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Sick of this hard seat, I rose and moved toward the stairs, then eased down on them beside Sebian. “You are my advisor, Asker. Advise me on how I can avoid my mate kicking me out of my own chambers without having to watch my people starve as a result.”
I waited for some sage advice.
None came.
Sebian gave a bemused scoff that had his lips twitch. “I will be thenight, the darkest patch of sky around you,” he mocked, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t heard his unkindness back at the spring. “How many days did it take you to come up with those lines?”
“Five,” I said with a slap against the back of his head that had him coughing up a laugh and actually brought a twitch of a smile to my face. “Three for drafting, two for revisions.”
My smile didn’t last.
Heart dragging downward inside my chest, my thoughts wandered back to that evening. How fast Galantia’s heart had pounded upon those words, making her spine vibrate against my chest. How passionately we’d kissed. How close her soul had been to mine, until she’d touched me…
…there.
No doubt she’d read my outburst as anger when, in reality, it had been shame. If she knew that many men had made me their whore, would she think me filthy? If she knew that I had somehow developed a liking to it—an act that had once been forced upon me with pain and violence—would she think me tainted? Sick? More twisted than I had already proven her to be?
“You were right,” I finally confessed, and not for the first time when it came to Galantia. “Words do have an impact on her.”
“Yeah, well, if only you wouldn’t have such a talent for saying the right thing one moment and ruining all your efforts the next.”
Yes, that was my forte. “Meaning?”
“Meaning that it took you weeks to convince her of your feelings,” he said. “The prince who allowed himself to fall in love with what he thought was a human woman, but can’t bring himself to extend a shred of kindness to those human farmers.”
That observation cut deeper than I wanted it to, sending a stabbing pain through my core. For nineteen years, my mate had lived as a human. Naturally, she would continue to feel pity on their behalf. As much as I understood that, I wasn’t sure if I could ever bring myself to do the same.
And why would I? Had they not slaughtered my family, destroyed our lands, desecrated our shrines? Where had humans’ pity been for those Raven farmers they’d cut down? The fledglings they’d set aflame? Where had their kindness been when they’d—
“My prince,” an unfamiliar voice said, making me lift my gaze to the guard who suddenly stood at the center of the throne room. “This man refused to be turned away. He said he has urgent information on the western farms, but refused to supply it, even after we gave him ten lashes, stating that he will only share it with you.”
I didn’t bother to straighten, let alone endure another minute on that hard throne by taking on a more presentable position. Certainly not for the likes of him.
My eyes fell to the man beside the guard. Brown, tousled hair. Rags for clothing. A back that had probably been hunched, even before those ten lashes. Beside him, an auburn-haired woman fisted her dirty brown dress, her gaze on the ground. Between them stood a young boy, nine, maybe ten years old, his blond hair such a stark contrast to the black floors.
My upper lip curled all on its own.
Humans.
I gave a wave of my hand that had them shuffle forward, stopping several feet short of the first step. “And what urgent information might you have about those farms and the trespassers who dare to disobey my order?”
“Your Highness.” The man took another step forward, his bow as crooked as his spine, showing the bloodied threads on his back. “Please forgive me, but I had no other choice, I did not. I’ve got no information, I don’t. It was… it was all a lie just so they’d let us in here.”
“Humans telling lies.” What a surprise. “Are you one of those farmers from the western fields?”
Another half-bow. “Yes, Your Highness. One of the farmers, I am. It’s not a large plot of land, but we were content.”
And yet, too large for his kind. “You must have walked for a long time.”
“Five days on the road, Your Highness.”
“There are less strenuous ways to die,” I said. “And yet, you chose to come here, to a place where you are not wanted, with nothing of value.”
Sebian gave me a side-glance, raising a brow at me as if I was about to let my shadows swallow them whole. And maybe I would have a few weeks ago, but not anymore. My shadows were… calm enough.
The woman beside him, his wife, presumably, swatted at him, but didn’t dare lift her eyes. “Tell him, Oscar. Just tell the Raven king.”
“It’s true, we have nothing of value. The little we had, we put into buying seeds for the spring, but they’ll now never be planted, they won’t. The only thing left precious to us is our son here. Come and bow.” When the boy remained stiff and still, his father gently ushered him half a step forward. “Bow.”
