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“My king,” I bow my head to my father, placing my hand to my heart. “I can take the young prince back to his room so that you can continue yournegotiations.“
The growl Levi lets out feels like a dagger to the chest.
No matter.
He might hate me now, but once I explain everything to him, he’ll understand. Right now, my first priority is to keep him safe. And I can’t do that if a blade is pressed against his throat.
I’m about to take another step, this time toward Levi, but my father puts that to a stop with his next remark.
“No need for that, Teodoro. I need the young prince here where he’ll be of use to me.”
“What use could he still have?” I ask, my gaze bouncing from my father’s pleased face to the king that is on his knees with a sword at his back.
But just as my question hits the tense air around us, I hear a slew of footsteps drawing closer to the hall. My heart sinks to my stomach when four of my father’s men drag Levi’s mother into the hall from the main entrance opposite us. Her hair is disheveled, her face brutally beaten, and her nightgown torn up in places no queen should have bared.
“Mother!”
“Daryna!” Levi and his father shout in tandem.
Levi tries to break free, but the dagger at his throat prevents him to move.
His father, on the other hand, is quicker to get on his feet but not quick enough to rush toward his wife, my father’s men holding him back.
“I’m… okay. I’m okay,” Queen Daryna tries to assure, her bloody lip and bruised cheek saying otherwise.
“Fuck you, Yusuf! I’m going to kill you for this!” King Krystiyan shouts, his face growing red with rage.
“See…” my father starts with a sinister grin. “I don’t think you are. I gave you a chance and you didn’t take it. I’m sorry, old friend, but you forced my hand.” And then my father gives his men a nod.
Everything after that happens in slow motion.
One of the men holding Queen Daryna hostage unsheathes his sword, Levi and his father screaming from the top of their lungs for him to stop as he raises the sword up high. But I can’t hear a thing, only the ringing sound of the sword slicing into the air as Queen Daryna takes one final look at her son and husband and mouths, “I love you.”
And then…
A lifeless head tumbles onto the floor, rolling over and over again until it comes to a dead stop. The piercing howls of misery coming out of King Krystiyan’s mouth sound like a wounded animal’s, his tears the only sign left of his humanity. The two men that are holding him down call for one of their friends to help since they’re having trouble keeping him still.
But that dreadful sight isn’t even the worst thing that is taking place in this hall—the same great hall where both King Krystiyan and Queen Daryna used to throw feasts and celebrations, its large space devoted to solely being reserved for occasions of happiness.
The same hall where, just a few hours ago, my father and I dined with them as friends.
No.
King Krystiyan suffering isn’t the worst thing happening in this hall by a long shot.
The animals my father enlisted to accompany us east pick Queen Daryna apart, defiling her memory and body in any way they can. Some take turns fucking her dead, headless corpse, joking about how much easier it is to fuck her the second time now that she doesn’t put up a fight. Then there is the circle of godless creatures that begin kicking her head around amongst them as if it’s some toy to play with. They do this knowing that her son and husband are watching, taking pleasure in their pain.
Unable to watch, I turn my attention to my father, my blood boiling at how he just sits back and smiles at the chaos he’s brought to this once happy home. But he must feel my eyes on him because he tilts his head my way and looks me dead in the eye.
Hating him with all my heart, I force a smile that mimics his own. Bile rises up my throat as he nods at me, as if proud of my reaction to what’s happening to our friends. When he redirects his attention back to the nightmare he’s conducted, my gruesome smile begins to slip from my lips, but not fast enough.
Levi’s eyes look like two black pools of death staring me down.
And suddenly I see my own reflection in his eyes—me on my knees and Levi raising his sword, ready to swing at my neck.
Like a coward, I don’t watch him cut me down and lower my gaze from his instead.
I’m not sure how long I stay like that… just staring at the ground, wishing I could unhear all the brutality that’s being done and obscenities being laughed at.
