Page 18

Yes, it was too soon, but we didn’t have time to spare. If Nadrisse could be genuinely sweet and charming to me, I doubted she’d be the same with Ashana. Not to mention, on his side, Elendur was playing chess with my wife as his centrepiece.

The guards let me pass without even attempting to stop me, for in the eyes of the people of this castle, from the lowliest cook to the royal guard, I was considered to be the legitimate child of the late king Yblis. Without warning, I burst into Elendur’s room.

Upon seeing two naked girls huddling together on his huge bed, frightened, I thought perhaps I should have announced myself in a more civilized manner. Then my eyes caught sight of the numerous red marks on their bodies and my mind focused on this detail.

Elendur, naked and clad only in a silk bathrobe that opened wide over his hairless but relatively muscular body, nimbly tossed them a linen quilt to cover themselves with.

I had only vaguely paid attention to their faces but noted that one was brunette and the other light brown.

Two chambermaids, judging by the clothes lying on the floor.

I’d never been interested in the king’s intimate life, but now I had the impression that it didn’t follow the romantic norm of the country. Was this surprising? No, not really.

“To what do I owe the honour of your visit at this hour? I thought you were asleep in your wife’s arms,” he mocked, pouring himself a glass of the country’s fruit-fermented alcohol.

He offered me some, which I declined with a wave of my hand.

“We had an interesting conversation.”

Elendur raised an inquisitive eyebrow. I smiled coldly before continuing:

“Ashana has informed me that you are willing to allow a priest of the One God to perform our Osacanian wedding ceremony. It struck me as ... odd,” I said, my accent tinged with irony.

I watched him tighten the flaps of his cyan-blue bathrobe, a colour that paired well with the shade of his hair. He reminded me of Kynnen, the youngest of our siblings. Perhaps that was my weakness lay. That physical resemblance.

Elendur sat down on a wide purple velvet armchair, then elegantly crossed one leg over the other before bringing the glass to his lips to take a sip.

“Odd in what sense? Do you think I lied?”

I shook my head.

“Oh, no, I know you have a priest on hand. I remember very well the day you ordered him to be arrested.”

An menacing smile stretched across his lips.

“No,” I continued. “What intrigues me is what state in which you’ll make this poor man officiate, just to punish Ashana for daring, according to your personal criteria, to disrespect your own beliefs and those of your people.”

Elendur didn’t speak immediately, preferring first to savour another sip of wine.

“You think that was my objective?”

“Because it wasn’t?” I countered, snapping at him.

Again, the Osacan king did not respond immediately.

“Let’s imagine—and I do mean ‘let’s imagine’—that this was indeed what I had in mind when I accepted her proposal; what do you plan to do about it?”

As a preamble to my response, I let my gaze change colour to become as fiery as the flames crackling in the braziers of his outdoor throne.

“Are we still imagining? I’d kill him and burn his body instantly.”

I then pointed to his bottle of wine.

“And maybe add his ashes to your favourite drink to spice up the flavour, what do you say?”

Elendur’s gaze drifted for a moment to the crystal decanter containing the precious liquor.

“But we’re just speculating, aren’t we?” I insisted. “Because none of this is real or even close to happening.”

A friendly smile, belied by the cold rage that animated his strange yellow irises, bloomed on the lips of the King of Osacan.

“Yes, that’s obvious. You and I have vivid imaginations,” he retorted.

I smiled back, and it must have been a terrifying sight, because the two chambermaids, still on their lord’s bed, let out the yelp of a frightened beast.

“It’s a common point that binds us, in the absence of blood, I suppose.”

I had probably put him in a state of nameless fury. Those women weren’t going to make it out of there alive. And it was my fault. I suddenly felt responsible for their fate. I gestured at them with my chin, without really looking at them.

“Are they trustworthy?” I asked, deliberately changing the subject.

Anger still reigned in his eyes, but Elendur gave me the grace to answer me with a curt “yes.”

“I want them. At my wife’s service. This stubborn woman refused to bring any chambermaids from Muvaria, so not a single servant accompanies her, apart from a young page named Massim who’s in the stables.

She can’t take care of herself alone; it would be frowned upon by the members of your court, you, and Nadrisse. ”

This time, Elendur’s expression contorted into the grimace of a predator.

“And why them? There are other women more qualified than these laundresses in Tarnton.”

“I don’t want to waste my time auditioning damsels. If you value them enough to share your bed, then they’re worthy and capable.”

He couldn’t contradict me without denigrating himself, and a king never denigrates himself, least of all when his name is Elendur Silh of Tarnton.

“Well, then, I’ll make you a present of it. I owe you for killing the king of Muvaria, your wife’s father,” he retorted perfidiously.

I didn’t flinch. It took more than that to throw me off balance.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

With a wave of my hand, I urged the women to get dressed. It was too late for him to summon others, and perhaps by the morning, he wouldn’t be in such a murderous mood as to take revenge on them in retaliation.

Tonight, I was going to have to go out. I was going to have to expel this fury that was gnawing me down to the bone. A need for blood. A need to kill.

As soon as the two castle laundresses and I were out of Elendur’s room, I harpooned them with my most merciless stare.

“I just saved your life.”

They nodded in agreement.

“In gratitude, serve my wife faithfully. And if I ever learn that you are spying on us, on my lady or me, for your king or the Isamane, I will kill you with my own hands. It will be slow. Painful. Incredibly unpleasant.”

“But . . .” protested the brunette. “In case you are right, the king will certainly want to kill us too if we don’t obey him. Whatever we do, we’ll die!”

She wasn’t wrong. I thought for a moment and said:

“Fair enough. But only report things of no consequence, and above all, confide in me every word you repeat to them. I want to know everything. Everything. Now go to bed, shoo!”

“Yes, Lord Dovah,” they chorused.

I watched them run off down the castle corridor while, on the other side of the door, Elendur ravaged everything in his room. He hadn’t gotten any better with age; if anything, he’d gotten worse. I let out a sigh.