All's Fair in Revenge

Chapter 52: Double-crossed

"Don't hurt her," commanded the king, stepping off the dais to come closer while also remaining at a safe distance. The guards had me on my knees next to Thorne, my arms tearing from their sockets in their fastened grips. The guards released my arms, but the cool edge of a blade pressed beneath my jaw keeping it raised ever-so-slightly.

A Second Guard whose helmet appeared too small for his head shoved the Thorne forward. Hands tied behind his back he fell face first into the carpet, tearing the bag enough for a flop of black waves to pour out. My heart with it.

On the stage, King Enric made an unfamiliar gesture to the line of men around me. They stepped back, leaving me be in the center of the aisle. Even the blade had disappeared. Behind us, the audience's hushed questions dissolved.

A board creaked under the weight of the king. He stood tall and proud upon the altar as though he lay a slain beast at his audience's feet. "My people," he began, "before you find two alleged traitors of your kingdom. One you know well and the other you've only met." Anxiety like spider legs scurried the length of my spine. Panic like a boulder dropped into my stomach.

He knows.

"As many of you might have discerned, I have recently uncovered treacherous tidings, revealed to me in the eve of last night. It seems that my trusted protector and future spouse have been witnessed entangled in the web of adultery."

Pinprick eyes narrowed in on me and I nearly giggled at the relief of it all. The guards weren't here about Ma'ma or Liv fleeing. They didn't know the real reason they should arrest me. It was all about the king's insecurities and jealousy.

"Lucky for them, Dorsette is a civilized country; one of law and order, one requiring proof. Like my father before me, may he live forever in peace—"

"Forever may he live in peace," said the crowd.

"—I intend to uphold such traditions. So, if you please, allow me to bring forth their accuser so we may bear witness to her testimony together, as one government, as one court." The chair on the altar scraped the wooden floor and the crowd's whispers turned to outright shock.

"The princess!"

"Nathara?" I said, surprise scratching my voice.

Thorne shifted on his knees. "Hana?" I shushed him.

"Friends and servants of the Eleventh Realm," said Nathara, her voice proud like her brother's yet shaky as though the words on her tongue caused her immense stress.

Thorne tried once more, "Hana?"

I closed my eyes and pressed my lips together. "Quiet, you fool." My voice croaked. "Don't give them another reason to hurt you."

"Hana." Thorne's voice shifted, hesitant then concrete. It fell onto my soul and cracked it in two in a way I didn't know it could. "I need to tell you something."

"It is one of the greatest sorrows of my life to admit I observed an atrocity mere moments before our father's passing, dearest brother." Soft, inaudible theories rumbled over the audience of courtiers as she took a moment to gather herself with a perfectly placed hand to her chest. "It is with great sadness I must reveal I saw the Kelvian princess and the Druvix emissary romantically compromised in the courtyard." She paused then pressed her other palm to her forehead as though the memory brought on a fever. "At first, they merely embraced, and I thought nothing of it, meant to mind my own business and carry on as all princesses should, but then the unthinkable. The unimaginable." A performative tear ran down her cheek and Enric offered his sister an embroidered cloth to dab it. She thanked him, his returning expression solemn but polite. "I saw..." she sniffled, "I'm sorry Your Grace but I saw them kiss." A sob parted her mouth. "Oh, please forgive me, dear brother. I hate how it is I who must deliver such news."