The Princess and the Warlock

Chapitre Trente-Quatre

Father's hands came down on my shoulders, forcing me to remain seated, though every inch of my body was now on high alert, stricken, muscles tight. I felt like I was going to be sick.

Details of Kaius hit me in rapid fire, one after the other. I had a clear view of his side profile. He was shirtless, and if what I saw was correct, his torn tunic was in tatters on the dirty, dusty floor. His dark skin was blotted and bleeding. His white hair was sticking to his forehead with sweat, rimmed through with dirt and something red. Wrapped over his mouth was a red ribbon, tied around his head three times to cover his lips.

He lifted his head to stare up at Prince Grimond, a heated hatred that could melt ice living in his eyes, and despite his bruises and heavy breathing—I saw his chest rise and fall quickly, too quickly—he was steady. His posture wasn't broken over, his hands that were bound weren't shaking. He looked alert and sharp.

Kaius didn't once glance the way of the window, and I wondered if he couldn't see me, as if this glass had been spelled or tampered with somehow. "What is this?" I demanded, craning my head around to stare up at my father, whose hands had become an uncomfortable pressure on my shoulders. I could feel each finger bruise my skin underneath the black dress. "What are you doing to him?"

Father regarded me with a smile; wicked, horrible. "Oh, just wait. Surely you want to see your abductor punished."

I felt my eyes bug, my breath a gasp in my chest. No.

Prince Grimond's voice broke through my thoughts, through my mental inventory of Kaius, calling my attention back to his. "What a strange turn of events, warlock," he said, his voice superior, the perfect prince tone. He rocked on his heels, his cane clattering as he tapped it against the floor. "You kneeling before me. I must say, I rather enjoy it, seeing as how our last meeting you were so...what is the word I'm looking for?" Prince Grimond looked at Kaius as if he expected him to answer, though his mouth was bound. "Confident. Confident that you were going to have your way, and take Princess Amora with you. And now she has returned and you are here, broken and bleeding, completely at my mercy."

Kaius didn't move, nor did he break his hateful stare. I would've given anything in that moment—anything—to know what he was thinking.

"I love it," Prince Grimond went on. He was limping around Kaius to his back, though Kaius' gaze didn't move with him, though I noticed his fingers twitched into fists once the prince left his eyesight. "Thoroughly. Now tell me, warlock—recount to me every event that has happened since the months we've seen our fair princess." Kaius didn't make a noise beneath the ribbon around his mouth. "Dear me, here." Prince Grimond reached out and undid the knot at the back of Kaius' head, unraveling the ribbon with singlehandedly. "Speak."

Kaius closed his eyes briefly as the ribbon fell from his mouth, and even from here I could see that there was blood on his lips, dried, held there by the fabric. When his eyes opened, he returned to staring at the far wall.

"Let's start with last night," Prince Grimond said, continuing his slow perusal around Kaius' body. "You brought Princess Amora to the border in the middle of the night. Why?"

Kaius said nothing.

Prince Grimond lifted his gaze to a point the window didn't reveal—someone in a far corner of the room. A guardsman. His walk was swift and to the point, going to Kaius.

My brain saw the events unfold in slow motion, the guardsman's fist connecting with Kaius' chiseled jaw.

Kaius tried to take the blow on his knees, but his balance gave and he fell to the side, his shoulder catching his weight as his hands were bound. I gasped aloud, jerking forward in my chair and nearly leaping toward the window.