“So, this is what I need to do to get you to kneel before me?” Hemlock asked.
I flinched back from his words. Oh God, no, no, no. I didn’t want him to think that. I couldn’t have him chaining up Mathias every time I came into the throne room planning on murdering him, could I now?
“No.” I gritted my teeth and choked over the words. “No, my lord.”
Bile burned at the back of my throat.
In front of me, Mathias lurched forward, yet got nowhere, only yanked back violently by the chains that bound him.
“How does it feel, my child? To see your lover like this.”
Lover? Did I miss the good parts or something? “He is not my lover,” I spat out the words.I can’t let him know that hurting Mathias would hurt me, can I?
My heart was beating so hard and fast I wondered if the dead could hear its wild patter and betray my thoughts and emotions.
Hemlock leaned forward, resting his elbows heavily on his knees. His eyes pierced their icy deadness right through me.
I looked back and forth between him and Mathias and honestly was as a loss as to what to do. Running to him would give me up in a second. No, I needed to place all my attention on Hemlock and make him believe I was a loyal person to his throne. So, I lifted my gaze slowly and locked them on the dead king’s.
“Then what is he to you?”
“No one,” I stammered, the lie coating my mouth with a dryness I’d never felt before. It crept up my throat and licked fire over my tongue.
“Would you like for me to show my son mercy for what he’s done?”
Yes, God yes. But I knew if I begged and pleaded, I would only make things worse for Mathias. “What has he done, my lord?” Again, I choked and gasped on the words as if they were poison.
The king smiled. It was sinister and creepy and scurried chills up my spine that bit hard into the base of my neck.
“He’s played with something that was not his to play with.”
Me? Was he talking about me?
I stayed completely still, showing no emotion.
“Do you believe when someone works against their king there should be retribution paid?”
Fml.How the hell was I supposed to answer that without making things worse?“Where I come from, my lord,” I stuttered, “things like that are punishable, and people do things like community service and stuff to learn from their mistakes, to, you know, like, never do those things again…” Okay, I sounded like an idiot.Think, think, think. Think of anything smart to say to get him to get the chains off Mathias.
“And you? Where does your loyalty lie?”
“My loyalty is to you.” I’d cross my heart and hope to die, but I figured it didn’t get any worse than where I was already.
“Is it?” His smile curled down at each corner. Behind him, Mathias fought and screamed out against the gag that muffled his mouth.
Shit.I have a bad feeling about this. I felt as if I were walking a tight rope and someone was about to shove me right off.
The king took a long loud breath in. His hand reached up to his chin as if thinking hard about something—pretending, really. I was sure he knew exactly what his plan was no matter what I said.
Would he make me watch them whip Mathias?
I would heal him.
Would they chain him up and keep him in some god-contained prison?
I would find him.
Would they give me another ten—no, twenty—lashes?
