The General's Daughter & His Majesty Book #1

Chapter Twenty Eight: Colours

Carperia
Cree's POV
The sound is familiar. It's the sound of metal being sharpened. I slowly opened my eyes forcing them to focus at the light channelled from above. It's coming from a lamp and underneath it, a man with a bent frame sharpening a knife. The good of his pin caught my eye.

I immediately touched my chest. It's thick with wrapping. I peeked under the shirt to see a bandage. It's painful. He drove his knife through me.

"Easy now. It would be tragic if your stitches rip." He speaks calmly. "I would say good morning but I don't give a fuck."

"Where am I?"

"Heaven, hell whatever you believe."

I don't think I'm dead. I'm very much alive judging from the pain I feel. Why am I not dead? Did he have them save my life? Why?

"Where is Nesrin?"

"None of your business."

His dark eyes are sharp with darkness. I can feel the heavy aura of his darkness from where I am. Nesrin is trapped in his dungeon of darkness and I'm helpless to save her. He split a bullet meant for his head with a sword. This kingdom would be without a king and I with my bride if I succeeded. We would have escaped and left the kingdom. He split a bullet with a sword. Lucky bastard.

"How did you do it? Hie did you split the bullet? Was it mere luck?"

He chuckled. He got in his feet. He's a tall man. He looks slimmer than I remember. He got close to the bars if the jail cell but not too close. "I believe in skill, not luck."

"Nesrin doesn't love you. She never will. Why put yourself through the humiliation if your bride loving another man?"

He smiled crookedly. "Only fools chase after love. I'll have a beautiful trophy to show off. I dint see humiliation in that."

"You're shallow then."

"Beautifully so." He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not one for small talk so I'll get to the point. You will be transferred to Cray Thera in thirty days where you will be executed."

"Executed? Why? What have I done?" I got on my feet and staggered to the metal bars. "What have I done? Is loving her a crime?"

"You abducted the king's bride and tried to assault her sexually. You attacked the king and tried to kill him. Tsk tsk. Those are more than enough grounds for an execution."

"You're lying! I did not abduct her! She came willingly fleeing from your guards who were holding her prisoner! I didn't assault her. She willing spread her legs for me!" He narrowed his eyes even more, jaw clenched tightly. "And you accepted my challenge! There are witnesses! I demand a trial!"

He scoffed. "If you haven't noticed it, I'll explain it in a language a simpleton like you gets. The crown is the only narrator in this story. The crown writes the scripts. No one else and we love endings that go our way. Savour your thirty days of life. There will be eternity in death."

He laughed wickedly and backed away into the darkness where he belongs.

I felt faint and sat down. 30 days. I'll be dead in 39 days.

Nesrin's POV
What is the difference between ivory and ecru? They look the same to me and it seems Selina's old eyes can't tell the difference either. She's in a battle of words with Queen Everleigh over what the difference could be. I can't see the difference.

"Can you see the difference?" I asked my mother who has been around for the last eight days.

"Ivory is creamy white. Ecru is greyish-yellowish brown."