The king sat behind a desk with stacks of papers. A short, slender woman in a plain dress stood off to his left, making notes as the king spoke, while another older woman with her gray hair tied in a soft bun stood on his right, nodding. At a guess, one was an assistant, and the other was an advisor. A line of men and women stood in front of the king, each holding papers.
Meanwhile, Ryze kept Hugo at the rear of the room. Hugo listened as the ministers from the various departments brought the king spring planting estimates, road problems, security problems, and even demands for new ships. The king listened, nodding here and there, but he never stopped writing. His eyes rarely lifted from his desk. King Victor seemed to need only a moment of thought before he shot out a response and sent the person on their way with his decree. Hugo couldn’t help but marvel at his decisiveness and the quickness with which he worked. It took him forever to decide which shirt to wear in the morning.
Hugo’s mind wandered as they waited. His gaze drifted over the room, taking in the subtly rich appointments from the thick curtains that covered the floor-to-ceiling windows to the beautiful rugs that stretched across the wood floors. While swords and weapons filled many of the nooks and crannies, screaming of power and military strength, there were hints of something softer. Here and there, a dark orchid design was woven into the various decorations, offering quiet grace and elegance to an otherwise manly room.
After about twenty minutes, the king glanced up, and their eyes locked. A gasp was locked in Hugo’s throat as he met those piercing blue eyes. It took him too long to remember to lower his eyes.
“Ryze,” King Victor barked.
The captain flinched. “Don’t move,” he instructed prior to walking across the room. He circled the desk and bent to whisper in the king’s ear. Hugo dared to lift his eyes to find Victor was still watching him. When Ryze finished speaking, the king nodded once.
“Everyone leave,” the king commanded.
No one said a word. Not even the balding man, who’d been in the middle of talking about hiring on new workers to help expand the drainage system in Onisa. Hugo gulped and began to walk out with all the others, not sure where he should go since he was technically a prisoner. It wasn’t as if they wanted him wandering free through the palace. Maybe he should wait outside the door for Captain Ryze to escort him to his cell.
“Not you.”
Hugo lifted his eyes to find King Victor pointing at him. Oh, this didn’t feel good at all. He stopped and edged back to the exact spot where Ryze had left him.
“You can leave, Ryze,” King Victor said a bit more lazily as he returned his attention to the papers in front of him on his desk.
Ryze retreated a step and bowed. “With respect, Your Majesty, I must protest. He’s a prisoner. Someone needs to be here to protect you. It’s my sworn duty.”
“I promised to behave.” The words jumped from Hugo’s tongue.
Ryze shot him a dark look. “You also threatened to fill every part of my body with glass until it crushed my organs. Not to mention, you could have rammed a glass needle through my heart.”
Hugo winced, his shoulders slumping. His stomach still turned queasy at the memory of what he’d said. In the heat of the moment, he’d meant every word, but it was something he prayed he’d never have to follow through with. His reply to Ryze was low but firm. “Yes, but I only said that because I needed youto understand how serious I was. I couldn’t let you take Prince Everand without me.”
There was a rough bark of noise that drew Hugo’s gaze to King Victor. It took him a heartbeat to realize the king had laughed.
“Go, Ryze. I can still kill him before he can kill me. Wait outside the door.” Ryze bowed and moved past the desk, not appearing happy at all. “Besides, he knows hurting me won’t save his precious prince from a death sentence.”
A chill ran down Hugo’s spine at those harsh words. He did know that. If anything happened to the king while Hugo was alone with him, he and Prince Everand would pay the price.
After the door thudded heavily behind Ryze, a suffocating silence blanketed the room. Hugo remained standing right where he was while the king’s attention returned to the work in front of him. He hadn’t been called forward, so he wouldn’t budge an inch. He refused to give the king a reason to find fault with him.
“You can come closer.”
Hugo took three steps, moving to the center of the room, but still quite far from the king.
Another minute passed, and the king tossed aside his pen, heaving a sigh. “I’m not going to fill you with knives if you come closer.”
Hugo took a few more steps, cutting the distance between them in half, but it was still quite far from the desk.
King Victor leveled a dark look at him, making it clear that Hugo was trying his patience.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. I’m not trying to be difficult. It’s just that it has been a very…busy three days, and I’m aware that I don’t smell…good. I would prefer not to subject Your Majesty to that.” Hugo bowed but jerked his head up as low, rumbling laughter rolled out of the king. To his surprise, the king lookedeven younger when he smiled. The light that entered his blue eyes reminded Hugo even more of Everand.
“I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Sorry,” Hugo mumbled.
The king rose gracefully from his desk and strolled to a table where an array of finger food and pitchers had been set out. “That answers my question about whether you’re another courtier or a noble’s useless son. They would have come up with some pretty flattery.” He poured himself a drink and then held the pitcher next to a second glass. “Wine?”
“Oh, yes please,” Hugo said, only to have curses immediately slip out. “Crap! No! I should be doing that, Your Majesty. Here…I…” But Hugo’s fumbling only caused King Victor to chuckle again as he continued to pour.
“Definitely not a noble’s son,” Victor repeated. He picked up both glasses and carried them to Hugo. As he got within a few feet, he made a noise and wrinkled his nose. “Yes, you are foul.”
