No. He was a royal. He just enjoyed playing with his food before he ate it and she just gave him six months of an appetizer before her brutal death as the main course. Disgusting. Every single one of them. How little they cared for life, and how easily they toyed with it as though they owned it. Like it was just another of the many pleasures laid out for them to bleed out and suck dry. Hate simmered inside her, boiling just behind her chest.
“Akadian,” Casimir snapped.
“Yes?” the prince replied from his perch, growing interest all over him.
“You’ll be in charge of watching this one. Make sure she doesn’t neglecther duties and think she can run. Watch her, do not help her. I’ll know if you do. She has six months to train and I want consistent updates on her progress.” Casimir waved a hand to the entire gathering. “Dismissed.”
Royals, nobles, and guard alike stepped forward, placed a fist over their heart and replied in unison, “For bonds and bloodline.” Before they shuffled out of the Grand Hall, pointing and staring at Ambrose as they left.
Word was going to spread fast. A criminal was entering the trials.
The first time in history someone made the pledge during a criminal trial. She wasn’t sure which one would end up being the better decision but there was no turning back now. The decision had been made.
Trial Champion.
She repeated the words over and over in her head, trying to make them feel real, but the concept was so distant. The guards who brought her grabbed her by her arms, their musky smell gagging her. As nobles filed out of the chamber, they formed a gossiping congregation outside, ready to tell anyone who would listen what they’d just witnessed. Casimir threw her one more look of approval as he disappeared into the crowd, cold clinging to everything as he passed.
Akadian stepped down from his throne, each step slow and deliberate as she looked at her as though he hadn’t seen her every day for twenty-three years, like she was something exciting. Why did the royals always seem to be waiting for something to come that was more entertaining than the last? Always chasing that rush that only the suffering of others seemed to give them. Were they truly so bored with their near immortality that cruelty was the only way for them to feel anything anymore? How long did one have to live to get to that point?
She didn’t hide her expression as he approached her. Didn’t hide her disgust.
Was this what it felt to be free? To no longer have to hide?
“That was an interesting display,” he remarked as he reached her. Standing almost a head taller than her, he had to bend his head down to face her.
“Glad you enjoyed the show,Your Highness,” she sneered.
“I most definitely did.”
“I’d hate to disappoint royalty.” She bowed sarcastically. How many times had she bowed to him before? Not once had she meant it.
“What kind of creature are you?” he asked curiously.
“What kind of creature areyou?”
Apparently, that made him laugh. Which made her furious.
“I’ll take it from here,” he dismissed the guards that boxed her in with their slimy, scaled bodies as though she would run at any moment.
No. She’d be much smarter than that.
They pounded a closed fist over their hearts and bowed to the prince before slithering off to wherever their kind came from with a, “Yesss, Your Highhhnessss.”
Ambrose was more than glad to have them gone but wasn’t sure how much better her present company would be.
“You don’t seem very pleased for someone who’s just cheated death.” Akadian studied her expression, his icy eyes trailing over her body and she fought back the shiver that crawled up her spine.
“Cheated for now, you mean.”
“Possibly.” He waved her forward. “Shall we?”
With no other choice, Ambrose was forced to follow him.
Her fate now in her hands.
* * *
Maintaining a few paces behind, Ambrose watched how Akadian moved. She’d never known him to be anything other than bored or cruel, and the former usually led to the latter. She watched the way he casually kept his hands down, swaying slightly with his steps and noticed how his muscles tensed in a way that told her he wasn’t as relaxed as he might like others to believe. He led her down corridors, winding left and right, most she was familiar with, until they reached a far end of the palace. Then, he surprised her when he ducked behind a wall and seemingly vanished behind it. She reached forward to touch the smooth surface but when her hand should’veconnected with solid, it passed right through, swallowing her arm from sight. An illusion. With a deep breath, she followed him through it.
