Page 79 of Ruling the Green

“Every drop of joy inside him. I can simply pull it out, hold onto it, torture them with the absence.”

“I mean… is it really that torturous?” Nira asked. “I was wildly lacking in joy my whole life. I’m doing alright.”

“It’s different,” Vishen said. “It’s like you’ve been scooped out. All your joy, hope, love, everything good… it’s gone. All that’s left is shadow and a depression so deep you could drown in it.”

“How do you know that?” Nira asked. “Oh, God. You let him do it to you?”

“I needed to understand,” Vishen said, shrugging it off.

“But you put it back in Vishen?” Serin asked.

“Yeah. I can put it back.”

“But you didn’t do that to the redhead,” she said. “You… you squashed it.”

“Because that motherfucker didn’t deserve to ever have it back.”

“Okay,” Vishen said. “The question is… what happens to him now?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never done that.”

“If he has no joy, no hope, might he not seek the true death?” Nira asked.

“And before then, how motivated would he be to go back to Grimwood and tell him what happened? And at whose hand?” Vishen asked.

“If he has no joy anymore, wouldn’t that remove the desire for coin?” Nira asked. “Which would be the only thing Grimwood has to offer him.”

“Maybe. But Grimwood isn’t above hunting him down and torturing answers out of him. He might not feel joy, but he can still hurt,” Vishen said.

“Fuck,” I said, dropping down on the foot of the bed, scrubbing my hands down my face. “I should have just killed him.”

“Is it really so bad if people find out you have powers?” Serin asked. “Isn’t that a good thing? People are less likely to try to hurt you.”

“It’s something I might be willing to have known publicly when the throne is mine. But my father will turn me into a weapon if he knew now.”

“He can’t make you do anything, though, can he?”

“Sure he can. By using the people I care about against me. Vishen. Nira. You. Trust me, my father would have you strung up and tortured if it meant he could use my power against his enemies.”

“We could try to look for the redhead,” Vishen suggested. “Take him out before he makes it back to Grimwood.”

“If that is where he’s headed, he’s likely already there. I think we are going to need to assume that this is information that is going to come out sooner or later.”

“Which means we need to make our moves sooner than we hoped,” Vishen said.

I sighed.

“Yeah.”

“The tournament is in five days. It’s the most likely time you will face Grimwood again,” Vishen said. “We need a plan ironed out that we can implement directly after if he decides to out your powers.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Alright. All four of us. Daybreak. Bring your best—or most unhinged—ideas.”

It was time to take this throne from my father.

Before one of his enemies did it.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN