Page 16 of The Last Wish of Bristol Keats
His lips parted, his imputed sentence sinking in. He was still enough of a knight to feel the disgrace, the humiliation. “The worst of the worst? Is that really what I am?”
“The council passed sentence. You committed regicide.”
The color at his temples surged. “But you’re still alive!”
“It was your intent. And other good knights died searching for you.” Tyghan called out a few names, knights Kierus had known.
His gaze faltered at each mention, but when Tyghan finished, Kierus quickly countered, “And how many died looking for Cael because of his recklessness? He was betrothed, and he snuck off to fuck his mistress. Are their deaths on him? What sentence does he face? Don’t play with your words. This is about you.”
“Then let it be about me.”
“Don’t do this, Tyghan. For Bristol’s sake. She will never forgive you.”
“She’ll never know.”
Kierus’s head sank into his hands, and he stared down at the table. Tyghan knew he was only regrouping, thinking of more arguments or, more likely, a way to disarm him. Kierus never gave up. But when he looked back at Tyghan, his words were quiet, pleading, leading in a new direction. “Don’t kill Maire. I’m begging you, Tyghan. I would get down on my knees if I wasn’t chained to this chair. Kill me. Do whatever you want to me. Put my head on a pike and parade it around Elphame. But Maire, she doesn’t deserve this.”
Tyghan pushed his drink aside. Veins rose in his neck. “Glennis isdead. Her head was delivered to the palace gates this morning. A gift from your wife. Don’t tell me what she deserves.”
“Because she knows you have Bristol. She’s scared, dammit! She is terrified.”
Tyghan stood, his head pounding. “I don’t give a shit that she’s terrified! Neither does Glennis! She will never feel anything in this world again!” He pulled the demon blade from its sheath and stabbed it into the table, a hair’s breadth from Kierus’s hand. “This is my mercy to you. My only mercy. I was going to stab you with it before you began your sentence.Just a little stab.” He pulled the blade free from the table and returned it to its sheath. “But I remembered that you were once my friend, and I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy.”
Kasta was waiting for Tyghan when he emerged from the vault. As First Officer, it was her job to carry out the sentence. She was ready, eager even, so he kept his orders brief. He needed to get out of there, get away. The vault was airless. His lungs ached.
“Take care of it quickly. One month. That will be his full sentence.”
She balked, as if she hadn’t heard him correctly. “A month? You mean a thousand years. That’s what Judge’s Walk always is. It’s what the council ordered.”
“One month,” he repeated. “In that length of time, this conflict will be settled, and he can quietly go on with his life.”
“Let him go?Have you completely lost your senses?”
“I’m the king, and I have the power to commute a sentence.”
“No you don’t, not after a full council vote!” she argued. “Once his punishment is entered into the record—”
“Delay the entry.”
“But if they find out—”
“They won’t.No oneelse is to know, not even Eris. The council ignored his summons to rescind the order. One month is what Kierus took from me. That’s what I’m taking back from him.”
“He took more than a month from you. You’re still not whole. You might never be. Not to mention, he stole the trust of an entire company of knights, including me. You can’t—”
“Take care of it, Kasta, and don’t instruct me again on what I can or cannot do. Remember your place.”
She looked at him like he had struck her. Her shoulders pulled back. “You’re riskingeverything. Why are you doing this?”
Because Bristol loves Kierus. Because he’s her father. Because he was once my friend, he thought. His throat swelled, and he only answered, “Because I’m king and I can.”
He walked away quickly, muttering some excuse. The hallway to his chamber seemed to lengthen to miles, every step growing more unbearable.What if every choice I had was wrong?When he finally reached his room, he slammed his door behind him and fell back against it, his breaths uneven, and he swiped the sting from his eyes.
CHAPTER 14
Kill the creature. She means nothing to me.
Which woman would Bristol be meeting at the base of Queen’s Cliff? Her mother, who had protected her and whispered desperate spells into her ear, or the monster who served the king of Fomoria? Was this all an elaborate trap to capture Bristol—a trap that had cost Glennis her life? Was Kormick behind it?Of course he was. My mother is not a murderer. Kormick controls her. He uses her fear.
