Chapter 64

If I had any reservations about killing a king, they were obliterated now.

"You think they're coming to save you."

The fact I was forced to spend the entire journey to the capital in close proximity to this odious little toad was the first indignity I was to suffer. The next was the way this… Magnus stared at me the whole time. He sprawled himself across the seat on his side of the carriage, like his muscles were too weak for him to sit properly, those piggish little eyes looking me over far too intently.

"You think you won't end the same way the others did." Jewelled fingers caressed a pewter mug he held, slowly and sinuously. "They all thought that, up until the point they died." His words were like a noose being slid around my neck. "They fight or hiss, or worse, cry." I watched his grip on the mug tighten, the relatively soft metal dimpling under his hold. "Right as I squeezed the life out of them."

Gods, I could see it, everything he described. Beautiful women with fine jewellery and even finer breeding, some dark haired, some blonde or red, but each one of their pulses fluttered frantically under his palm, as he choked them to death. But the last face I saw? It was my own, with none of the fury I felt right now in my eyes. Just fear, until that died as well. Before I could say a thing, the carriage hit a stone, rocking us back and forth, red wine splashing out of the mug and all over the king's chest.

He cursed, spluttered, pawed at his tunic, and shouted something foul before pitching the tankard out of an opened window. I ignored all of that. The spreading red stain on his tunic, that's what I focused on, trying to imagine a thicker, more viscous liquid. I told myself it was because I needed to acclimate to the idea of murdering a reigning king, just as I had learned to dance and speak and comport myself perfectly, but mostly it was because the idea of Magnus bleeding out was the only comfort to be gained from this entire trip. The king noted my attention, eyes narrowing and his lips curling in preparation of hurling insults at me because I dared witness a moment of his clumsiness, when I leaned forward.

"Stop the carriage," I said sharply.

"Why?" The smirk was back, and it was twice as hideous. "Thinking you can try and make your escape here?" He flipped the curtain back and stared out at the fields beyond. "You're unlikely to get far. It's a terribly long walk back to Stormare."

"I need to relieve myself," I said primly, which only made his leer widen.

"Well, then…" He rapped on the roof, and I heard the clatter of the horses' hooves slow, but when I went to wrench open the door, his hand was already there. "After you, Your Highness."

Arik could be just as insolent. It seemed somehow the two of them were born with the infuriating ability, but right now I would've done anything to hear the commander's arrogant voice. I stepped out into the cool morning air, breathing deeply before I looked around me. The press of my bodily functions wasn't that dire. Mostly I just wanted to get out of that damn carriage, away from Magnus, but I made a show of looking and then finding a small stand of trees by the side of the road, a little way back from where we'd stopped. I gathered my skirts in my hands and went to rush forward when his hand grabbed my arm.

How did Magnus know exactly where to grab me? His fingers found the bruises he'd left on my bicep and pressed right where they hurt the most. I hadn't been able to hold back the hiss of pain, something that had him grinning like a loon.

"Unhand me." That came out without thought, and I forced my teeth down on my tongue, lest I say something else. "Your Majesty, the need is growing quite pressing."

"And the finest flower of Stormare can't be allowed to wander around the wilds of Khean unescorted."

What? He'd left me to go about my business unmolested before. My toileting had become terribly regular as a result because it was my only respite from the king. I jerked my eyes sideways, ready to say just that when I caught his expression.

I'd watched cats playing lazily with mice, knowing they were going to kill them, unable to stop themselves from toying with the poor creatures until I chased them away. His expression was a perfect replica of that cruelty.

"I was left to my own devices before—" I protested.

"And I've changed my mind."

Whatever dreams I had of rescue or of being the cause of his bloody death, each faded as I was hauled along the road like a recalcitrant child, then thrust towards the trees when we reached them. Magnus didn't turn his back, however, approaching me slowly. I had a knife strapped to my thigh. I couldn't pull it out, not until the last minute. If he had any idea I was armed, I was sure my punishment would be swift and brutal, so my fingers twitched by my side, ready to grab for it if I needed to, while hoping I didn't.

"You think it amusing, to see your king spill his wine?" He said those words like he was reciting a capital crime. "You think it funny when I besmirch my tunic?"

"No, I—"

"I should make you clean it." He was on me so damn fast I didn't even notice him coming. His hand was around my throat, squeezing gently now, with the promise of a much more brutal hold. "Like a cat. Lick every drop off my clothing until it looks good as new, then I can put that mouth of yours to better use." He thrust a thumb between my lips, and I choked on the foul taste of his skin. I fought to pull free, but he held me tight. "Did they do that? Each and every one of them taking their turn, using the mouth of the woman who was given in marriage to me? Did they force you to swallow down their cum each night, over and over until it spilled from your lips?"

Every man wanted something from you, that I'd learned at court. Whether it was to represent an ideal of feminine purity or elegance or beauty, or for you to allow them to use you like a napkin, to wipe parts of their body on. I knew now that I needed to work out what that was and then decide if I wanted to give it to them. Magnus needed a victim. Someone who would cry and wail and protest, making him feel strong because any other opponent made him feel weak simply by existing.

He was a small man, a pathetic one that had been allowed unimaginable power due to an accident of birth, and that was terrifying. I sniffled then, easily able to summon tears. I'd taken a great risk, getting into the carriage with the king, and that fact had one tear, then another running down my face. I cried for the girls he hurt in the dining hall. I cried for those he'd killed before me. I cried for myself, because the gods only knew if I'd survive this and that had him nodding. A hellish light danced in his eyes, growing brighter and brighter until I forced his thumb out of my mouth, only to croak out a plea.

"Please, Your Majesty, I did nothing wrong. You'll find out once we reach the capital that I remain untouched. I remain loyal—"

His expression soured, brows jerking down, the skin around his eyes tightening. I watched him jerk away from me with something like relief, but that quickly died when he only drew back a few steps.

"Well, we're all waiting." He gestured to the trees. "Do your business and then we can be off again."

"What?"

It was bad enough that I was reduced to urinating under trees like an animal, but usually a gentleman acknowledged this indignity by turning his back and standing away some distance. Magnus had made no move to oversee my excretions before.

"You asked for the carriage to stop. You wanted a tree to piss against." His grin was back and twice as vicious. "Have I not done everything you asked?"

"You haven't given me your back," I snapped far too sharply. "You haven't given me any privacy."

"Because you are to be my wife." His eyes slid down me so slowly I fought the urge to rake my nails along my skin, to rid myself of the almost physical sensation. "There is to be no privacy between us soon. And anyway…" His focus intensified as he followed his eyes up my form. "There is a particular bordello in the entertainment district. The owners of the establishment have every single girl drinking from tall glasses stained with very particular dyes. Each one of them can piss a different colour and when they get together, they create a rainbow—"

"You mean to watch…?"

They'd tried to tell me that Magnus was dangerous, Arik and his band. They'd made clear the threat he posed, but each moment my throat remained unmarked, I'd persuaded myself that I was in control of the situation. My focus shifted to up the road, as if one of the soldiers milling around there could be called upon for help. As I watched them stand around, chatting casually to each other, then cast their eyes back at us, I knew. There was no hope to be had here.

My whole body trembled as my mind frantically bargained. It tried to recite back to me the rules I'd been taught, the strictures of feminine behaviour supposed to protect me from this exact situation.

But they hadn't.

It hadn't stopped me from Magnus choosing me as his next victim and being a good girl wouldn't help me now. My fingers sank into the silken folds of my dress, my breath sucked in, right as he turned on his heel.

"Piss in peace, princess, and be quick about it. I want to be in the capital before night falls. As scintillating as you are as a travel companion, the comforts of my chambers await." He glanced over his shoulder at me, smiling when he saw I was still frozen to the spot. "Ones you'll share with me tonight."

My breath was coming in fast, but no matter how my chest heaved, it didn't suck in enough air. My heart was racing far too much, my limbs quivering in revulsion. I'd told my mates blithely to come and find me, to wrest the throne from Magnus' hands, but that took time. What the hell would I do in the meantime? When I wasn't paying attention, sometimes it came, the memories of what I had shared with each of Arik's bands.

Their touch had seared trails on my skin, marking me as theirs, but Magnus' might overwrite it. Replacing pleasure with pain, with violation. When he saw that I recognised that, he nodded and smiled, evidently having gotten what he needed as he walked away. I was reduced to hunching behind the trees and doing my business as every part of my body shook with the need to run away.

But I didn't.

There was nowhere to go, no means for me to escape, so I finished my task and then swept back to the carriage. Magnus held out a hand, ready to help me climb back in, but I gripped the doorway instead, hoisting myself inside. In that time, he'd changed out of his tunic, so I couldn't even indulge in the pointless pleasure of tracing the outline of the stain with my eyes, rather I made myself a picture of feminine docility, keeping my eyes trained on the ground. If I thought the indignity of the day was over, I was sorely mistaken.

I barely saw the streets of the Kheanian capital as we clattered up the main road, taking us towards the palace. All I could see beyond the curtains were buildings, so many buildings and people. Teeming up and down the streets, going about their business, hardly even looking up to see us pass, but before I could ask why, we swept inside the palace gates. The building took my breath away. It was every single dream of a castle I'd had as a child, listening to my nanny tell me fairy tales. Made from an austerely pale-grey stone, spires and turrets rose high into the sky, each one flying the flag of Khean, the stags stitched on there, rearing up and pawing at the sky. But there was no audience to greet us when I stumbled out of the carriage, no courtiers to step forward and introduce themselves.

Probably because all of them were clustered here.

The king dragged me up step after winding step, then down a thickly carpeted hall to his chambers. That's where everyone stood, milling around as if this was a party of some sort. Richly dressed men and women snapped to attention the moment we entered.

"Have the girl inspected," Magnus said in a nonchalant voice. He glanced across the room at a woman dressed in hooded black robes. "You. You're from the Temple of the Women, aren't you?"

"Of course, Your Majesty."

Her voice was the one thing that dispelled the illusion, because when I took the priestess in, I felt like I'd been dipped in molten wax, my entire body tingling. She raised her hood slightly to reveal familiar green eyes. Her face was not quite as angular as the original. There was a softness in her cheeks, a fullness to her lips that alerted me to the fact I wasn't staring at Silas in religious garb, but an actual woman. Her eyes twinkled as she shot me a sly wink before she pulled her hood back down.

"See if the girl is indeed still pure," he directed, divesting himself of his boots, then his belt. "If she's intact I'll consummate the marriage now."

Now…?

The crowd tittered slightly, only mildly amused by such an outrageous idea. By their response, it was obviously something they had seen more than once.

"Then I'll escort her to the temple—" the priestess said.

"No, that won't be necessary," Magnus announced.

"A separate room then, for your queen's privacy," she replied.

"Seeing as he's going to plough her like a bull the moment you confirm she's still got a hymen, that's probably not needed." A woman stepped forward, her eyes sliding down my body as she smiled to herself. A single eyebrow rose when her gaze locked with mine. She was clearly amused by all of this, but most of all me. Her lips twisted into a cruel smirk. "Let's get this over and done with so I might comfort my lord king for having to endure such an experience."

I wasn't jealous when she crossed the floor to tangle her fingers in Magnus' hair, but I was supposed to be. She was like a dog on a leash, pissing on a post to make clear it was hers. The king leaned into her caress, the two of them moving closer and closer, until I jerked my eyes away rather than watch them kiss. It didn't dispel the attention I was getting, though, each person's interest piqued. They took in my stance, my stature, my clothing, and my complexion, but most of all, they sought evidence of my response, noting the clench of my fists with little smiles. I forced my fingers to release, then approached the priestess.

"What must I do for this inspection, Holy Mother?" I asked.

"Selene." She offered her hand to me, and I blinked, then shook it. "Sister Selene and I think the easiest way is to get up on the bed."

Easiest. We were negotiating the best way for me to bare my nether regions to the entire Kheanian court, to allow them to gaze upon my most intimate flesh and judge for themselves whether I met their standard for purity. I cursed my stupidity, over and over, as I walked over to the bed.