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Another sin to lay at Theron’s feet. If he hadn’t ambushed us in the escape, then Orya would still be alive. And Gavril wouldn’t have become so hardened.
Everything went back to him.
“He’s a complicated man,” she said as if reading my thoughts. “The Lord Marshal.”
I eyed her, unsure of what she was getting at. I hadn’t thought that she and Theron were intimate before, but now I wondered.
“Were you his concubine?” I asked, ignoring the strange roaring in my ears that the idea caused.
“What? Gods, no.” She laughed and then paused, shooting me a sheepish look. “No offense.”
I raised a shoulder, leaning against the counter as the kettle whistled and she removed it, pouring water over the leaves in each cup. “None taken. Your tone seemed intimate.”
She shook her head. “No. The Lord Marshal doesn’t put his staff into uncomfortable positions like that. Unlike other members of the royal family.” Her shoulders tensed and she turned her back on me to find some cream. “I’m just saying that he’s a decent man. If you give him time, things will get easier.”
“I watched him decapitate three innocent people earlier today.” I snapped, unable to hold it in. “He’s not a good man.”
Her mouth closed abruptly before she breathed in deeply. “You haven’t seen what I have. I’m sure he was doing what he had to survive.”
“Like what?” I narrowed my eyes at her, crossing my arms.
“Well, Rhazien tries to kill him at least once a week, though he’s slowed down recently.”
“Excuse me?” My mind whirled. Why would the Beast keep him here if he wanted him dead? Unless that was the point.
“The Lord Marshal’s brother sets traps for him all the time. I’ve found scorpions in his bed. Poison in the tub. Tainted logs in the fire.” She waved a nonchalant hand. “You name it, Rhazien has attempted it.”
“But why?”
“Because the Marshal has the next strongest claim on the throne, of course.”
I shook my head. “No. I meant, why does he stay then? If his brother keeps trying to kill him?”
“He can’t leave. He has to remain here until the emperor permits him, or they’ll hunt him down as a defector, like his father.”
What had happened to his father?
I pushed the question away and scoffed. “He’s not trapped like us. He has power and influence. If he wanted to change things, he could.”
Mirijana shook her head. “No, he couldn’t. Not without consequences. Like being forced to stay in Adraedor, under the watchful eye of a brother determined to kill him.”
I had no desire to hear it. I didn’t want to feel any shred of sympathy for Theron. But the more Mirijana spoke, the more conflicted I became. Was he a victim, too? I clenched my teeth. No. He had options. He was taking the easy way out. The path that kept him comfortable. He was just as despicable as I’d always thought, because not only was he a bastard, he was a coward, too.
She must have seen the opinion on my face because she handed me my cup of tea with a sad smile.
“You don’t know what it’s like, Kael,” she said, her eyes darkening with the memory. “The mines... they’re a different kind of hell. They worked us to the bone, starved and beat us, with no hope of escape.”
I listened, my heart heavy as I remembered. I knew exactly what she meant. Even five years later, I still had dreams of the mines, of the heat and the dark.
“But the Marshal,” Mirijana said, her voice softening as she touched her sightless eye and the scar tissue around it. “He’s not like the others. The Marshal doesn’t see us as... as things to be used and thrown away. He saw me, a scared girl, and he took me in. Putting me to work in his household, gave me a chance to live with some dignity.”
I looked down into my tea, unsure of what to say. I wanted to hate Theron, to blame him for everything that had happened, but hearing Mirijana’s story made it difficult. He had saved her, had shown her compassion in a world that was so cruel. How many times had I wished for a rescue that would never come? Only Haemir had shown that kindness to me. And comparing Theron to the man that I respected above all others... No. Absolutely not.
“There was one time,” Mirijana continued, her eyes distant as she recounted the memory. “I trusted the wrong people. I thought that they’d improve my life, but it was a trick.”
My heart raced as I listened, a sick feeling in my stomach. I knew what it was like to be attacked, to be at the mercy of others.
“But the Marshal found me,” Mirijana said, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Fought them off, protected me. He didn’t have to do that, Kael. He could have just let them do whatever they wanted. But he didn’t. He saved my life.”
