Cassarah
“Seems it wasn’t just the queen you were sleeping with, is it, Sir Roulf,” I said, announcing my presence as I strode to the bed. “Being a messenger of the Lost King, it would only be fitting that you would keep a close eye on the royals.”
King Thomas scrambled away from Sir Roulf, snatching up a robe to cover himself. His partner, on the other hand, seemed to have no shame in me discovering them. Roulf grinned at me proudly, placing his hands on his hips, trying to draw my attention to his cock.
“It seems I wasn’t able to finish… care to help me out?” he asked with a purr to his words. “I’m told by the palace staff you are quite skilled in your way around men’s bodies… two at once is something.”
I grabbed a pillow on the verge of being knocked off the bed and chucked it at him.
“Cover yourself, you blithering idiot. With eight highly-skilled men to please me, why would I need a rat like you in my bed?” I turned my attention to the king, who looked as if he was praying for the floor to open up and swallow him whole.
“So how does it feel to be fucked by the Lost King’s informant?
It’s a miracle he doesn’t already sit on the throne with how you handed it over to him on a silver platter. ”
Clasping my hands behind my back, I slowly rounded the bed to face him.
“It’s obvious you didn’t know about this man, or your binding contract with me regarding our alliance would have struck you down where you kneeled.
Tell me why should I help a fool like you?
He was sleeping with your wife, for fuck’s sake! ”
King Thomas bowed his head as no true king ever should in the presence of rival royalty.
“I am weak. Men have always been my preference, but as king, I have a duty to my people to produce an heir. I love my wife, she is incredibly dear to me, but I don’t feel about her the way I do with men.
It was easy with Roulf. I knew he could keep a secret because he never once told me anything about my wife, even when I asked him.
I knew something was changing, but I couldn’t figure out what.
He told me he would tell me what I wanted to know, but then he would do the same for my wife.
She would know that I don’t love her that way. ”
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Roulf trying to sneak out of the room. Calling on my Birthright, I shot an arrow just ahead of him, bringing him to a screeching halt. “Guardians!” I yelled.
Jade and Izel charged into the room, swords at the ready. When they saw the naked man clutching his clothes and a pillow, they paused.
“Would you please keep an eye on Sir Roulf? He has much to tell us,” I instructed.
Izel took a moment to check me over, ensuring I was fine, before grabbing the idiot by the back of the neck and dragging him out of the room.
Jade hung back, searching the space for any other dangers that might befall me.
Satisfied I would be fine, he caught my eye.
“We are right outside the door. We’ve already removed all the king’s staff, so it’s just us in here now. ”
“Thank you, Jade,” I answered, giving him a soft smile. “The king and I will just be a moment. I’m sure he would like to put on some clothes before dealing with this traitor situation.”
Jade nodded and pulled the door shut but didn’t let it latch, making it faster for them to get in.
“So tell me, King Thomas, are there any other secrets I should know about?” I asked, taking a seat in one of the armchairs in the room.
“I’m fully aware that what you’ve done by your law isn’t frowned upon, but that’s not why this is so incredibly awful.
If I’d been aware of your intimate relationship with Sir Roulf, then I would have spared you this whole encounter.
He spoke to me last night and all but told me the Lost King was far more in control of this kingdom than anyone even knew.
Clearly, he wasn’t underselling the situation. ”
King Thomas sat in the chair across from me, letting his head fall into his hands.
“How could I have been such a fool? It was so easy to give in to what I wanted rather than to think about what else could be at stake. You’ll learn soon enough this role is about giving up everything to serve your people, and I just wanted something that was mine. ”
“He wasn’t yours. He was with your wife as well,” I countered, utterly confused. “Wouldn’t it seem odd that one person was in both your beds? It’s the easiest place for someone to watch, listen, and control things while blinding you to the truth.”
“When you explain it like that, I suppose this all seems idiotic to you. Our kingdom wanted to create freedom for our people in a way that would solve situations like my own. We have a duty to family, to our heritage, and to keep the line going, but we also enjoy what we enjoy,” King Thomas reasoned, giving me a look that begged me to understand.
“Do you understand that I don’t care who you sleep with, be it male, female, both, neither?
What the issue here is that because you let your cock do the thinking, you allowed a man who has an allegiance to the Lost King into your bed and probably has been destroying all your hard work from the inside out,” I explained, leveling him with a stern gaze.
At these words, the king seemed to wilt in front of me as he nodded in understanding.
There was nothing more I could do about what had already transpired.
Now, I had to help fix the problem. Pushing up out of the chair, I brushed out my skirts as I tried to process what needed to happen next.
“Get dressed, take the time to pull yourself together, and when you walk out that door, I want to see King Thomas, ruler of Creisal. We have a kingdom to save, a madman to stop, and we just found one of his moles doing his dirty work. I’m going to take that as a gift and see what we can get from him. ”
Without checking to see how he took my instructions, I left the bedroom.
Dayson stood just outside the door and clearly listened to everything that had been said.
His face betrayed how he felt about what he’d heard, and if I had the luxury of being that free with my emotions, I would be right there with him, strangling the king for his idiocy.
“Where did they take him?” I asked.
Dayson didn’t answer. He just led the way, his hands clenched into fists and his steps heavy with anger.
I expected to end up in a sitting room of some kind, but instead, they brought me to the bathing room.
It was twice the size as mine, and as I entered, I saw Jade pulling Roulf’s head out of the tub and plopping him into a chair.
“You and I both know you have plenty to share with us, Roulfie boy. This is just the beginning. You have no idea what the others might be able to do with their Birthrights,” Jade taunted as he circled the half-drowned man.
He caught sight of me and paused as if worried how I would react to seeing him torture a person.
Unbothered, I walked up to the lying traitor, crossed my arms, and waited.
Roulf looked at me out of his one good eye, the other swollen shut from the bruising.
He looked bedraggled but not at all like he was willing to talk.
The rage in that one eye told me he never thought he would get caught, which was rather foolish of him.
As if we were in a battle of wills, neither of us looked away from the other.
He was waiting for me to speak first, but I wasn’t going to give him one spec of information I didn’t have to.
There was no telling what he knew or didn’t at this point.
I knew some kind of power source hidden here in Creisal allowed Henry to do what he’d pulled on me.
There was no other way to explain how he could speak to me in a dream state.
I could feel my men shifting around me, each wanting to step in and make him talk, but they held back.
While the mercenaries were never taught interrogation skills, so to speak, they taught us how to use people’s faults to our advantage.
Sir Roulf was a man of pomp and circumstance.
He’d created a nice life here in the castle, and it was all falling away before his eyes.
“Did you spank the king good and hard for being a bad boy?” he snarled, shaking the water out of his face, splattering me with it.
Cole started to move, but I held up a hand to stop him.
“My, my… it seems you have all your men so well trained. I’m sure you’ll have the king whipped into shape in no time.”
Before my brain could stop my body, I felt my hand connect with Roulf’s face, the sound of the slap echoing in the room. “I would advise you against speaking about my men in such a manner.”
Roulf shook his head as if I’d rattled his brain with the blow. “I’m sorry, Your Highness, was that a touchy subject for you? I wouldn’t want to offend you, seeing as you are in control of whether I live or die.”
“Drop the act. I’ve already seen who you really are last night. Do us both a favor and just speak to me normally,” I shot back, my patience growing thin at his tone.
Upon my request, his whole demeanor changed and out came the scumbag he truly was. “If that’s what you wish, but you might not like my true personality all that much.”
“Anything would be better than what you’re giving me right now,” I answered and started to pace in front of him.
“Obviously, you were sleeping with the king to keep him under your control. The Lost King said himself he would have killed him if it wasn’t too much work.
Why in the world would you risk what happened here today unless you were just trying to prove a point to me? ”