“No. I think not.”
“Very good. My firefly will seek you out when the moment is right. You may count on her to lead the way. Forgive me, Your Majesty.” He bowed. “It grows later by the minute, and I must now be gone. Already I have said too much.”
He turned to leave.
“Wait,” she said softly, grabbing his arm. “Will you not at least tell me your name?”
He stared at her bandaged hand on his arm for a beat too long, and when he looked up, he said, “I am Hazan, Your Majesty. You may depend on me with your life.”
Twenty-Four
KAMRAN SAID NOTHING AT ALLduring the long walk with his grandfather, his mind spinning with all manner of confusion and betrayal. He swore to himself he wouldn’t jump to any absolute conclusions until he heard the whole explanation from the king, but it grew harder by the minute to ignore the rage simmering in his blood, for they did not appear to be heading to the king’s chambers, as Kamran had first assumed, and he could not envisage now where his grandfather was leading him.
Never in his life could he have imagined the king sending mercenaries to his room in the dead of night.
Why?
What had happened to their relationship in so brief a time as to inspire such cruelty? Such lunacy?
Luckily, the king did not keep him wondering for long.
The path they followed grew darker and colder as they went, the circuitous path growing both familiar and alarming. Kamran had wandered this way precious few times in his life, for he’d seldom had cause to visit the palace dungeons.
A bolt of panic branched up his spine.
His grandfather was still several paces ahead, and the prince heard the groan of a metal cage opening before he saw its primeval design. That a trio of torches had been litin anticipation of his arrival was shocking enough, but that the illumination forced the coarse, clawed-out corners of this sinister space into sharp relief rendered this horror only too real. Kamran’s fear and confusion further electrified as the steady drip of some unnamed liquid beat the ground between them, the smell of rot and wet filling his nose.
He had stepped into a nightmare.
Finally, King Zaal turned to face his grandson, and the prince, who even now should have bowed before his sovereign, remained standing.
Neither did he sheath his sword.
King Zaal stared at that sword now, studied the insolence of the young man with whom he shared these shadows. Kamran saw the barely restrained anger in his grandfather’s eyes, the outrage he did little to hide.
No doubt similar feelings were mirrored upon Kamran’s own face.
“As your king,” the older man said coldly, “I charge you presently with the crime of treason—”
“Treason?” Kamran exploded. “On what basis?”
“—and sentence you to an indefinite period of imprisonment in the royal dungeons, whence you will be released only to perform your duties, during which you will remain under strict surveillance, and after which you will be retur—”
“You would sentence me to this fate without trial, Your Majesty? Without proof? Have you gone mad?”
King Zaal took a sharp breath, his chin lifting at the insult. It was a moment before he spoke.
“As your king, I decree that your guilt is such that youforfeit a right to trial. But as your grandfather,” he added, with uncommon calm, “I offer you this single meeting during which you may attempt to exonerate yourself.
“If you fail to argue your own innocence in a timely manner, I will order the guards to shackle you without delay. If you then insist on fighting this modified sentence for so heinous a crime, you will force upon yourself the full punishment for treason and await your execution at sunrise, at which time you will die an honorable death by sword, in a location yet to be determined, your head severed from your body and impaled on a pike for seven days and seven nights for all the empire to bear witness.”
Kamran felt the blow of this declaration with his entire body, felt it shudder through him with breathtaking pain.
It left him hollow.
His grandfather—the man who’d raised him, who taught him most everything he knew, who’d been his role model all his life—was threatening him with execution? That King Zaal was even capable of such cruelty to his own kin was stunning enough, but more shattering was that Kamran could not begin to fathom what had brought them both to this moment.
Treason?
