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The soldier had gone white. “No, my king. Of course not, my king. I only meant...”
“What do we do with traitors, man?” Fenyx barked so loudly I nearly jumped.
The soldier straightened. “We hang them in the markets, Lord General.”
“Then do it, Captain,” Fenyx commanded. “Hang the witch. Strip her of her vestments, and hang her shriveled body from the first free gallows. Let the crows have her eyes. Let the ravens claw her wrinkled skin. Such is the fate of all who defy the Pendragon.”
If I thought I’d hated Fenyx before, now my hatred deepened a thousandfold.
It burned in my heart like the heat of the sun until I thought I would implode.
But I said nothing. I did nothing. I simply looked. Looked at Lancelet as she bled between her captors. Looked at her bruised and broken face, full of such pain, and saidnothing.
Did she realize I’d been there when they had killed Merlin?
Did she think that because I was now being carried in Arthur’s general’s arms that I had been complicit in it somehow?
She looked back at me, and I prayed she understood the reason for my silence. Or if she did not understand, then I hoped she would forgive. Some day.
Arthur’s attention had returned to Lancelet. An unwanted gift. “You’ve been found in the temple, de Troyes, so clearly the High Priestess has been concealing you. She also has been hiding Guinevere, as well as keeping my sister under some sort of a spell. What do you know of all of this?”
Lancelet simply glared up at the king with hate-filled eyes. She made no attempt to conceal her disdain.
Like me, she said not a single word.
“Fine,” Arthur said shortly. “For the sake of the friendship you once bore my sister, I will give you one day to speak of what you know. After that, if you fail to cooperate, you will be treated like any other prisoner.”
“She’s a noblewoman of Pendrath, my liege,” the captain said nervously. “Her family is influential. Shall I put her in a tower cell?”
“Did you not hear what I just said?” The veins in my brother’s neck were pulsing.
The soldier must have seen them, too. He shook his head swiftly. “Fatigue, my king. I pray you forgive me. She will be put in the dungeon with the other prisoners. No special treatment. I understand.”
“Her ‘special treatment’ is being held in reserve,” Fenyx said. I heard the smile in his voice. “Consider your king’s offer carefully, de Troyes.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, Fenyx,” my brother said, frowning. “And if you do get your hands on her, make sure you don’t lose her before you can extract information.”
He whirled, whipping his cloak behind him, and began marching towards the temple entrance.
“Very good, my king,” Fenyx murmured.
He glanced down at me and seemed surprised to see my eyes were now open.
“My lady, I’m sorry you had to hear all of that.”
So I was to be treated like a lady of the court, was I?
I had known men like Fenyx before. Men who would treat noblewomen with the greatest courtesy and then go out into the city and beat common whores for pleasure.
Fenyx was such a man. It was written all over his face.
The good thing about knowing what he was, however, was being able to use it to my advantage.
I fluttered my eyelashes and murmured, “Thank you, my lord.”
Then, clutching the sleeve of his fluttering, pure blue cloak, I pretended to faint.
I heard Lancelet being dragged away.
