“Fine! We’ll meet here at the camp in two weeks. I want to make that blubbering idiot of her son feel some pain to remind her who’s really in charge around here,” he said to Jason.
The Monster King stood up from his desk and strode across the plush carpet toward the door. He pushed it open so forcefully that it slammed against the wall. He then flicked his veilroot smoke onto the ground outside and stepped into the courtyard to take in the view.
A man had been tied to a post, and the Rozzers were whipping him across his back. Fresh blood was dripping onto the sandy ground, and the Dragors kept licking his back whenever they had the chance.
The Monster King smiled brightly. He enjoyed watching new torment, loved ruling with an iron fist, and above all, relished being the man everyone here feared.
Jason stepped up beside him and observed the tortured man with a look of boredom. The man’s screams each time the whip hit his back caused the Dragors to hiss in excitement.
“Have you heard if your source has retrieved the stone yet?” Jason asked him.
“Not yet, but they should have it soon,” he replied. The stone was part of a set of keys he needed to collect, and once he had all of them, nothing could stop him.
“Have you decided what to do with Lord Mordred?” Jason askedhim curiously, raising his eyebrows and leaning in toward the Monster King.
“That fucking puppet,” the Monster King seethed. “He tried to get in my way. He was the reason why Seda and that fucking Lionne were able to escape to begin with.” The Monster King spat on the floor and kicked a plume of sand into the air. His anger was flaming, and Lord Mordred was at the center of it all. “I gave that man so much to live for. I let him lead and be prayed to, just as he always wanted, and this is how he repaid me. For now, he is going about his days like nothing happened. Like I don’t know he was behind it.”
Jason’s face returned to its usual bored expression as he listened to the Monster King.
“I think…” The Monster King looked toward Jason and smiled. “I think we will introduce a new lord to Joro. Joro needs a lord whohas respect. We will plan a celebration, imprison Mordred, and put you in his place. Everyone will believe he is dead, and I can punish him as I see fit.” He chuckled, admiring his creativity.
Jason bowed deeply. “I’m here to serve, my king.”
A bound and gagged woman was dragged across the sandy ground toward the Monster King by a Rozzer and roughly thrown onto the dirt.
As he circled her, the Monster King gazed down, taking in her appearance. She tried to kick at him, but he quickly moved out of the way and nodded toward the Rozzer. “She’ll do. Bring her inside.”
The Rozzer dragged the woman into the Monster King’s office, her muffled screams following her as she went through the door. The Monster King smiled and looked at Jason as he adjusted his pants. “Schedule that time with the Jotnar. We will meet again and come up with a plan for Mordred. His ‘death’ needs to beexciting.”
He left Jason in the courtyard and went back into his office, shutting and locking the door.
Chapter 44
Seda
“We need to go after him, Benny!” Seda yelled after her brother refused her request for the third time.
“We can’t, Seda. I’m sorry. We need to head further north. If he left at three a.m., he’d be well south by now. He has a nine-hour head start,” Benny replied as patiently as he could.
“Seda, your brother is right. We need to get you to the Wisps,” Roya delicately said from her side.
She looked at Roya, and her anger flared. She was mostly angry with herself for trusting someone so closely only to be betrayed… again.
“I’ve had that necklace for as long as I can remember.Mom said I was carrying it when she found me. It’s gotta mean something, Benny! Why else would Kalon steal it? What would he need it for?”
“Seda, let me fly south to find him,” Elco suggested from the side of the group.
Seda looked at Elco. “The last time I let someone I care about leave me, they didn’t come back for days, and I couldn’t eat without fearing they wouldn’t return.”
“I’ll do as you wish, Seda. But know that I can fly much faster than any of you can walk. I could catch up to him and bring him back here so you can do with him as you please,” Elco replied.
That did sound nice.Maybe she could fry Kalon’s insides and make that silky hair of his crispy?
“Alright, but if you can’t find him by nightfall, please come back to me,” she said, her voice heavy with a sigh as she ran her fingers through her hair.
“If we leave now, we can probably get to the Wisps early tomorrow,” Ferona said.
Seda nodded. “Fine. But if anything happens to you, Elco, I will haunt you even after your death.” She approached him and gave him a firm hug. “Come back to me, please.”
