Page 57 of The King's Omega
Inside there was a bath filled with lukewarm water, a dress only five or six inches too long and at least that many too wide, and a table laid out with simple fare. I bathed first and wasn’t at all surprised when, the second I finished dressing, a cough came from the tent flap. They were paying very close attention to their prisoner.
“Come in,” I said. “If it’s even up to me to allow that or not.”
The lieutenant walked through the flap as if we were having a tea party. “Of course it is, Princess. This is your country, and we are your humble servants.”
I sighed and stuffed bread and cheese into my mouth as fast as possible. I needed to eat before he discovered I wasn’t whoever he expected. “Where are we?” I mumbled around a wad of dry bread. He offered me a cup filled with rich red wine. I tried to sip, but I was so thirsty, I took a large mouthful.
Too late, I thought about poison. I held the wine in my puffed-out cheeks and peered into the cup, looking for white powder or something. Maybe I should spit it out, just in case. But… it was so delicious. And I was so thirsty. And wasting wine might displease the Goddess. Her first miraculous creation had been wine, after all. I swallowed it with a prayer for protection from poison.
The lieutenant chuckled. “It’s safe, Princess. It’s officer’s fare. Not great, but it won’t kill you.”
“Where are we?” I repeated, although I had an idea already. “And who do you think I am?”
“We are in Verdan, my lady. Behind the lines on the eastern edge of our country. In a few days, you will be in the capital of Verdan, Verdan City.”
“Someone didn’t try hard with that name,” I mumbled.
The lieutenant’s eyes twinkled. “You are from there, Princess. The king has been searching for you for many years. This war began as an attempt to recover you, the stolen child.”
“Wait. You think I’m a… Princess of Verdan?” I laughed. “Oh, boy. This is going to be awkward for whoever got this so wrong.” I stood, grabbing as many cheese and salami slices as I could. The stupid dress didn’t have pockets, or I would have filled them to bursting. “My name is Vali. I was—am—a servant at The Rutting Sow, a brothel in the Cartine district of Turino.”
The lieutenant paled. “A… a whorehouse.” There it was, the look I’d expected. Revulsion and shock. But then his eyes went hard. “Your Highness, the thought of you living in such conditions makes me glad we’re going to raze Turino to the ground. Enough that they stole you from us, but to force you to live in—”
Raze Turino to the ground? “Wait. Nobody forced anything. I told you, I’m not a princess.”
He straightened. “Vali, you say? You are a princess; the king decreed it before your birth. You were born in King Milian’s palace. The story of how you were lost is not mine to tell. The king awaits us in Verdan City. Hold your doubt and your questions for that meeting. Until then, you are my charge, and my princess. Aught you require is mine to give.”
I struggled to keep my face straight. “Say it again.”
He frowned. “Aught you require is mine to give?”
I repeated it under my breath three times, then fell back on the cot, laughing. “I’ve got to tell Axe. I’m going to make him say that to me when I’m feeling cross with him.”
“Axe? General Asher?” The lieutenant’s face went blank. “Ah. Was he one of the… clients at your… home?”
“Well, I met him in The Rutting Sow, if that’s what you mean.” The strain in his expression made me think I didn’t want to tell anyone in Verdan just how well I knew Axe or the other generals.
The lieutenant couldn’t hide his revulsion once again, and when he excused himself, I was glad to see him go. I’d lived with quite enough judgment in my life, thank you very much.
The next morning, I left my tent to find ten soldiers on horseback waiting for me with a saddled mare. “Princess, your mount. If we ride fast, we can be in Verdan City in two days.”
“I’m not going.” Every soldier’s face went hard. Ah, there it was. All that “aught you require” stuff was just a load of dung. Prisoner, not princess, no matter what stories they spun.
Well, I knew how to play this game; my friends at the Sow had plenty of tricks for dealing with men who hid their nastiness under a thin layer of manners. I fluttered my eyelashes and cooed, “I meant to say, I’m not going unless you call me by my name.” I let out a trill of laughter that was false to my ears, but all the men relaxed.
“But, Princess, your name… it isn’t Vali.” The lieutenant pulled his mount up to my side. “It’s Theodora ta Milian.”
I bit my tongue. What a horrific name.
But this was not the battle I needed to fight. A stable hand ran to help me mount. The lieutenant’s eyes were flinty as I thanked the boy. “Princess Theodora, you do not speak to servants. You have much to learn… and to unlearn.”
I let my eyes drop. “Of course, Lieutenant. Thank you for correcting me.”
His lips curled slightly into more of a leer than a smile, but I didn’t care. I would play the role of innocent, helpless girl as long as it suited me… and get enough information about Verdan and its defenses that when I finally got back to my men at the castle, we’d have a real chance at beating King Milian.
King Milian… who might be my father.
* * *
