Page 49 of Fated to the Wicked King

“Yes, though I must admit this ability of mine is mostly out of my control. I can’t touch the magic myself.” I couldn’t help my quip, “But it just so happens I wear a very powerful mystical heart.”

“The king’s.”

I shot her a surprised look.

There was certainly no public advertisement regarding this matter. How could she have possibly known?

“I learned about mystical hearts containing powerful magic in my studies,” she relayed, wrapping a bandage. “It wasn’t hard to guess. I’ve only observed your interactions this morning, but the Wicked King’s reputation precedes him. Why else would he keep you under his protection?”

I hadn’t stopped being impressed by Sophie all morning. I wondered if even Gregory was aware of his sister’s perceptiveness and her mental acuity.

“Ah, yes,” I said ruefully. “Though at some point, I am certain he shall like to have his heart returned. It would restore him to full power. Then I am sure I will be dismissed like any other.”

“May I say that it seems like it’s more than that.” Sophie’s green eyes narrowed. “The king…listens to you. You hold incredible power over him, over and above anything mystical in nature.”

I burst out laughing. “Listens to me? Sure. Inasmuch as a stone wall can listen to anyone.” I turned to hand the pain-relief mixture to one of the aides before moving back to my corner.

“It’s true,” Sophie pressed, finishing with the bandages and walking over to me. “My brother tells me I am much too curious for my own good, but if you don’t mind my asking…” Her voice dropped to a low murmur. “Would you perhaps be willing to tell me how you have come to wear the king’s mystical heart?”

“Oh, um…” I stopped short, biting my lip in consideration.

I supposed there was no harm in telling Sophie. I was honestly delighted by her candor, her curiosity. She was a kindred spirit. With or without my heightened mystical senses, I could tell she was as pure a person as they came.

“Alright, well, see…” I considered my words carefully. “Once upon a time, I saved a man’s life, if you can believe that.”

She easily nodded. “Given the events of today alone, I absolutely believe that. You are very brave.”

“Desperate, perhaps,” I amended, good-naturedly. “I suppose it may come off as courage at times.”

Her laughter was soft, feather-light, as delicate as she was. Her eyes widened eagerly. “Truly, you saved the king’s life?”

I pursed my lips. “This was all before he was crowned king, of course. When we’d first met, he had been tasked to steal my heart to deliver to the queen. But instead, he hid it inside him, wearing it since his own heart had been lost centuries earlier. He protected me. He saved me first.”

She nodded eagerly for me to keep going.

My chest warmed. Sophie was an unexpected reprieve from the slog that had been my week. It was heartening to find a captive audience outside of my usual company. Aside from the king, I hadn’t even spoken to anyone else at length for days. Or at least, not anyone who wasn’t overwhelmed with terror that they might be sent to the gallows by the morning.

I kept my voice low, adopting a somewhat eerie tone to make my story seem more ominous. “Then we discovered that the Red Queen had been using His Majesty’s own powerful mystical heart to control this land. She had kept it hidden in a vessel deep in a dungeon. The king himself didn’t even know it existed.”

Sophie clasped her hands together, eyes wide, poised at the very brink of suspense.

I didn’t want to oversell it. It had been a thoroughly harrowing experience. And to me, none of it had felt heroic by any means. “Suffice it to say, one thing led to another. When the queen tried to kill us, by pure luck, I chanced upon the mystical heart and captured it.” I raised my shoulders. “There was nothing else to do, really, but…”

Sophie kept nodding. “To wear it. To preserve it. And in doing so, you destroyed the Red Queen.”

“In so many words, yes.”

Her jaw dropped in wonder. “Wow… I had heard all the preposterous stories about how the Red Queen was vanquished, but I was never able to confirm the tale. This is all truly fascinating.”

“Well, I’m glad someone thinks so.” I waved a hand dismissively. “But, you know, this is all very much in the past. None of it has any further consequence.”

Sophie tilted her head, her tone bemused. “I do also sense that you still care a great deal for the well-being of the king.”

“Ah…” Glancing to one side warily, I bit my lip. “I wouldn’t say that.”

So far, our conversations had been innocuous enough that I hadn’t paid any mind, but this was beginning to stray into dangerous territory.

Given the faintest tendrils of shadows I had been spying occasionally rolling across the ground as Sophie and I had gone along, I was pretty sure the king himself was actually close by.