The Red King [Book II]

XXVIII

Through the marble glare of the palace's airy tunnels, Llwyd was dragged like an unruly corpse, feet slipping over the notoriously unforgiving polished floor.

ㅤ"Julian, please!" he struggled. "I'll explain anything! Let me walk, I can—"

ㅤLlwyd hit the ground like a heavy sack of clay, thrown into the first room that would serve. Although the man had sprawled over the tiles, looking up wide-eyed, he hadn't fallen hard enough—James' half-wasted muscles impeded him still.

ㅤThe sole servant tending the reception room recoiled in fright. The blinds were closed, blocking the sun's eye with cotton curtains soaked with light in a dark orange bruise that pooled across the ground. Floor polish stung the nose, caustic on the back of his tongue like raw dandelion stems.

ㅤ"Get out," James barked.

ㅤAnd the rabbit rushed to do so, knocking into furniture on his escape.

ㅤ"Julian," Llwyd tried, his smile lasting a breath, hands warding. "I've offended you, and I'm sorry. Please, allow me a chance to explain whatever it is I've done."

ㅤJames considered him. Like before, Llwyd didn't dare to stand. He remained on the floor where he'd been put.

ㅤ"I said I wouldn't harass the careful but that doesn't count for the likes of you." James stepped forward, casting a towering shadow over Llwyd's body. "I'm getting very fucking tired of you not being forthcoming."

ㅤLlwyd's throat bobbed nervously, his returning smile at odds with his strained face. "No, I understand. I get it completel—"

ㅤ"I've been infinitely patient."

ㅤ"Of course. No, of course." He was breathless in his agreement. "It was my fault entirely. If you could just tell me what it was that I—"

ㅤJames sighed, and Llwyd bit down his lips to silence himself. Sweat that sheened his forehead dripped from his chin. His skin was a mottled confusion of paling and flushing. Shadows hollowed his eye sockets, whilst blotched heat burnt high on his cheeks like smears of red dirt.

ㅤThere was a chair cowering against the wall by the door, but James was too stiff to retrieve it.

ㅤThere was a lot he didn't know. Although the gaps in knowledge were as obvious as Llwyd's deceit, prying them out of stone—even of the softer variety—would be difficult. Torture rarely revealed the truth and Llwyd's mouth was consistently spewing out fluff.

ㅤ"We're going to play a game," James decided. "As the last sliver of my patience slips away, you are going to feed it by telling me exactly what it was that I discovered, and prolong your miserable sycophantic life."

ㅤThe last of Llwyd's blood drained from his face. "Discovered?"

ㅤ"That's right."

ㅤ"Did you—" Llwyd's words left with his composure. His head lowered, with shoulders so still he couldn't have been breathing. His haunted eyes had been so viscerally savaged of light that they'd set to a vague distance like a corpse.