remember what crime got him put on King Openhai and Queen Hurvan’s list.
He’s a rapist.
Now all I can think about is his hands on my wife. His cock. Her being too polite to tell him to stop.
Another growl escapes me.
Lief takes a few steps back. “Okay, okay, chill,” he says, holding up his hands. “I’ll call her Your Majesty.”
“What do you want?” I snap, wanting him out of here. Needing him out of here before I fucking kill him in front of my queen. “Actually, you know what? I don’t fucking care. Say one word and I’ll kill you.”
“Richard!” Turning to me, Arienna places a hand over my heart. “What’s wrong?”
She cups my face, drawing my eyes to her. Concern and confusion looks back at me from two pink pools. But there isn’t any fear, shame, or a desire to be out of this asshat’s presence.
“Talk to me,” she murmurs.
Looking into her eyes, I know Lief hasn’t touched her. A small portion of my tension eases.
“How do you know him?” I ask softly. “But don’t say his fucking name.”
My queen frowns. “He lives on my street. Well, he did before his house burned down.”
“What happened to it?”
She ducks her head.
“Arienna,” I say, stressing her name, warning her not to test me on this.
She blows out a breath, then lowers her voice. “Fabia burned it down.”
“Fabia…”
The fucking bastard.
My eyes shift over her to him.
He’s fucking smiling.
Rising from my throne, I release my wife’s hand.
I’m on him in a godsdamn second. A knife appears in my hand.
Then it disappears into his stomach. My arm wraps around the back of his neck as I yank him in close.
“Just relax,” I snarl into his ear. “It won’t be as bad then.
” Yanking the knife up, I hit his ribcage.
I pull back to aim again when a scream shatters my resolve.
Shoving him away, I turn towards the noise. Arienna is sprawled out on the floor at the base of the stairs, cradling her arm and crying.
“Get him out of here and to a healer,” Jace orders as he steps in so I can step away. “And grab a cleaning wand.”
I lunge into the air. Three flaps of my wings have me landing beside my queen. “Where does it hurt?” I demand as Lief’s screams fade behind me. If he caused her to hurt herself by rushing down the stairs to save his pathetic skin, I’m going to skin him alive.
“Ow, ow, ow,” she cries, her face mostly hidden by her hair.
I still, a smile pulling at my lips as the tension eases from my shoulders. She’s faking it. I can hear it in her too-high voice that doesn’t quiver with nearly enough pain.
She holds her arm to her chest as she slowly sits up. She glances at me through her hair. “It’s fine,” she assures me. “I am feeling much better now.”
I reach for her, my eyes never leaving her face. “Just a moment ago, you were crying in pain.”
“I wasn’t crying,” she says as I take her arm to study it, needing to check and make sure. “I was informing you that I’d fallen.” Her arm shakes in my hands. Her face is pale. Her eyes flicker around me, then widen, and I know she’s seeing the blood and bits that inconsiderate asshole left behind.
“Clean it up,” I say over my shoulder. “Now.”
“We’re already on it,” Jace replies.
Cupping her face, I move my head so I’m back in her line of sight. “Look at me.”
“Why did you do that?” she asks. “I thought you were going to kill him.”
“Is that why you ‘rushed down the stairs and fell’?”
Her eyes snap to mine. “His scream… How do you live with them?”
My jaw tics as the double doors close behind us. The people outside will want to know if they should wait or go home, but all I care about is soothing the worries of my queen.
“It’s part of being king. I listen to them so no one else has to.
” Like when I killed all the children during the Feast of Kulther and during the Massacre of Yanaho – so none of my soldiers would have to carry those faces in their dreams. By the time we reached those two places, the zombie fungi had already infected too many of them.
We couldn’t take the risk of leaving any survivors for it to spread.
But will she understand the blood on my hands? Or will she go back to seeing only the Demon of Raza? Ignoring the tightness in my stomach, I kiss my way up her wrist to her elbow. “Don’t scare me like that again,” I murmur.
Her lips work, but no sound comes out. Cursing myself for stabbing the prick in front of her, I pull her into my arms. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” I say.
She blinks. Then shakes her head. “I don’t get why you did it.”
Before I can find the impossible words to explain without hurting her, changing her, Jace appears beside me.
“What?” I snap as I turn to him, not bothering to mask my irritation. He gestures to a woman stepping through one of the servant doors at the side of the dais.
Fabia is striding towards us, fury in her every step.
My jaw tightens as I rise. I know exactly what she is here for. Every citizen has the right to challenge another to a match inside a fairy ring.
“No,” I say before she can even open her mouth. I move towards her, lowering my voice, making sure the point goes home. “You will not speak about this now.”
As hotheaded as she is, Fabia is a recruit in my guard. To disobey a direct order from me will get her discharged. Her fists clenching, she clearly struggles to keep whatever she wants to say down. Her silver eyes flicker to Arienna as my queen rises behind me.
Fabia exhales sharply. Nodding, she turns on her heels and leaves the room.
My shoulders tense, I head after her.
“What was that?” Arienna asks as she scurries in my wake.
“Nothing.” The lie slides off so easily, but it sits heavy in my chest. I don’t want to hide anything from her, but she greeted Lief with a smile of purity. She doesn’t know the monster he truly is.
“Richard –”
Stopping suddenly, I pivot around and grab her by the waist. She yelps as I lift her off the ground. Kissing her hard, I silence her questions. “Don’t ask me,” I say against her lips. “I don’t want to lie to you.”
“Then don’t.”
Exhaling roughly, I lean my forehead against hers. “It’s not my secret to tell.”
Her pale-pink eyes search mine. A frown pulls at her lips that I want more than anything to soothe away. But telling her won’t do that. Nor will hiding this from her.
“Is Fabia in danger?” she asks in concern.
“No.”
“Is she hurt?”
I hesitate. “Not physically.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“I can’t say.”
“Does it have something to do with what you did to Lief?”
“Arienna, please.”
Her lips purse, and she looks away. Eventually, she nods.
After a quick kiss, I lower her back to the ground. “I need to talk to her in private,” I say as I exit the Throne Room. “Stay here with Jace.”
She makes a noise of protest, but nothing substantial passes her lips.
“Look after her,” I order him as I leave.
He doesn’t bother with an answer, and I doesn’t pause to listen. I know he’ll guard her with his life and that for all his flirtations, he won’t do a thing about it without permission. Jace’s heart belongs to one person and one person only. Everyone else is just a game.
Catching up with Fabia down the hall, I grab her arm and pull her into a room. The door shuts behind us, leaving us in the dark. After turning on the light, I look her in the eye. “I know what his crimes are,” I say softly.
“Then why won’t –”
“Because Arienna doesn’t know, does she?”
She looks away, her jaw tight. “I never felt the need to tell her.”
“And I get why, but if you challenge him, she will find out.”
Her emotions war across her face – her need for revenge, her need to protect her friend.
“I’ll have Echo enrol him in my guard,” I say.
Her eyes snap to me, hating me for forcing him into her space. Her lips part, but then they still. As she searches my face, understanding slowly takes root. “Accidents happen…” she murmurs.
I nod. “Especially in the pit. Choose your moment. And Fabia?” I wait for her to focus on me and not on whatever thoughts are coursing through her mind.
“What?”
“Make sure the fucker suffers.”
A slow, demented smile curls her lips.
Leaving her in that random room, I make my way back to my wife. But despite knowing Lief will never be able to hurt her or anyone else again, every step I take fills me with dread. Nothing good ever survives in Raza, and I’m so damn terrified of losing her to this place.
The Court will break her.
And if not them, then the wars.
And if not that, then the sight of our soldiers coming home – crippled in mind and body, returning to a kingdom that’s as violent as the front lines.
Nothing good ever lasts in Raza, I know.
But she will, I vow as I step back into the Throne Room and see my wife. I’ll make damn fucking sure of it.