AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rook’s eyes met mine, but then I saw him freeze as his gaze moved over my shoulder. I spun around to see the guard hauling in a person - a woman - limp and bleeding. She was filthy, as though she’d been dragged along the road, blood and dirt mixed on her face in a terrible raw mass.
My stomach dropped.
“Esther!” I lurched forward. “Oh Gods, what have you done to her?” My nursemaid, the woman who’d cared for me since childhood, who’d been a second mother to me, now lay between two Velesian guards. She wasn’t moving, and I wondered if she was already dead. “What have you done?” I cried as the guards stepped forward and stopped me getting any closer. “What have you done?” I railed against them, grabbing at the spears they held to block my way. “Esther! Esther!” She didn’t move, didn’t respond.
Theron was pacing slowly back and forth in front of the throne as I turned to him. “Now now, dear one, calm down.”
“What have you done?” I flew at him, but hands were suddenly on me, holding me back, and I looked over my shoulder to see Rook. I jerked my shoulders, fighting against his grasp. “Let me go! She’s my family!” My eyes flew back to Theron. “What are you going to do to her?”
“My lady, as I said, I am giving you the opportunity to win your lands back, your family back, piece by piece.” The smile on his face was infuriating, and he rubbed his hands together. “Now, I was going to have this woman who meant so much to you be the first trial, be your first opportunity to earn back a small part of Peyrus and the royal house. But then -“ His eyes moved over my shoulder to Rook. “Then I saw something I did not quite approve of. So now you have, unfortunately, forfeited that chance.”
“Wh - what do you mean?” I looked from Esther back to Theron, over my shoulder at Rook and back again. “What have I forfeited?”
“You attempted to seduce me a week ago,” Theron announced loudly to shocked, theatrical gasps from the courtiers. “You invited me to your bed, did you not?”
I felt Rook tense behind me, his fingers flexing as they continued to hold my arms. “I most certainly did not!” I protested. Esther moved, one arm reaching out, trying to lift herself from the ground. “I did no such thing!”
“You attempted to seduce me and then you did the same thing with the very man I assigned to train you today, did you not?” Theron’s voice was growing ever louder, whipping up the courtiers into a frenzy around us.
“She did not.” Rook’s booming voice caught me by surprise, and I jumped.
Theron raised his eyebrows. “Oh is that so? Is that why I caught you in a lover’s embrace in the training arena today?”
“He was comforting me!” My voice had taken on an edge of desperation, almost cracking as the words tumbled out of me. “He was just comforting me because I lost my betrothed! We weren’t doing anything!”
“I assure you, Sire, there was nothing untoward going on.” Rook’s hands dropped from my arms. “I would never touch a Fae, you know that.”
“Even one as beautiful as this one, Rook?” Theron sneered. “Even one whose body is pressed against yours in combat, dripping in sweat? Even one who haunts your dreams and has you moaning so loudly in your chamber that the fucking guards can hear you?”
“I assure you, your majesty, it’s nothing.” Rook’s eyes moved from me back to Theron, his hands spread. “I have no control over my dreams. They mean nothing.”
Esther groaned from across the room. I again moved towards her, trying to reach her and comfort her, to make sure she was alright. The guards stood in my way, their spears pushing me back.
“Esther! Esther! It’s me, it’s Elara! I’m here!”
The old woman raised her head, her violet eyes glowing in amongst the soft papery wrinkles of her skin. Her soft milky skin which was now covered in blood and filth. Her lips moved, but her voice was so faint I couldn’t hear what she was saying. Her hand reached out to me.
“It’s alright,” I assured her, “it’s alright, I’m here. I’m here.”
“Rook!” Theron called. “Kill her.”
I spun around, thinking he meant me. I was ready to fight. I was ready to claw Rook’s fucking eyes out if he came anywhere near me. But then I met his eyes and saw the tortured look on his face, and his shoulders slumped a little.
“Sire, this isn’t necessary.” He said, his voice full of defeat.
Theron’s eyes blazed. “I order you to kill this woman.” He pointed at Esther.
“No!” I flew at Rook, my fists slamming into his chest, beating at him, clawing at him. He merely stood there, taking every one of my strikes, his eyes full of sadness. “Don’t you fucking touch her! Don’t you fucking go anywhere near her! I swear to the Gods I will end you! I will end -“ I was torn away from him by two pairs of hands, away from Rook. I flailed and kicked against them, crying and screaming as a guard brought Rook his ax.
Theron stood at the base of the throne podium, leering at me. “I told you, you forfeited your chance to earn her life back. You do not touch anyone, nor is anyone permitted to touch you, do you understand me?”
Rook walked towards Esther, who was still barely moving on the ground, his ax in his hand.
“Don’t you touch her, Rook!” I writhed in the hands of the guards. “You touch her and I will kill you! I will fucking kill you, Rook!”
The two guards hauled Esther from her slumped position on the floor, forcing her on to her knees. An enormous oak tree round was rolled in, and Esther’s head was placed upon it. My screaming was totally incoherent now, the guards drawing blood from my arms as their fingers cut into me.
Esther’s hands hung limply on either side of her. Rook stood beside her, then dropped down to one knee, putting a hand on her head. His eyes lifted to meet mine. “I’m sorry.” He said to her, as well as to me.
