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Time stands still for me.
It could be minutes, hours, even days that we are all holed up in this room.
I find myself wishing that someone would interrupt these animals’ fun.
Some east-born soldier or guard that sees this horror show and goes off to call the troops to aid their king.
But no one comes.
And as more of my father’s men enter the great hall, looking like they’ve just been to war themselves, it dawns on me why that is.
I recall how my father wasn’t in a rush to talk about the plans King Krystiyan had in regards to invading the north and taking King Orville off the throne. I recall how he said that he just wanted to be wined and dined by his friend, enjoy his family’s company for the night, and that they could have their conversations after the queen, Levi, and I retired to our rooms. And even though I wasn’t there to see, I’m sure my father stalled all conversations about his sovereign with King Krystiyan, until he was sure the hour was late enough for his men to be in position.
The east might hold the best and largest army the kingdom of Aikyam has, but Arkøya castle isn’t guarded by such troops. Only forty to fifty guards at best patrol the castle’s halls. And at this late hour, that number is probably cut by half, meaning the fifteen well-experienced men my father brought with us would be more than enough men to slay every tired and poorly alert guard on duty while the castle slept. By the morning we’ll be gone, leaving this chaos for someone else to clean up.
“Enough.” My father claps, putting an end to his men’s fun. At first I think he’s going to order us all to leave, since he got what he came for with Queen Daryna’s death, but then quickly realize that my monster of a father still has more carnage to ensue.
He picks up his discarded sword from the floor and walks over to the defeated king of the east.
“This could have all been so simple. All you had to do was give your wife to the king and that would have been the end of that. But you always were stubborn when you thought you were in the right, Krystiyan. You were so blinded by your stubbornness that you let the wolves through your doors to steal her away from you anyway.”
“It wasn’t stubbornness that blinded me,” Krystiyan spits out. “It was love, not stubbornness that kept me from sending my wife off to a king that has become unhinged in his grief. And it was friendship and loyalty that had me welcoming you into my home. Three sacred things you know nothing about and never will.”
“Be that as it may, I’m the one still left standing. While you, old friend, are already dead.”
And then, in the blink of an eye, my father drives his sword right through King Krystiyan’s heart.
I stand there, shocked, as blood spurts out of Levi’s father’s chest and mouth, his gaze trying to find his son’s face in the vast room just so he can have one last look at him. Levi’s face looks like it’s aged a millennium as he stands ramrod straight, shoulders squared, silent tears streaming down his face. When his father finally locks eyes with Levi, he grins a wide, bloody-toothed smile and then collapses on the floor, the breath of life no longer inside his body.
A cold sweat drips down my back when my father pulls out his sword and decapitates his friend. And when he sets his sights on Levi, I know which target he has in mind next.
“No!” I shout out, almost jumping in front of Levi.
“Teodoro—” my father starts with an annoyed tone, stepping closer to me.
“You can’t kill him.”
“And why not?”
Fuck!
Fuck!
“If you kill him then you’ll be responsible for leaving the east without a king,” I rush out to say, cringing when Levi snarls behind me.
“And that is my problem, why?” my father retorts, unbothered by my remark.
“Did King Orville ask you to kill him?” I ask, praying to all the gods that he didn’t.
“Hmm, no. He didn’t give me instructions on what to do with the young prince.”
“King, Father,” I correct. “Levi is king of the east now since you killed its predecessor. If you slay King Levi now, then you might as well order his troops to invade the north as well as the south. But keep him alive, and his people will stay faithful to the crown.”
“And how will I manage that?” my father asks skeptically, not entirely sure that my plan has legs to stand on.
“Ask King Orville to send decrees across the eastern land, advising that King Krystiyan and Queen Daryna were slayed tonight for treason against him. Let him write that King Levi has been spared due to his loyal heart. And while it remains that way, both him and every man, woman, and child born in the east will be protected by King Orville’s merciful rule.”
My father ponders on it, tapping the tip of his sword on the side of his boot.
