Page 32 of The Manticore's Fire

“His majesty Vincent Decort has a great love for splendors,” Zayman continued dryly. “He spares no expense on his vast gardens, as evident before you, nor on his menagerie off the north-eastern wing where he explores his various entertainments.”

“I see,” she murmured. “And is his majesty expecting us or…”

“He has cleared his schedule for you,” he interrupted sourly, his lips pinching as if he were sucking on one of the lush lemons hanging from the citrus trees, the branches of which they were currently passing under. “Nothing competes with his love for his entertainments.”

“I see,” Abby murmured as a twinge of uncertainty struck.

If he valued his amusements over his affairs of state, she suddenly had a bad feeling that the king would be less than willing to release Samir even after she presented his offer. If he insisted on adding the manticore to his “collection,” there was little doubt that things would get volatile quickly. Samir was willing to be humbled by removing his defenses to get his audience with the king, but he would not take kindly being caged like a beast. The manticore’s thought seemed to be heading in a similar direction because the chains binding his legs rattled louder, and his steps became warier and more resistant the nearer they came to the palace door.

“We aren’t meeting him in the menagerie, are we?”

“No, thank the blessed gods,” Zayman retorted, his nose wrinkling. “The king may love his collection, but he at least spares his loyal subjects from being subjected to the deplorable stench of his beloved creatures. We will be meeting him in the throne room.”

The throne room, it turned out, for all its extravagance and obvious indulgences put on display and enjoyed by the courtiers, was nothing short of chaos. Laughter filled the room along with the overly sweet smell of the burning, sticky residue gathered from the sap of the sweetwell weed. A woman, clothed in nothing but gold chains fastened ornamentally around her wrists, ankles, belly, collar, and head, lay stretched out on a table in the middle of the room as men drizzled a thick, honey-like substance over her sex and breasts. The woman’s pupils were blown out, likely due to the sweetwell, and she seemed oblivious to the raucous laughter or what the men were doing to her as they rubbed the liquid onto her breasts and between her legs.

“What… what are they doing?” she whispered.

“Impromptu entertainment,” Zayman casually replied. “The manticore has some semblance to a man and monsters are known to have a fondness for honey and milk like many other creatures that came to our land during the collision. In short, they want to see if the manticore will feast carnally upon the woman and take his pleasure on her before devouring her whole.”

Abby gaped as she came to an abrupt halt. “Excuse me?”

“I know. You don’t need to say anything. I am glad that they at least had the consideration to dope up the poor girl first,” he said with a grimace. “It’s one thing to enjoy witnessing creatures degrading themselves and those we had selected for our pleasure, but the manticore is far more unusual than what we usually submit criminals and servants to. No doubt it’s one ofhis majesty’s ‘experiments’ that he so loves to conduct with his monstrosities.”

She blinked rapidly and swallowed back her nausea. She felt as if she were going to be sick. At her side, Samir snarled and backpedaled, his tail tugging violently against the chain holding it in place. Zayman stepped back, giving the monster berth as he stared at him nervously.

“And you just… let this happen?”

His gaze snapped up from the manticore to her once he was certain that Samir wasn’t going to break from his bounds and gave her a churlish look. “I don’tallowanything. I follow orders. It is how I’ve risen so high in the court to become the king’s trusted right-hand man. It is a lesson that you should learn as well,” he retorted coolly. “If you had done as you were paid to do—as your family would have done—and simply killed the beast then you would have remained oblivious to this aspect of court life. I should have known better than to trust a mere girl with such an important job.”

Her jaw clenched angrily. “That doesn’t make this okay, nor that you shouldn’t be attempting to put a stop to it.”

Zayman snorted mirthlessly. “Who are you to judge? Look at you! You’ve brought a dangerous monster straight into the heart of Veldala. It is foolish! I expect better professionalism considering who your parents are.”

She straightened, her jaw hardening. “He is not like that. Even my parents would have seen that. Do you imagine anyone would have been able to put him in chains if he was unwilling. He is suffering this humiliation in order to negotiate for the valuable service he provides for the desert. It is for everyone’s mutual benefit. He will continue to protect you so long as he might live in peace.”

“Negotiate?” Zayman barked with laughter. “Is that what this absurd performance is about? I had imagined it to be your planto get more money from the king. I never would have imagined a hunter becoming a traitor to her own kind and aligning herself with a monster she has sworn to kill. The king and the entire court will laugh at such an assumption. He is a creature with no right to negotiate. He is a dangerous monster. Even now he could potentially break free and bring about a bloodbath on the city and every inhabitant of the palace.”

“And perhaps you would deserve it,” she replied, biting out every word. “Perhaps I should release him now so you can see for yourself.”

His eyes widened and he took a step back from her. “That is madness. To even suggest that…. you are no hunter!”

“Zayman? What is going on here?”

King Decort walked toward them from among the crowd; his brow furrowed with confusion. He was not as old as Abby expected him to be given that he was a king. There was only the smallest hint of gray in his beard, but his features bore the softness of a child. His gaze fell upon Samir then and she saw the true depravity within him as his expression lit up and he licked his lips with his thick tongue hungrily.

Abby straightened, intentionally placing herself between the king and the manticore. This was her opportunity. “I’m here to negotiate on behalf of the manticore, Samir, who is graciously submitting to your royal authority. He destroys many dangers that come into his territory in the desert and deserves rewards and peace, not hunters sent after his skin and tail as trophies.”

The king frowned at her. “What need do I have for that? I have plenty of troops and men at my disposal to send after anything that threatens my kingdom. What I want is right here.” His head craned to peer around her, his frustration melting away as it was replaced by an expression of excitement. “I have never imaged to have a manticore to add to my menagerie, and yet here he is!” he exclaimed with a happily little, sadistic laugh asZayman pulled her to the side to give the king an unobstructed view. “Oh, isn’t he splendid,” Decort crooned rapturously. “I cannot wait to see what he’s capable of.”

Abby frowned. So that was it. The king did not care about the lives of anyone but his own and had no consideration for anything other than his own perverse pleasures. He would never negotiate for peace with Samir; he only wanted to harm the male she loved and the people within the city. Not only he but his whole treacherous court needed to go if anyone was to have any peace. “I’m quite certain that he’s eager to show you,” Abby agreed darkly.

The king laughed. “Is he indeed? Marvelous. Simply marvelous.”

“Your majesty, I don’t think—" Zayman protested, but Decort cut him off with a disgusted look.

“Oh, shut up, Bibal. I don’t care what you think. If you are not going to participate and join in on our pleasures, then you can leave.” A cruel smile tugged at the king’s mouth. “Though I do imagine you will be staying. You may protest but your dick gets hard at these little displays, and you’ve even fucked a siren once we had cut off her wings, removed her treacherous tongue, and pinned her down for you. Consider this an even more exotic experience.”

“Yes, Zayman, do stay,” Abby agreed, disgust roiling in her stomach.

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