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Gabrielle’s gaze dropped to the ground. “Of course, My Lord. Please forgive me.”
My fist twitched a little. No man on earth triggered me like Yutrik. I treated most people the same—detached and cold. But Yutrik, he mistreated everyone in order to make himself feel significant. I hated men like him.
“Tell Father I’m here for the same reasons the other men from the North are,” I said in all honesty. Most Northerners present were rebels, here to talk to the Rhine Queen. I hated lying and was terrible at it, but luckily, Yutrik was too simple-minded to follow the truth.
A disgusting, horny grin spread across my brother’s face. “To fuck and drink,” he said. Gabrielle shifted uncomfortably.
I almost reached for my sword. “Tell Father if he wants to talk to me to come find me.” I sounded as annoyed as I was. Yutrik seemed taken aback by my words. Never had I demanded anything of my father. To make him come to me was...new.
“Is there a problem?” I asked.
Yutrik quickly shook his head.
“Good, then get out of my sight. You make me nauseous.”
For a moment, Yutrik just gawked at me, his big eyes narrowed in hatred. But after I took a single step in his direction, he spun around on the spot, pushing Gabrielle to the side.
“Out of my way,” he barked at her.
Gabrielle stared after Yutrik in silence, lingering next to me. If she thought my shoulder would be one to cry on, she was wrong. I was no such man.
“Milady,” I said and bowed before turning to leave, but Gabrielle stepped in front of me. At first, I was confused by such a bold gesture, but then, when I looked into her bright green eyes, something strange happened. I saw something in them. Something I didn’t expect. There wasn’t the slightest bit of sadness or fear over how Yutrik had treated her. Instead, she seemed absolutely indifferent to the whole interaction. Confident and in control. There was also something else I couldn’t place.
“A little bird tells me, Sir Rune of the Black Forests, that you are not a man who, well”—she bit her lower lip with her white, perfect teeth—“who came here tofuck and drink. Would you deem that observation true?”
She dared to step closer, trying to intimidate me. But I wasn’t a man who broke under anything. Unlike my brother, who didn’t have the slightest clue what his future marriage held for him. Maybe she would poison him after they had an heir—maybe the heir wouldn’t even be his.
My lips curled into a satisfied grin. The journey down here had been tiresome—I hated the intrigues and games of the elite just as much as the war—but it was refreshing to think of Yutrik marrying someone who might destroy him.
I took a confident step forward myself. Gabrielle didn’t flinch. I was so close to her, I could smell her perfume.
“Milady,” I said in my usual unemotional tone, “the only observation I would deem true after today is that my simple-minded brother will be in for a surprise.”
A faint smile flashed over Gabrielle’s lips. I leaned even closer to her.
“For your own sake, I hope it’s rather sooner than later.”
Just like that, I strode narrowly past her and walked straight toward the large entrance doors of the castle’s main hallway. After all this, not even the gods could make me join the celebrations up there. I’d had quite enough of those people tonight. But why not stop by the dungeon and try to find that doctor I had overheard the Rhine Queen talk to while I was waiting for her in the cellar? I needed to ask him a question I already had the answer to.
What poison was used to kill the Rhine King?
For some reason, I needed to hear it from him. And if the answer remained the same, ever-sleep, the cards at play in this game of power would be as clear as the first evening star, revealing its light to the world beneath.
