Something Peculiar

Roseanne's head on a silver platter

"It's all Roseanne's fault!" Chanyeol said as soon as they'd reached the King's chambers, and Roseanne rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.

"It is not my fault," Roseanne said dryly. "I had nothing to do with their failure."

On the long ride back to the Vittra palace in Ondarike, Roseanne, Chanyeol. and Jeongyeon had gone over their stories, deciding what exactly they meant to tell the King. Even though they all agreed that no matter what they said, the King would be royally pissed, the right excuse could mean the difference between torture and execution. They'd finally agreed on something that sounded plausible and would almost get them off the hook. They could tell the King that the Trylle had gotten a jump on them. By the time they arrived to kidnap the girl, the Trylle were already running off with her.

All of that completely went out of the window, though, as Roseanne had known it would. Chanyeol was only out for himself, which was how he'd made it that far in the Vittra army. The King seemed to respect backstabbing.

"She did nothing," Chanyeol insisted. "That's the problem."

The King had his back to them. his long, red velvet jacket flowing down to the floor. His dark hair went down almost to waist, and while he was rather slight man, his presence was so imposing, even Roseanne found it hard not to cower around him at times.

Jeongyeon had curtseyed when they came in. and she hadn't bothered to fully straighten up. Chanyeol had his arms folded behind his back and stood rigid, like a soldier, while Roseanne had her arms folded over her chest. Other than the three of them and the King, the only other person in the room was Suzy, the Queen. She sat in one of the chairs, her small Pomeranian Kuma on her lap, but neither of them had made a sound. They all waited with bated breath for the King's response.

His chambers had high ceilings, but the dark mahogany walls made it feel smaller. There were no windows, so every time Roseanne went to  see the King. she always felt vaguely claustrophobic. The room was sparsely furnished, too, with only a large desk and few red high-back chairs. One wall was covered with floor-to-ceiling bookcases. and most of them were on Vittra and troll history, but she had a few other choice titles. Once, when Roseanne had been left alone in the chambers, she'd gone over to inspect them. She'd found a copy of Mein Kampf, as well as a book that had a graphic pictures of precisely how to inflict the worst torture and how to fillet living people.

"Is that true, Roseanne?" the King asked, his voice booming like a gravel and thunder through the room.

"That I did nothing?" Roseanne shook her head. "No, Sire, of course not. I led the team, but I delegated-"

"She waited in the car while we went after her," Chanyeol interrupted with an unpleasant whine in his voice. "She did nothing while the Trylle took her away."

Roseanne looked over at Chanyeol, her caramel eyes hard. "Yes, I waited in the car, but I told you to call for me if you needed me." She was nearly spitting out the words as she spoke. "And you never called, not even when you let a lone tracker run off with her."

"We didn't let her do anything!" Chanyeol shouted. "And if you were there, you could've helped fight her off!"

"But you said you didn't needed me," Roseanne countered. "You didn't even want the King to let me go along with you. You insisted you could handle this without me. so I gave you the benefit of the doubt."

"Did I send you along to give them the benefit of the doubt?" the King asked, finally turning around to face them for the first time.

"No." Roseanne lowered her eyes. "But I was right there in the car. I thought they could handle a simple stakeout."