So the king had other children. Or used to.
“What happened to them?” I asked… and regretted it instantly.
A maddening gleam lit Cedric’s eyes. “One came to Bremloc hoping for recognition as an heir. Before having the chance to meet with the king, however, he took an unfortunate tumble off the cliff, right into the sea. A fisherman found him sometime later half-eaten by sharks.”
My gut coiled. No need to ask about the others. They had undoubtedly met similar fates. How many of them had this psycho murdered?
“As for you?” His eyes narrowed. “I’m told my father fucked some whore while campaigning for peace with Haran years and years ago. The moment you came screaming into this world, that same whore sold you off for a bag of copper coins.”
“Wow. Copper? You’d think I’d at least be worth silver.”
The mercenary pressed his lips together and looked toward the lit hearth.
“Peasants take what they can get their filthy hands on. I’m sure she would’ve sold you for a loaf of bread.” When Cedric’s nostrils flared, I imagined steam wafting out. Like an enraged cartoon bull. “However, even a loaf of bread would be paying too much for you.”
“Only if it was fig bread. I’m definitely inferior to such a delicacy.”
“The ground I stand on is superior to you,” he said with a scowl. “You’re nothing but a street rat who’s scampered his way through the sewers of society, whoring and thieving to survive.”
“Whoring and thieving,” I repeated, beyond confused now.
Quite the story he told. But it damn sure wasn’t mine.
“Being the bastard of a king gave you quite the reputation, allowing you to make a decent amount of coin selling your body. The closest those men will ever get to sticking their dirty pricks into a royal. You’ve since gambled away the little money you earned, racking up a large debt and making enemies of the wrong men.”
“Uh… what?” A laugh tried to work its way free, but I shoved it down. What the crap was he talking about? This shit was just getting stranger and stranger. “So I’m a street rat slash prostitute with a gambling addiction? Is that what you’re saying?”
“It’s the truth. No sense in denying it now.”
“The truth. I see.” What I saw was bullshit. “Why am I in Bremloc, then?”
“The same reason the other bastards came here,” Cedric said, eyes like daggers. “To take what isn’t yours. I imagine that little hovel you call a café has delayed your plans, being more prosperous than expected. It even helped settle some of your debts. You’ve also seduced powerful men in the meantime, like the knight captain and the court physician, using all you’ve learned from your years spent in the brothel to manipulate them.”
“Okay.” I lightly scratched at my jaw before nodding to the mercenary. “How does he come into this?”
“Now that, I presume, you truly don’t know.” Cedric helped himself to more wine. Too bad it didn’t shut him up for long. “One of the men you fucked in the brothel is a mage. I’m told his interests lie in dark magic, and one of the spells he wishes to master requires the blood of a royal.”
“My blood?”
The mercenary looked at me, his earlier amusement gone.
“Bastard or not, you’re still of royal descent. A degree of power lies in our blood.” Cedric eyed me over his goblet. “Only someone with a death wish would dare target an actual member of the royal family, but you aren’t granted those same protections.”
“I feel so special.”
“Well, you won’t feel anything soon enough. The mage who hired Stryder to collect you wants to sacrifice you for a spell, draining every drop of blood from your body.”
“Stryder?” I looked at the mercenary. “That’s your name?”
“It is.”
“And you were hired by a dark mage to kidnap me so I can be sacrificed?”
Though faint, the muscle in his cheek twitched. “Aye.”
Liar. How he managed to lie under the influence of a truth serum, I had no idea. But if it kept Prince Psycho from learning the real truth, so be it.
“Once Stryder told me the truth about you, I realized we could help each other.” Cedric turned toward the balcony doors and peered outside, slowly turning the goblet in his hand. “I made sure that spy of yours hiding in the shadows was called away before having Stryder freed from his cell. The plan was then set in motion.”
