Ryper snorted. “Not from me. What I’m thinking is we missed a few heads we should have mounted on pikes.”
“Starting with Meara’s.”
They both turned to stare at Dove over that harsh comment.
Dove didn’t even flinch. “Don’t look at me like that. If the two of you had listened to me and killed the bitch when I told you to, we wouldn’t have to march an army into Licordia and kill her now, would we?” He met Dash’s gaze and the hatred there went all the way to Dove’s soul. “This time, can I have her throat?”
Dash wanted to be reasonable. He wanted to be the king Marthen had trained him to be and not the blood son ofhis ruthless mother and coldhearted father. But honestly... he craved her throat as much as Dove did. “I can’t promise you that, Dove.”
“Why not?”
“Because if I get to her first, I’m going to kill her.”
Chapter 16
What are we going to do?”
Bink shushed the stupid human as he tried to think of something, anything to get them out of this. So much for having control of the situation.
He had control of nothing.
“We have to stay hidden,” he whispered to Fort, forcing the human to crouch down. They were in one of the lower rooms of the palace, doing their best to stay out of sight and away from the hearing of the centaurs.
At this point, he didn’t know if Keryna was alive or dead. Nor did he care. Meara had tortured her for the wand that he still had in the pouch at his side.
A part of him wanted to use it to barter with the queen. But the saner part of him knew better than to try. There was no reasoning with her. She was even more ruthless than Dash.
The one good thing about the High King was that he didn’t believe in torture. He punished those who deserved it and at times he made an example of them. But unlike the queen, he didn’t relish cruelty.
She did.
Even now, Bink heard the screams of those who were begging for mercy. Begging for death.
That evil bitch enjoyed the sounds of it. She treated it like a symphony and even dined while they suffered.
How had he lost control of this so quickly? He still didn’t know. He was supposed to be king. Not hiding like a rat in a sewer.
Fort was supposed to be a celebrated dragon slayer.
Now...
They would be lucky to escape with their lives and appendages.
Think, Bink. Think.
He still had the golden wand. That meant that, at the worst, he had something with which to bargain. Meara was tearing apart the palace and everyone she could in her efforts to find what he had.
That gave him an advantage.
You can’t negotiate with crazy.
He knew that, too.
But the stupid human didn’t. He glanced over to Fort as he considered his options.
Humans did have their uses.
“Fort... I have something you can do.”
