Page 153 of Prize for the King
The ground is white with hoarfrost on the morning of our final day before reaching the castle in Farneer. I ride with Khay, and it seems so fitting when we arrive at the familiar gates of the capital in the evening. My heart beats sickly as we trot up the main road, people stopping to look at us. They don’t scatter like the time when we rode out two months ago. It seems Farneerians got used to the Agnidari easily, just like Serillans did.
“How does it feel to come back to this place?” Khay asks when we approach the castle’s gate after riding through the dark park.
It’s already night, the moons high in the sky above us. The air is cold and crispy. It smells like snow.
“Unpleasant. It’s not my home anymore. I don’t know what it is.”
“A stop on the way,” Khay says with a chuckle. “I am fond of this castle. It’s where I saw you first. I slept in your bed that night, by the way. Never touched you, but it was a glorious night. The sheets smelled like you. Intoxicating.”
“Oh.” I lower my face into my fur collar, though no one will see my blush in the dark.
The outer gate opens when we approach, and we keep riding untilwe reach the repaired high castle gate. Terror shoots through me, needles and claws in my chest, and for a moment, I don’t know why.
Then I remember. I asked Magnar to put my father’s head on a spike in the courtyard, didn’t I? And now, I’ll see it. Though maybe not. Maybe he only pretended to agree to humor me.
The chains clang, and the gate lifts laboriously until we ride through. I see it instantly, right by the well, the busiest place in the courtyard where everyone is bound to walk by. Not only is it there, it’s displayed like a trophy, two lanterns blazing with hot flames that light the gruesome sight.
Magnar rides over, still mounted. “You wanted him to see everything, didn’t you, dear? Well, he does. There’s always light.”
“What’s the deal with the crow?” Khay asks with a mean chuckle. “The skull’s picked clean, no more flesh left. What’s it doing there? Oh, here’s the governor. He’ll know.”
I shake myself off, my heart hammering in my chest.Gods.Magnar didexactlywhat I asked for. My father’s skull, now a bare bone with empty eye sockets, its jaw wired closed, rests on a stick as high as an Agnidari man. On top of it sits a crow. It watches me with baleful, black eyes.
“Volgar!” Khay shouts jovially to Magnar’s governor who’s come out to welcome us. “Good to see you, man!”
Magnar, who’s dismounted, comes over to help me off the horse. I cling to him more than usual, and he gives me a piercing look.
“Are you cold?”
I shake my head, turning to Volgar, who folds into a deep bow before me and Magnar.
“I see you’ve kept my old home in excellent shape,” I say, forcing the niceties through my tight throat. “I thank you.”
“My queen,” he says, his gold amber eyes flashing to my face as he straightens. “I hope you find your stay with us at least as comfortableas it was before you married.”
I almost laugh derisively, only his earnestness keeping me in check. I know now I wasnevercomfortable in this castle, not after my mother’s death. Oh, I’m so tired.
“I am sure it will be even better. But Volgar, I couldn’t help but notice the bird.”
Raduna and Arvi join us while stable hands lead our horses away, back to the outer courtyard where the stables still are.
Volgar’s face grows troubled, and he pushes a lock of dark hair off his forehead. “Ah, the crow. We didn’t dare touch it, my queen, though truth be told, it’s caused quite an unrest among my men.”
“How so?” I ask, clammy shivers clawing down my spine.
Volgar glances uncertainly at Magnar, and my husband gives him a terse nod. The governor clasps his hands in front of him and straightens, his face grim.
“Well, it arrived on the second day after we dug out king Archibald’s remains. It, uh, feasted on the skull, and since you have expressly said the remains were to be desecrated, my king, we allowed it to eat. The crow went as far as fighting other carrion birds. It, uh, devoured all of the remaining flesh and both eyeballs. And then, it stayed. People whispered. A kind of legend was born.”
“What legend?” Magnar growls, squeezing my shoulders when I begin to shiver from fear, nausea swirling in my stomach.
My pregnancy was unusually well behaved until now, but it seems my good days are over. I will vomit right here in the courtyard in front of our men. How mortifying.
At least, that’s what I tell myself.It’s because I’m pregnant.
Volgar sighs heavily, giving me an apologetic look.
“Well, people say the crow devoured your father’s soul, Your Highness. That’s why it stayed. People say the human king lives on in the bird. He, uh, seeks revenge. It’s shamefulthat my men are so susceptible to superstition, and I apologize.”
