Divine Ascension (Wattys 2024)

Chapter 23 - The Deadly Gambit

"Who is it?" Melinda asked sternly, waiting for the answer, but the person didn't seem to be very patient, entering the room before either she or Malcolm could do anything.

The man took a step back, appalled by the sight. The one person he had thought to be his comrade, his brother in arms, had now betrayed him and all his country, falling asleep soundly in the tyrannical overlord's embrace. It was an embrace as gentle as any, the embrace of two people who loved each other with all their hearts and whose eyes gleamed with nothing but tenderness as if this was not the evilest of debauchery. His blue eyes wide with horror, he dreaded the prospect of her getting pregnant yet again, of her having yet another child he would have to assassinate-

"Alexander!" Malcolm gasped, nearly having a heart attack. This evening was already too exciting on its own. He was not as young as he used to be. "What are you doing here?"

"Yes, Alexander," Melinda said coldly, uttering his name like a terrible curse, instantly remembering how close he was to killing her precious daughter in the haunted woods. "Please do tell us what you are doing here, if you would be so kind."

"Well, you abominable woman," Alexander began, immediately ready to argue, his face red with rage at what she had done to his friend. "I had been looking for my friend everywhere because I noticed he wasn't in his room, which never happens to him, and deep in my heart, I knew the worst had happened, but I tried to quell that fear, and so I looked everywhere for him. It had been all night! You slept with him all night, and-"

Suddenly, he noticed the dildo lying on the floor a few steps away from him, which caused him to feel a special kind of disgust.

"I see you've tried quite a few techniques," he said grimly, his blood cold at the thought of his friend being such an uncontrollable lecher.

"Yes, he touched every part of my body," she said matter-of-factly. "And he enjoyed it. He enjoyed it so much. You should have heard his screaming... So, what are you going to do about it now? Whine? What's done is done, my friend, and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Why are you rubbing it in my face, you absolute cu-"

"Language!" she cut him off, which made him even madder.

"Oh, so that bothers you?" he snarled. "You vile demon! Utterly indecent harlot! Depraved maniac! There. Are those insults better?"

Her gaze was stone-cold and her expression numb, giving him all the answers he needed.

"How can you say those things about the love of my life?" Malcolm pouted, which made Alexander's blood vessels pop.

"I am going to kill you!" he yelled, reaching across the bed, ready to throw hands. "You cad! I'm going to strangle you with my own hands!"

"Calm down, Alexander," she said as she almost pushed him off the bed. "There will be no murder in this court tonight. You must remember that I'm in charge here."

"Oh," he began, ready to start arguing again. "So only you can-"

"Silence," she snapped, tired of his nonsense. "You must remember that you're only here because I spared your life. Any other ruler would have made an example out of you for trying to kill their heir. As you can see, I am very merciful, but my mercy will not last forever."

"You're not merciful," he continued, unwilling to show fear, which he viewed as a weakness. "And neither am I. If that's what it takes to save this country, then I'm going to make any sacrifice I need to. Any sacrifice."

"Alexander?" Malcolm muttered, afraid of the inhumane coldness in his friend's eyes. "What's the sacrifice?"

While Malcolm wasn't looking, Alexander prepared to knock him out and make it look like an accident, but, luckily, Malcolm dodged, now weighed down by a newly-found fear for his life he knew would never end.