“Butsurely, as the king, you had other things to focus on?”Hetook my gaze then, that serious look absent of any teasing. “Aking is beholden to his people in all ways, whether that be to rule from the throne, or travel through a burned down village and the injured.”
“Thereare many who don’t hold that view.”
Heheld my stare, a challenge, “Andwhat view do you hold,Princess?”Theseconds that passed between us seemed to last for an eternity.Butit allowed me to speak the truth.
“Manytreat their subjects as slaves, or worse.Worthnothing but what value can be extracted from them.Butthe truth is, what would we be without them?Yes, it is us who are beholden to them.”
Hecontinued to stare at me, not answering.ButIrealized his hands had stopped moving, his fingers resting in mine again, his thumb lightly tracing the web of skin between my thumb and forefinger.Itsent a completely different type of lightning up my arm.Heseemed to realize and gently moved his hand away and turned as if to leave.
“WhereamIto be confined to?”Hepaused and turned back to me with a confused expression. “Whatis to be my punishment for my escape?”Icouldn’t bear to wait, couldn’t bear his kindness knowing it was all going to come crashing down soon.Betternow than later.Hisface became unreadable.Oryxquickly excuse himself from the room.
“Escapeattempt.Youdidn’t manage to get anywhere.”Hisreply stung deeper thanIthink he intended, andIcould feel tears rising in my eyes.Buthe didn’t say anymore and turned to leave again.Istood so fast my head swam, and my knees buckled.Instantlyhis hands were there, catching me, one gripping my good arm, the other resting on the small of my back.Ilooked up into his gemstone eyes, veins of malachite and emerald bleeding into that golden center.Heatseemed to radiate from his hand on my back, and my knees still shook.Gods,Iwas so weak, and this man only seemed to bring it out in me.Tearscame to my eyes truly then, andIcould feel the ocean of my mind churning as it threatened to drown me.
Allthe thoughts the pain had allowed me to suppress these last days boiled to the surface.Eachone seemed to chain itself to me, dragging me under the waves.Myresolve disappeared, the tears streaming freely as the words escaped me, “Please,Ican’t—Ican’t…”
Hesnapped away from me then, standing tall as that icy sneer returned to his face.Butit didn’t seem to reach his eyes. “Don’tbeg.It’sunbecoming of a princess.”Hestepped into me then, all menace, the warmth of his hands on me before vanished.Hetowered over me, “Unlessof course, you would like me to punish you?Ican think of a number of thingsIwould enjoy…Watchingyou come undone before me.”Thosewords would have normally sent waves of heat through me, butIwas too far gone, drenched in the icy coldness of my own mind.
Hebore down on me again, making me take a step back, and then another, as his hand snaked up to my throat.Heheld me tight, but didn’t block my air, not yet.ButIdidn’t resist, didn’t fight him.Thisseemed to anger him more as he pushed me back into the wall, pinning me with his hand.Myarm throbbed as it was jostled, my throat constricted asIlet out a small yelp.Hisface was inches from mine, his sneer frozen in place, but something was different about his eyes.Theydidn’t hold that malice, in fact,Icould almost imagineIcould see his thoughts through them, and they said,Fightme, fight back.
ButIcouldn’t find it, couldn’t find that spark.Ididn’t move.Andthen he tightened his grip on my throat, constricting my air, and it was as ifItruly was drowning.
Mymind flashed back andIwas falling, then swallowed up by the cold sea.Painripped through my arm, and the metallic taste of blood and the brine of the ocean filled my mouth and lungs.Ikicked then, kicked for the surface, reaching for the light that streamed down in rays through the cold blue water.Myarm felt like an anchor, useless and dead dragging me to the bottom, but still,Ikicked.Iwould not die like this;Iwouldn’t let this ocean have me.Thesurface moved away from me, and my lungs burned along with my arm.Thelight moved further and further away,butIstill fought.Then, as if the ocean acquiesced, a strong current lifted me to the surface.
Backin the room, my good arm sprung out, shoving him away.Hetook an easy step back, but the smirk on his face now reached his eyes. “Wouldn’tyou look pretty, on your knees, your pink lips wrapped around my—“Theslap resounded through the room, and my hand hung in the air.Thefaintest pink blossomed on his pale cheek.
Heslowly reached out and grabbed my hand as it hung in the air.Mypalm stung from where it had collided with him, and he lifted it to his lips, placing the lightest kiss against my skin.Hethen slid my hand over to the cheekIhad struck, andIcould feel the heat blossoming beneath his skin.
“Ina week, we will celebrateLupercalia.Iexpect you to accompany me into the city for the celebration.”Myheart stopped.Heheld my hand against his skin still, and it did nothing to quell my rising suspicion.Ihad never been allowed to leave the castle grounds.Whywas he allowing this now?Why?Whenhe answered,Irealized thatIhad asked the question out loud.
“Considerit your punishment,” he spoke with his lips grazing over the palm of my hand, sending shivers over my skin. “Alesson in obedience.Iexpect you to be on your best behavior.”Hefinally dropped my hand.
AsIwatched him leave,Ihadn’t even noticed that my mind had gone completely still.
Chapter32
Tori
Thenext week passed in a blur.Oryxreleased me from his care, andIwas able to return to my room.Hestill visited me daily to run exercises, but they were getting easier.Myarm was no longer bandaged, all the red and purple of a fresh wound finally gone, but a truly grisly scar wrapped around the entire bicep, like a thick white vein through the tanner marble of my arm.Eventhough my range of motion was coming back,Icould tellIwould never have the abilitiesIhad before.Itfelt as if the arm were shorter now, and my balance was off.Idid everythingIcould to not think about how this would affect my swordsmanship.
Ihad resumed my breathing practices and motions, using it to keep the anxiety down about the upcoming celebration.ButIwas basically a fledgling all over again, needing to truly focus on the motions asIwent through them, and finding it difficult to reach that place of body and mind working in tandem.
Despitemy best efforts, some thoughts still slunk in.Wehad celebratedLupercaliainNiata, but it had become a minor holiday.However, it was much more widely celebrated across the continent, a time to remember the great cycle of life and death.Thelegends said our world had been born after the last was eaten by theGreatDragonRemus, andLupercaliacelebrated that.Manyof the different kingdoms had adjusted it to their own desires, with theDragonKingdomcarrying out the largest celebration of them all.Itwas always whispered that their celebrations included gambling and general debauchery, but more whispered were the rumors of blood sacrifices to the old gods paired with public spectacles of sex and pleasure.Asyounglings, it was common to speculate on the types of activities that would happen, butIhad never met anyone who had attended.Iwould know someone now.
Ciaracame to my room the morning of the festival, carrying a new dress.Itwas by far the most scandalous of any the king had given me before.Insteadof containing a sheer dress with a decorative undergarment, this dress combined the two in a red, the color of fresh blood.Thecorset style top was fully exposed, with drapes of translucent fabric extending over one shoulder, and gathered at the hip to flare out,Along slit ran from the bottom of the corset all the way to the ground over my right leg, so no undergarments could be worn, and only the heavy draping of the fabric at the hip prevented me from being completely exposed.Thegarment only had one sleeve that conveniently covered my scarred arm.
Ciaradressed me, then fussed with my makeup.Asalways, my hair didn’t need much fussing.Shealso dotted my collarbone with oil that smelled of musk and roses, traditional forLupercalia.Sheslipped on some of the ridiculously uncomfortable heeled shoes of the court, these lacing halfway up my leg.Iprayed that we weren’t going to be walking much on this outing, orIwould certainly need to remove them.Iwas sure carrying one’s fancy shoes around wasn’t ‘being on best behavior.’
Ihadn’t seen the king since the nightIhad slapped him.Afterreturning to my room, the guard who used to accompany me everywhere was gone, but it felt like a trap.Wasthe king waiting for me to try and escape again, just to catch me?Ireally didn’t know his motives, butIhadn’t wanted to push.Despitemy nervousness about the festival,Iwas also excited.Ilonged to see the city, if only to be free of the castle.Thelittle voice inside my head reminded me that the king had asked me to accompany him specifically, and it preened at that.Idid my best not to read into it, not think about the tradition of finding a ‘partner’ forLupercaliato enjoy the festivities with, and what that might imply.ButwhenItook one final look at myself in the mirror, with more of my skin on display thanIhad ever been comfortable with before coming here,Iknew exactly what it implied.
Ciarawalked me out of my room and down to the entrance of the castle.Inthe great entrance hall, with its staggering chandelier, the throne room stood to the left through the massive ebony double doors.Mirroringthose were the doorsIhadn’t passed through sinceIhad entered the castle weeks ago.Theystood open now, andIcould see the king waiting by a carriage outside.
Theentrance framed his striking figure.Hewore a formal outfit made of a mix of black materials.Thelong velvet pants and shift covered most of his body but were tailored to fit him perfectly.Overtop, he wore a long, sleeveless leather duster beautifully embossed with black-on-black designs of dragons cutting through the night sky.Thecraftsmanship was impeccable, but it was all dwarfed by the crown atop his head.Ihad never seen him wear it before, and it truly completed him as theDragonKing.Thecrown was topped with seven dragon fangs, each more valuable than any jewel.Theyshone a deep metallic grey in the midday sun but would shift with a golden flash as he turned his head to greet me.Hiseyes roamed lazily from my head to my toes, not at all concerned with howIglared back, even asIshivered under the attention.
Istepped through the front gates, and immediately the cold wind reminded me it was still winter, and goosebumps rose all over my exposed flesh.Ihad to snap my hands down to keep my skirt from flying up and revealing what was obviously not covered underneath.Theking waved his hand, and a servant brought me over a large fur-lined cape thatIquickly wrapped around myself.AfterIplaced it around my shoulders, the king held out his hand to me, to assist me into the carriage.Itook it, and he quirked an eyebrow at me as if he had expected me to resist, but the wind whipped at my cape again, andIall but threw myself into the carriage.Itwas much warmer inside.Theking very nimbly entered and sat himself opposite me as the carriage lurched into motion.
Hestared down at me, all his aristocratic postures in place.Icouldn’t bring myself to hold his stare, soIflipped open one of the curtains and looked out the window.Werolled out of the main courtyard and passed the outer wall.Isaw a legion of guards standing along the parapet as we passed through the gate.Theroad sloped down and into the city.Thefirst buildings we passed were large, obviously the homes of the aristocratic elite, with well-maintained stone and wood walls, butIwas surprised to see no guards at any of the homes.Iremembered the route from our arrival and knew we would take the main road down to the large plaza at the center of the city for the festivities.Iwas shocked as the carriage suddenly took a turn down a much smaller road, leading off towards the hills surrounding the city.Iturned to the king with my eyebrows raised.
“Ithought we might take a more scenic route today, let you see more of the city,” he grinned, “Iwouldn’t want to disappoint a subject ofKingTourGuide.”Hiseyes sparkled with mischief.Whatwas he up to?
