Page 103 of Prize for the King
I smile back, keeping my eyes on his face even though I have an urge to look away. Again and again, they call me beautiful, and so many other things. I think I’m getting used to it, and I don’t know why, but it makes me uneasy.
“Speaking of our queen—double guard still in power?” Khay asksMagnar.
He shakes his head. “I want one guard on Caliane at all times, best when she’s with me, too. Don’t get separated under any pretext. You go where she goes, even if it’s the bathroom—unless it’s this one.”
I laugh under my breath when a funny thought hits me. When they all turn to me, I shake my head.
“Oh, nothing. I just thought, well, I would have really appreciated this sort of guard back home. Being locked up in the cellar with one of you would have been a lot of fun.”
“Right,” Magnar says, his eyes narrowed. “Change of plans. You can come with me only after you give our knights the list of people who locked you up, insulted you, hurt you physically or verbally. Did I cover everything?”
My gasp of outrage is ignored as Raduna’s face hardens with contempt. “Add anyone who criticized her intellect or appearance. We’ll take care of them when we get to Farneer.”
I throw my hands. “But that would be everyone!” I shout in exasperation. “It’s the teachers’ prerogative to criticize their students, is it not?”
Magnar claps, pleased. “Excellent! Everyone we’ve locked up in the dungeons is on the list, then. Care to accompany me, darling?”
I bury my face in my hands. “What will you do to them?”
“A spot of torture, a trial for show since I’m king and must act accordingly, and then a public execution. Alternatively, they can be sentenced to work in one of Zanvar’s mines. It’s a precious tradition from the Eleven we‘ve borrowed. The prisoners who aren’t worth hanging work in the mines, and we profit off their labor. Quite an ingenious scheme.”
My mouth falls open in outrage. Magnar grins, and I remember with a jolt he’s dangerous—the Tyrant, the man who had countless human women raped, a bloody conqueror.
I don’t know how I could forget it.
“I take it you weren’t privy to that ugly part of the Eleven’s justice system. Well, you are now. It’s actually one of the things I want to ask the other kings about. Namely, what do they do with their prisoners now that I hold Zanvar and all those mines? Maybe they’ll give me more ideas.”
“I don’t want anyone executed or enslaved on my behalf,” I grit out through clenched teeth.
Magnar barks out a sharp, unpleasant laugh. “That’s not for you to decide. They hurt you, so they are mine to punish. No one gets to hurt my queen. Do you understand?”
“Shouldn’t I be the one to decide what to do with them?”
He shoots me a dismissive look. “You don’t believe you’re worthy enough to have people punished on your behalf. Hence, no. Well, are we going to write that letter, or would you like to tackle the ministers first?”
“How do you expect me to rule by your side if you won’t let me make decisions regarding my own former staff?”
We stand, since I’m too agitated to stay seated. Oh, how I wish I were taller. When he looks down on me from his height advantage, I feel crushed already. It shocks me when I realize I hate Magnar right now. I could scratch his face and feel no remorse.
If I could reach it easily, that is, and if he weren’t faster than a snake.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, dear,” he says, sharp teeth flashing in a wide grin. He enjoys himself, the dastard. “But it’s the husband’s duty to protect his wife. I vowed it twice, during our first and second wedding. Why does it make you so angry?”
“Because once you’re done, everyone I knew before we married will be dead!” I scream, surprising even myself.
His smile vanishes, and he frowns, taken aback. “I didn’t considerthat. I’m not trying to wipe out everyone from your former life, Caliane. Or maybe I am? Raduna, what’s your opinion?”
We both turn to the oldest knight, and he raises his hands defensively when our eyes meet. I’m still furious.
“I believe you have noble reasons, my king.”
“Noble,” I scoff. “It’s not noble to enslave people for the sin of criticizing a silly girl!”
“And there it is,” Arvi cuts in. “You think they were right to call you names. That’s why you don’t want them punished. You’re blindsided, and that’s why you shouldn’t decide.”
“But you can say that about anything,” I hiss furiously. “If you don’t like my decision on any other matter, you can just say, ‘oh, Caliane is blindsided, we shouldn’t listen to her’! It’s all just pretend, isn’t it? I won’t rule over anything. You’re feeding me this delusion to, I don’t know, keep me happy. Because the stupid human will believe anything!”
I watch Magnar belligerently, and he shoots Raduna a look that seems a bit panicked.
