AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The deal had been inked in blood and signed in regret.
Bargaining with a devil may grant one many things, but peace was never one of them.
CHAPTER 16 - MORGAN
Iwas back in the castle. Back in my old, little tower room.
I could almost pretend I had never left.
But I had.
Now Merlin had paid the price of my readmittance with her life.
How could anything be the same for me after that?
I lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
Fenyx had carried me here before marching off with another tramping contingent of Arthur’s brutish guards.
After Fenyx had left, Arthur had sent a healer to me. They had marveled over my relatively good health after my long period of magical confinement. I had refused to move or undress or speak, pretending to be too fatigued to do anything but lie there dully. It fit the narrative Merlin had crafted for me. But more importantly, I didn’t trust myself to speak or to stand. And I had no will to do so.
All I wanted to do was lie on the bed. Preferably forever.
Eventually, they left. I heard the healers speaking to my brother in the corridor outside my room. It went better than Merlin could have hoped. They seemed entirely convinced I was the victim of the High Priestess’s cruelty.
Arthur’s voice had been quiet as he responded to them, and surprisingly gentle. Finally, the footsteps had faded away.
Arthur had not returned.
Tomorrow or the next day, I would have to look him in the face. Pretend he had not condoned the slaughter of one of the greatest women our kingdom had ever known. I would have to feign gratitude and relief.
Above all, I would have to take up my old role in his court—a smiling, cooperative member of the royal family. I would have to endorse his merciless war and pretend it was not killing our people.
And I would have to do so convincingly.
I wasn’t sure I had it in me.
