Page 29 of The Rat King
I had no time to think. The sooner I got out of here, the better. I raced to the bathroom and rinsed off the blood as quickly as I could. Then I dressed and picked up my backpack and stuffed it with all of my original belongings, pocketed some jewelry from the drawers, then pulled the chair away.
I needed to find a different way than the balcony of my study on the second floor I used last time, since in the last month, they’d stationed more guards along my regular routes as if I wouldn’t notice. Unfortunately, my third-floor balcony was too high up. I needed to get to the first floor and head toward the garden door. It wasn’t the first time I’d gone there late to walk amongst the roses. Sure, I wasn’t wearing a traveling cloak and carrying a supply laden backpack at the time, but I didn’t know what else to do. It was the best plan I could come up with on short notice and all of my instincts were screaming for me to flee.
Unless Nighval was still here, and I could find him before someone discovered what I’d done. He and Xavier had a bumpy relationship, but I wasn’t sure what he’d do if he knew. There was a chance he’d help me, but what if I was wrong? What if he hated me for killing his brother? No, I didn’t need him. I was better off on my own.
Throwing the cloak over my shoulders and pack, I raised the hood over my head and slipped out into the hallway. I nodded from the shadow of the hood as I passed an attendant I didn’t recognize, then another as I flew down the steps. Down another hallway on the second floor, around the corner to another stairwell. So far, so good. I should have known, but I was so close to the garden door my fingers itched to touch the cool metal of the knob. Only two more turns, and I’d be there. I spun around a corner and ran headfirst into Leviticus.
A whoosh of air left my lungs. “Excuse me,” I said, trying to side-step him, but he grabbed ahold of my shoulders, dragging me in front of him.
“Your Majesty?” he asked, pulling me under a flickering incandescent light that hung on an exposed cord in intervals down the hallway.
I tried to look down and away, leaving my face in the shadows. “Unhand your queen,” I demanded, but it was no use.
Leviticus said, “Why is there a streak of blood on your face? Where is King Xavier?”
Tears burst into the corners of my eyes, but I held them back. I tried to keep my lip from quivering and giving me away, but I’d just killed someone and the reality of that was crashing into my awareness the longer I stood still.
“I said, let me go.” I jerked out of his grip and made to storm down the hall, but a guard turned the corner and Leviticus called, “Seize her.”
As Leviticus and three more guards marched me through the hallways, back up the stairs to my room, dread coiled in my belly.
We got to the room, and a gruff guard shoved the door open. Leviticus turned pale as he took in the corpse on the bed. Time crawled as he pivoted toward me. He darted a claw forward, hooking it in the clasp of my cloak. The leather shredded as he sliced, and the garment slid to the floor, revealing my backpack.
His eyes and those of the guards bore into me. Murderous. “This is more than murder, Avery Plath. This is treason.”
He slid the backpack straps off my shoulders and discarded it in the room. “Take her to the dungeons,” he said, before addressing me. “All you had to do was accept him. Now it will be your head.”
A shuddering sob tore from my lips. “But he attacked me,” I cried. “He tried to…” but I couldn’t continue.
A flicker of doubt ran across his features, softening them for a hairsbreadth before they re-solidified. “It doesn’t matter. He was the king, and you were our last chance. We’ll be forever cursed and you’re to blame. The people will demand nothing less than your life. There is nothing I can do,” he glanced at Xavier’s body, “and nothing I would do... Go.”
The guards didn’t blink as they wrapped rough hands around my biceps and dragged me from the room. Twenty minutes later, I was in a dank prison cell on some subterranean level of the castle. Cool grey stone made up three of the walls and rusty iron bars the fourth. They shoved me in, slammed the door, and didn’t even speak before turning to leave.
They were out of sight before I had a chance to assess my new surroundings. Not even a cot or chamber pot was in the cell. Only a moth-eaten pile of rags in the corner, and ironically a rat, whose beady eyes poked out from a large crevice in the stone where the grout had deteriorated.
Xavier’s last words had been the start of an apology, but I’d never find out what my husband wanted because he was dead. What had I done? I was their last hope, and I’d killed the man I was supposed to fall in love with. I’d cursed the rat people to remain in their half-rat form forever. They were going to kill me.
Everything hit me suddenly and my legs gave out. My knees hit the stone with a crack and while the tears were there, they didn’t fall. I was too deep within panic’s grip for tears. I knew if I let go, I’d lose it. If I hadn’t rejected Nighval, I might have been able to count on him, but he wasn’t coming. Not for me. He’d never forgive me for anything that happened tonight. That left only one out. I needed to be strong and hope against all odds that somehow word of my predicament would reach my coven. They’d been able to send my aunt over and pull her back. Surely, they could do it again and bring me home.
Part 2
Chapter 21
Nighval
Visitingmymotherwasthe last thing I wanted to do after being faced with another rejection. I still couldn’t fathom what had gone wrong, and I convinced myself that it had been Avery’s fear that kept her at my brother’s side. Or some mistaken loyalty. I blamed him for that. The second I sensed there was something between myself and the witch, I should have confronted him about it and made him give her to me. As far as I could tell, the marriage wasn’t consummated, so I’d make him dissolve it and when we broke the curse, I’d reinstall her as queen by my side.
How different would things have been had I not relented to the pressure and given my brother a chance? I’d only needed to hold out for another year and then if I’d failed again, it would have been on my shoulders as it should be for any king. Instead, in a moment of weakness I’d given away my power. I would not do that again, and I would not fail. And there were only four months left.
That’s why I had to do this. I’d finally take the carrot Samara had been dangling in my face ever since the first witch ran. The thought of what I was about to do disgusted me. But that didn’t change anything. I would take the magic that would give me an edge from my mother and use it on the woman who’d been finding her way into my thoughts more and more. I really was a monster.
The truth was, I could have taken what my mother was offering at any time. My pride had been an insurmountable roadblock. And now, I could use the magic to help my brother to win the witch’s heart.
My stomach turned. No, once I got the offered magic, I’d ride to Ravsted and take her, consequences be damned. Little did she know the moment she kissed me back, she’d become mine. Taking her is what I should have done earlier tonight, but now I was standing outside the town deep in the Wildwood my mother had made a home for herself, handing off my Eclipse, the enchanted stallion my father had given me for my eighteenth birthday. I’d made one stop to retrieve the animal, then used my power to deliver both of us to the edge of the wards so I’d have the animal for my journey back to Ravsted.
The small village surrounded her estate and was inhabited by those she deemed worthy, making up her own little fiefdom. In reality, many of them were outcasts or people who preferred to live a more remote lifestyle. Occasionally, members of her following would venture out into the rest of Ras alhague. They were more of a nuisance than anything, though, considering they thought her rule above mine.
I had always let it slide. It was easier to give her that and keep her from meddling with the rest of the kingdom. Still, I never hesitated to exact swift punishment when required. During the past year, they’d become more of a problem due to Xavier’s lax hand and avoidant leadership style. It seemed he thought if he ignored the problems long enough, they’d go away. They never did. Samara hadn’t been happy with how I chose to deal with her following, but she also hadn’t put her neck out for the perpetrators, either.
