But I’ll never teach Arienna.
Eventually, Kiki stops screaming. The hours pass, but still I work, trying to kill the thoughts roaring in my head.
What if I haven’t done enough to convince them?
What if Petre is planning something?
The Court has been terrifyingly silent. Evangeline hasn’t uncovered any plan. There’s been no whispers of a violent coup.People are just waiting for the outcome of this fucking vote. And life, dammit, life feels too damn good.
Everything is so close in my grasp, and I can’t shake this horrible feeling that I’m about to lose it all. Nothing good ever survives Raza.
I stab another toothpick in Kiki’s stomach; she cries.
By gods, do I understand my ex’s abhorrence to patience in this moment. I half wish I hadn’t stopped her from using my wife to infiltrate the coup. Or from charging Dragons Coo, Chi, and Tanya with some made-up crime. But none of their seconds are any better than they are; I would just be moving the problem down the line and stirring up a wasp’s nest of mistrust and fear.
All we can do is wait for this damn vote.
Finished with the toothpicks, I pull out a piece of sand paper that’s been magically spelled to never clog. As I start to sand in-between her toes, having just finished the soles of her feet, a voting official approaches the cell. She first hands out cards to my guards, then steps inside.
“Apologies, Your Majesty,” she says as I turn around. “But if I could have a moment with Kiki, I can get her vote.”
“Of course.” Stepping back, I gesture to her.
Pulling out a card, she approaches the girl. “Hello, sorry to interrupt, but I just need you to fill out this…” She trails off as she notices all of the toothpicks spitting out of her fingernails. “Ah. I shall ask you the questions instead, and you can answer verbally.”
“Fuck… you,” Kiki wheezes.
“You will answer her,” I say coldly.
“Or what?” she snorts. “You’ll throw me in jail? Torture me?”
“Yes. Your favourite book isEliva Forgotten. I will hire the worst actors and the worst screenwriter to butcher it on the screen. Then I will carve off your eyelids and force you to watch it on repeat for weeks. And just when you start to get used to it,I’ll create another adaption, this time even worse. Repeating and repeating. Then you will die with no memory of how goodEliva Forgottenactually is.”
Her eyes widen in horror. Looking at the official, she nods quickly.
“Thank you,” the woman says. “Your cooperation is much appreciated. So the first question: Do you understand that by abolishing the monarchy, you will be required to learn everything about politics yourself, which could cut into your down time?”
My eyes narrow. An uncomfortable coil starts tightening in my stomach.
“Yes,” Kiki says.
“Do you understand that with this new system, everyone, including all the idiots, gets a chance to vote?”
Fucking hel. Is this Petre’s play, or is this just a terrible luck of the draw? Both I and the Court wrote hundreds of yes and no questions for them to choose from. Supposedly at random.
“Yes.”
She checks the box on the card. “Do you understand that this isn’t a trap set by King Morningstar to gather a list of names of those who hate him, so he can kill them later when he doesn’t abdicate the throne as promised?”
“That question –” I start to cut in on a rage.
“King Morningstar!” the official says loudly. “The rules specifically state that no one can be bothered while they are in the voting process in order to not manipulate their vote.”
My jaw tightens. “But that question –”
“Is one of the officially listed questions. Some of them are true. Some of them are false. But you cannot give the voter any knowledge while they’re answering these questions so that we may know whether or not they understand what they are votingon. If you interrupt again, by decree of King Morningstar, you will be thrown in jail.”
Seething in silence at the injustice of these questions, I cross my arms and wait.
