Page 39
Clarissa
G alen’s face went ashen.
“How did he get through with this ?” he hissed at the nearest guard, pointing to the weapon. “Guests were supposed to be searched!”
“We’ll find out, Your Majesty,” the guard grunted. Several of them dragged Tovar away, down the aisle of waiting citizens and toward a sleek black carriage with bars on the window. Gasps of confusion echoed, some people rushing out of the way while others converged on us to get a better look.
“Galen, what did that man mean?” I asked, watching the uneasy crowd. “Why did he say you murdered his daughter?”
He faced me, hazel eyes distant. “Because I did.”
My heart dropped to my feet as he turned, straightened his shoulders, and put on a smile.
“Not to worry, everyone. Just a small misunderstanding, but it’s been taken care of.
We must leave to prepare for the Harvest Festival tonight.
I hope to see you all this evening,” he finished, nodding to those nearest us.
Whispers spread when more of the King’s Guard walked up the center of the clearing to escort us out.
One took Galen’s arm while another reached for my shoulder.
I batted him away and grabbed Galen’s free hand to get his attention.
“We need to talk,” I said through my teeth, trying to keep a relaxed posture to avoid upsetting the crowd.
He flinched and tugged his arm away. “Not now, Clarissa.” He kept his eyes straight ahead.
The guards motioned for us to follow, and I untied Mia’s leash from my chair and tucked her under my arm.
She wiggled and turned her body until her front paws rested on my shoulder so she could see what was going on behind us.
Her soft ear brushed my cheek every time she moved, her keen senses on high alert after the attack.
The guards ushered us down the steps of the dais.
I took a deep breath and tried to block out the sounds of my own hammering heart and people’s murmurs of concern.
It seemed Galen’s short speech had mollified them enough to keep pandemonium from breaking out, but it felt like it was hanging by a thread.
We made it to the edge of the clearing where a royal carriage waited, with more armed men planted firmly in place.
“Where’s my mother?” I whispered, peering over the guards’ heads and behind us, desperate to catch a glimpse of her. The crowd began to move away from the clearing and back to the other activities. A handful of lingering, frightened eyes glanced back at us, but soon, conversations started up again.
“She’ll be escorted to Silenus Manor, Your Majesty,” one of the guards answered. “Our priority is to retrieve you and His Majesty. We must get you to safety.”
He tried to grasp me again, but I ripped out of his hold. Mia let out a soft growl. “It was an isolated attack, not a revolution,” I said. “You’ve already apprehended the one responsible. Please, I need to find my mother.”
“His Majesty’s orders. Get in the carriage, Empress Aris.
” His tone held no room for argument, but still, I craned my neck to see around him and Mia’s ears.
While I didn’t think any other assassination attempts would be made, people acted rashly when emotions were high, and Mother and I were easy targets among those in fear.
All it took was one person emboldened by the chaos and holding a grudge against Veridians to act out .
I scanned the scene, looking for my mother’s familiar blonde-and-gray bun among the tan, linen, and leather.
Instead, my gaze snagged on someone else. “Thorne!” I said on an exhale, pushing against the guard who tried to shove me into the carriage.
Thorne instantly found me and covered the space between us in three quick strides. Mia’s tail thumped against my back. When Thorne saw the guard yank my arm, his light blue eyes darkened to stormy ice.
“Take your hands off her,” he said, his voice so low, it was almost a growl. The sound sent a shiver down my spine. The guard released me but kept an arm across my stomach, urging me toward the carriage.
“Thorne—find my mother,” I insisted. “Make sure she’s safe.” I kept my tone as calm as I could, aware of how every action could send others into a frenzy, but I instinctively reached my free hand toward him as my feet were forced farther away. My fingers brushed the tips of his.
“Of course, Empress. I’ll find her,” he promised.
My shoulders fell in relief. Thorne would help her. He would make sure she was safe. I didn’t have to worry.
I didn’t know when I had begun to trust him…but I did.
Leather skimmed my waist as Galen’s strong grip pulled me inside the carriage. Thorne’s fingers fell away, his eyes flicking to Galen’s gloved hand resting on my hip before he nodded to me and disappeared into the crowd.
The door to the carriage shut, and the only sound filling the space was Mia’s heavy pants. I set her on the bench beside me and let her wander across the small area, making sure to keep her leash short enough that she couldn’t cross to Galen.
“What just happened?” I gritted out.
He leaned forward and held his head in his hands as the carriage rocked beneath us, fingers clawing at his tousled brown hair. “I didn’t recognize him at first. I—I didn’t know him. But when he said his last name…” He looked up at me, face ashen and eyes bloodshot. “I never forget a name.”
I fell back onto the bench across from him, my breath leaving me in a whoosh as I took in his words. Mia’s tail brushed my side while she sniffed around the seat.
“You have to understand—this curse, it…it took over my life, Clarissa. It controlled me. I woke up as a king the day my father died, with this Grimaldi curse passed onto my head. Nobody knew what it would be. Nobody knew what—what power I’d inherit.
“Myths from my lineage say the magic stems from our greatest flaws. The idols that plague our minds, the one thing we can’t live without.
My ancestor Nyses was obsessed with seeking power and control to create a legacy far into the future.
So his curse was to see that future. To watch it unfold… horrific or not.
“And my grandfather was a—a harsh man. Even before he was king, he enjoyed inflicting pain on others. Watching them suffer.” A shudder went through Galen. “When he became cursed, he was forced to endure the same pain he administered. Every punishment, every whipping, he experienced it too.”
My brows pinched closer and closer together as he explained how the Fates had designed this curse. It was so deliberate. So personal . It sounded as if some of his ancestors may have deserved their fate, but Galen? He wasn’t cruel. He may have been misguided, but he was trying to make things right.
He paused, and I waited quietly, giving him space to work through his thoughts. My fingers found Mia and scratched her back to give my hands something to do.
He turned to look out the window. “You know my curse. How my touch will rot. I’ve always been so…
dependent on physical contact. My parents were good, fair rulers, but they left little time for me as a boy.
I craved my mother’s affection, which was only given after I’d done something for her.
‘Be a good little boy at the ceremony today.’ ‘Do as Mommy says, and you can have dinner with us tonight.’”
His voice broke, and he cleared his throat.
“I came to associate her attention, her touch, with validation. And as I got older, it became far too easy to transfer that to every facet of my life. Men, women, everything you could possibly want could be won with careful devotion. With touch . I found confidence in the way I could get approval and compassion with my body. The nights out with Thorne, the years spent in another’s company, a different partner in my bed.
It was what I thought I had to do. It’s the only thing I could do.
“And when that was taken away from me…when I could no longer so much as feel another person’s skin against my own… You don’t know what that’s like. How difficult it was to accept.” He took a deep breath. “Even when I began killing people.”
A chill filled the carriage. “What happened?” I whispered.
He scrubbed a hand over his cleanshaven face.
“The first one was my maid, Lydia. She brought breakfast to my bed the morning after my father died, when I’d been unofficially crowned king.
The heir to the throne and the family curse.
My fingers…they barely skimmed hers. And it was so slow, I didn’t believe I had done it at first. She made it all the way out the chamber doors before I heard her fall.
It looked as if the life had been drained from her.
” He pressed his thumbs into his eyes. “She was dead. Nobody could explain it, and it wasn’t until strange things kept happening to me that I wondered if it had been me . ”
I could almost hear my heart beating in the silence. My shoulders were tight with tension, my breath shaking as I waited for him to continue.
“I tripped against a root on my way to the stables and caught myself on a tree trunk, and it withered. That was when I became truly scared. I touched every piece of shrubbery I could find, praying it was a mistake, but each one rotted and died. Shriveled before my very eyes. I knew it was the Grimaldi curse; I knew I couldn’t escape it.
“I tore back through the palace, avoiding everyone who came in my path, and holed myself in my chambers for a week. My mother needed me. My people needed me. I was supposed to be crowned their king, and I wouldn’t even show my face.
They—they thought I was drunk or ignoring my responsibilities, and perhaps I was.
I should have been there for them. But I didn’t know what to do.
I still don’t know what to do most of the time.
Table of Contents
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- Page 39 (Reading here)
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