On the evening of the eighth day, Kon and I were leaving the workroom when two guards approached us. One of them held a set of manacles. I froze when I saw the chains. They weren't the props that Niko liked to use in his bedroom; they were the real thing. Magic-quelling manacles that were used on criminals. Once they were on me, I wouldn't be able to defend myself or shift.
“Lord Mikhail, you are under arrest for suspicion of treason,” Sir Ivan said. He lowered his voice to add, “I'm so sorry, my lord, but we have to chain you.”
“Treason?” Konstantin stepped between us. “By what evidence do you charge him of such?”
“This is not your business, Lord Konstantin,” Sir Timur said.
“The hell it isn't. Lord Mikhail has been assisting me for over a week now. When has he had the time for this supposed treason?”
“Lord Konstantin, thatisthe treason. I haven't asked the King for permission to assist you, or even informed him,” I said as I held my hands out to the guards.
I don't think it had truly registered with Konstantin that I was risking my life by being with him. Just helping him without the King's permission was an act of rebellion, but if Nikolay had discovered that I was becoming romantically involved with Konstantin—a man he'd offered me to as a prize that he had no intention of ever awarding? The Swan King would be losing his feathers over it. And he'd make sure that I lost even more than that.
This was my fault. I'd known that he'd be angry about me working with Konstantin and I also knew he'd find out. How could he not? I'd be traipsing around the castle in the Garin's company. Of course, someone would tell the King. But I'd been living in a fantasy world, trying to steal as much time with Konstantin that I could without the King ruining it. Honestly, I thought he'd send for me and I'd have to grovel, but treason? I didn't think he'd actually have me arrested for treason. Unless Kon and I hadn't been as careful as we'd thought, and Nikolay had evidence of my betrayal.
Then I was fucked.
Konstantin had gone still, but it wasn't like the stillness I'd exhibited just moments earlier. This was the stillness of a predator, not prey. The quiet of a beast lurking within tall grass. Eyes gleaming, teeth bared, and tongue testing the air. Claws digging in the earth, preparing to leap.
“Interfere, and we will arrest you too,” Sir Timur delivered the warning with a snide grin.
“Thank you for your concern, Garin, but you cannot help me,” I said firmly to Kon as Sir Ivan shackled my wrists.
“Tell the King that—”
“No!” I cut him off. “Do not make threats on my account. You will only make this worse.” I nodded to the knights—both members of Nikolay's King's Guard. “Why do you hesitate? Let's go.”
They marched me away from Konstantin and although he growled like a caged beast, I didn't look back. My stomach churned and my chest constricted, but I didn't even glance at him. Everything that we said or did now would be reported to the King. If not by Ivan, then most assuredly by Timur. As much as I disliked Timur—a feeling that was undoubtedly returned—I didn't blame him for that. We were all tools of the Swan King. Tools or toys as the whim took him. And when you were a tool, it was in your best interest to perform at your best.
They marched me through the corridors, past gaping courtiers who quickly lowered their eyes and into the royal wing of the castle. Nikolay's elite knights stood at their posts, every ten feet along the hallway to his bedchambers, but none of them spoke as we passed. They just stared straight ahead as if the Royal Consort got arrested every day. Once we reached the gilded door to the King's bedchambers, Ivan opened it, and Timur pushed me inside. I stumbled forward, catching myself on one of the chairs in the sitting area.
I wasn't surprised to find the Larch King sprawled on the couch before the fireplace, the same spot he'd been in that night when he offered me to Konstantin. His legs were wide apart as they'd been that night as well, but this time, Lord Pyotr knelt between them. Although Nikolay was mostly clothed, with only his pants unbuttoned, Pyotr was naked and avidly sucking the royal cock.
“Here he is, Your Majesty,” Sir Ivan announced as if there was nothing unusual about the way we'd found the King.
Because there wasn't.
“Yes, very good. Leave him and the key to his manacles.” Nikolay waved his hand indolently toward a side table, then tapped Pyotr's head.
Sir Ivan set the key to my shackles on the table and left with Sir Timur. Meanwhile, Pyotr sat back on his heels, genteelly wiped his lips, then stood. Nikolay tucked his glistening member back into his pants and buttoned them before waving Pyotr to a chair. Pyotr sent me a sympathetic glance on his way to his seat—the one opposite the chair I leaned against.
I stepped in front of Nikolay and waited, my chained hands before me.
“Misha,” Nikolay drew out my name as he looked me over. “I never expected such betrayal from you.”
I went to my knees and bowed my head. “I know I should have mentioned my work with the Garin to you, but I was afraid that you'd tell me to stop, and our people are more at ease with me there. I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. I beg your forgiveness.”
“Yourworkwith him?” the Larch King sat forward and narrowed his eyes at me. “Is that all you're doing? Because I've heard that you've dined with him every night, Mishen'ka.”
I shivered. Mishen'ka was a diminutive version of my name, one given children, something a mother might call her son. Nikolay only used it when he wanted to remind me of our past. Of how much I owed him. And how insignificant I was compared to him. And it worked. Every time he used that name, I felt like a child.
I managed to force some words past the constriction in my throat, “That's true. At the end of the day, we share a meal and discuss our findings.”
“Just a meal?”
Pyotr shifted, crossing his legs so they pointed away from us. Distancing himself as much as possible. But I knew he wouldn't be dismissed. He was there for a reason, even if it was just to humble me further.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I said. “Have I been accused of sharing more with him?”
