He never made idle threats.
I knew what I should do. I should go back to the palace alone. I shouldn’t condemn someone to a nightmare because I was too much of a coward. But I was… I was a coward. I was weak and pathetic and every time I went to turn around to go back to Dahes, I winced, shutting my eyes like he was going to rip it out from across the kingdom.
Dahes didn’t use whatever compulsion he held over me from our bargain. I could decide, which made the guilt of this eat away at me. I was willingly doing this…
I was by the first bridge when someone caught my attention. He was a head taller than me and nearly twice my size. Bringing him back would be harder without a tranquil serum…
He shoved a little girl who was clutching a moldy half loaf of bread. “Give it up.”
“No,” the girl sobbed, trying to break out of his grip. “I haven’t eaten all week. Please don’t take?—”
I moved. I crept up behind him before applying pressure to the perfect little spot on his neck. One second. I wrapped my legs around his abdomen, forcing his weight down. Two seconds. He grunted, his voice dying in the air as his knees hit the pavement. Three seconds. He reached his arms back, trying to pry me off him. Four seconds. His body slackened beneath me and he passed out.
The girl’s brown eyes widened as the upper half of his body fell to the ground, and I landed on top of him with a thud. She couldn’t have been much older than nine.
“Don’t eat food by the bridges,” I whispered to her. “Go to the northern part of the Adrian Shores if you’re going to eat. It’s safer there.”
She nodded her head frantically, tears were streaming down her face so fast that they started ricocheting from the movement. The loaf started to crumble from how hard she was clutching it, but then she was gone, running toward the beach like I told her.
I caused a scene. A few people stopped to stare, but they wouldn’t interfere. Crime wasn’t frowned upon in Moriann. The kingdom was ruthless, and you did what you needed to in order to survive. Thestrong stole from the weak, and most people found little wrong in stealing from children.
I shuddered, thinking of the years I had spent on these streets before I got desperate enough to make my deal with Dahes—before I needed to savehim, save Masin.
I pushed the thought aside. I tried positioning the brute over my shoulder, but he was too heavy, so I grabbed his arm and started dragging him back to the palace instead.
His body made a thud against the stone as I dropped him in front of the throne. Dahes was smiling down at me. “I’m glad I don’t need to deform that beautiful face of yours, Mag.”
I didn’t answer. I hated it, hated what I was doing. Sure, he was trying to steal from a little girl, so I shouldn’t care that he was about to lose his eye, but hunger made you desperate, hunger made you act rashly. I knew firsthand the consequences of it. I couldn’t judge him from what I saw…
He started stirring on the stone floor.
I sucked in a breath. I was hoping he would have stayed unconscious a bit longer, that Dahes could have taken his eye out while he was still passed out…
I made a mistake. Dahes was grinning at me, and I realized the entire throne room was silent. The sentries surrounding the perimeter were so eerily still that they looked more like decorative statues than people turned to obedient, mindless weapons of iron. The triplets were huddled together, not making a sound, sinking the realization of my mistake into my bones.
I hadn’t masked my emotions, didn’t hide my feelings, and Dahes saw right through me.
The brute rose quickly to his feet, completely coming to. He studied the throne before he landed on Dahes, knowing immediately who he was. Between the thick fog and the heavy-scaled cloak Dahes wore, most never got to glimpse the alabaster-horned devil mask he donned on the streets. But you didn’t need to see his face before to know that this was him. Bloody throne or not, there was no mistaking the monster.
“My king…” he bowed immediately.
“What’s your name?”
“Kip,” he said, his voice shaking, and I already knew what was coming. I tried to prepare myself for it. Knowing his name was just another power move. Dahes knew it would bother me…
“Magnolia,” Dahes drawled, and the brute—Kip—turned to stare at me. His eyes flashed in recognition, but he didn’t move to attack me. Staring at him now, he probably wasn’t that much younger than me. Maybe nineteen or twenty if I had to guess?—
Stop, Magnolia. Stop making connections. Cut off your empathy. Don’t look at him.
“Take his eye.”
I saw Kip move, heard him protest as Dahes’ sentries instantly flanked him and held him down.
I started moving toward Kip, too slowly to be considered normal.
I didn’t look at the triplets, didn’t want to know what they made of me. I didn’t look at Dahes either, although I knew he was smiling.
Because as much as Dahes was a monster, I was one too.
