I cock an eyebrow at him. “Ten minutes?”
Callum responds by pulling me onto his lap with a chuckle.
Chapter 25
Callum - Five Years Ago
“Sir?” I cross the threshold into King Corvin’s office in trepidation. “You wanted to see me? He almost never called for me directly, so I wasn’t expecting this to be good news.
The King stands behind his desk’s chair, hands clasping the tall back.
I could tell he’d been in that position for some time. Waiting for me.
“Haven’t I been good to you, Callum?”
His question takes me by surprise. “I – Sir?”
“Haven’t I given you anything a bastard like you could want? More than a bastard deserves?”
I’m sensing these to be rhetorical questions, so I let him continue with his tangent.
“I’ve permitted you to grow up in the palace. Granted you the position of the King’s Lead Hunter. Introduced you to as many nobles and dignitaries as I could. Elevated you to a status that no other bastard in this world has received!”
My heart beats furiously as I wait for the other shoe to drop, sweat forming at the back of my neck.
“And yet none of that is good enough for you. You are so willing to throw all that away for one person. Rafael.”
I still. My heart has dropped into my feet. Rafe and I have been very careful. No one outside of Ginna, Hanson, and Claudia knows about us – and none of them would rat us out.
He must read that on my face as he continues. “You don’t think I have my spies all over the place? You must be more stupid than I thought, boy. Go fuck a whore if you need to. But I won’t have rumors surrounding Rafael and tainting him with your…proclivities.”
“It’s my fault, sir,” I stammer. “Rafe had nothing to do with it. I came on to him –”
“Enough!” The King yells, banging a fist on the chair. “Of course it’s you! You’re always a thorn in my side. I should have left you in the gutter where you belonged. Same with your whore of a mother.”
“I’m sorry. Nothing will happen again.”
“I know it won’t. And you know how I know?” His eyes twinkle malevolently.
Fear is taking over my entire body, but I refuse to have the King see me cower. If he needs to take his wrath out on me, so be it. It’s nothing new. If I can spare Rafe any pain, no matter how big or small, it will be worth it.
Rafe is the best part of me. The only glimpse of sun in my otherwise dark life. And I refuse to let him be dragged down to hell with me.
The King walks over to the door leading into his bedchambers and opens it wide.
“Place your hands on the frame,” The King points.
I take a deep breath before doing exactly as he says. I place both my hands on the doorframe. I focus on Rafe, picturing his crooked smile and the sound he makes when I kiss his sensitive spot behind his ear, as I brace myself.
The King slams the door shut with all his might, and I hear the crack of bone. All at once, pain radiates through my hands. The king pushes the door into my already mangled hands again for good measure.
The only good thing about all the trainings and sadistic rituals the King has made me a part of is the fact that I don’t release a single cry of pain.
I bite down on my tongue until the taste of copper floods my mouth, but I don’t scream or cry.
The King lowers his mouth to my ear. “If you ever so much as look at my son again, it will be both your hands and his. And next time, I’ll cut them off.”
Only when I return to my room alone do I allow my tears to fall.
