The Diablarist King

18 - A Secret Revealed

     I stumble a little in to the room, pouting at Prince Jean as he pulls the hood back over his head and runs out. My ears are then filled with Audrine Evermire's forlorn sobbing. I walk past the entryway and follow the sounds in to a bedroom, where Audrine sits in a corner. Her dark blue dress fans about her as she hugs herself and rocks back and forth. I can only imagine what she's seen to bring her down like this.

     "Lady Evermire," I murmur as I move around the plush fabric and sit beside her. "All will be well, do not fear. If the king or the prince do not rescue us, I will get us out of here."
She lets me wrap an arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

     "Reginald was one of them," she sniffles, her eyes red and puffy, her face soaked with tears. "He never told me. Had I known my plans to sabotage your sister's elevation would result in his death..."

     "Is our existence really so insulting to you that you blame it for Reginald's death rather than your own scheming? Perhaps if you let me be, you would not have been in this crypt in the first place."

     Audrine simply shakes her head. "It does not matter now. They are going to kill us both. You are just as much in the way as I am."

     "If that mysterious man I did not recognize is correct, killing me would send Alekso in to despair, but Kazaxon might go back to Hell. Then Alekso wouldn't be a diablarist anymore."

     I suppose they would kill him and put Jean on the throne. Bishop Lambert did suggest they could have Jean marry a diablarist and he would just be a puppet king, then.  that doesn't sound like something Jean would be all right with. I believe him when he said he came in to the fold of the Chosen to protect Alekso.

     "Do you know anything about this cult, my lady?" I still keep my arm around her.

     "No. Just that they worship Alekso."

     "It seems more like the worship diablerie in general. I cannot believe Bishop Lambert has done all this under my nose. Are there more?"

     "More people? I cannot say, your majesty. But there are enough people that Lambert and Reginald were in contact with each other despite the distance. Oh, Reginald... how could he keep this from me?"

     Audrine sniffles a bit and leans against me. I look towards the doorway. I hope that at any minute, Alekso will burst in here and tell me the weird men in robes are dead. That all is safe, and I can run in to his arms. If not, though, then I will fulfill my promise to Audrine; we'll get out of here even if I have to do it myself. I refused to be a captive princess when I agreed to marry Alekso, after all.

     "I wonder how they will kill us," she mutters. "Perhaps sacrifice us to a demon?"

     "Do not waste your energy on such thoughts, my lady." I scold her. "They will not kill us. We will not die this day, do you understand?"

     She sniffles, then sighs, and I stare impatiently at the doorway.

***

ALEKSO

    Kwenthrith insisted on going to her room to finish healing herself, and Gisela followed, instructing she would stay with her friend until all was well. I trailed behind the two of them as they made their way to where Kwen was staying, the room across from the royal suite like a dutiful bodyguard, and then waited until she was resting comfortably on her bed before taking my leave.

    "I am going to go seek out Edeva," I told them. "Should you need anything, Bash will be just outside."

    Gisela only glared at me, torn between telling me how she felt and being too afraid of my reaction. Kwenthrith, however, just nodded and gave me a rueful smile. Then she rolled over and curled up with such a peaceful expression, I dared to think perhaps she had forgiven me.