Prince of Traitors

Jasper

I open my eyes, and I can't see. My vision is spotted with bursts of light and darkness, spinning all around me in dizzying sparks. My stomach rolls, and my eyes slide closed. A cloying smell fills my nostrils, and makes me feel sick.

When I feel like I'm about to vomit, light flashes bright against my closed eyelids. Something is yanked from my head.

I hear a weary groan and realize it's coming from me. I'm dizzy, my stomach roiling like a storm on the sea. I hear footsteps on wood behind me, and a voice.

"Wake up, Your Highness."

I pry my eyes open and fight a wave of nausea. Candles burn in my periphery, the small flames too bright for my eyes and pounding head. I can't see who has spoken, hardly recognize the voice.

"I'll admit, what you did for the girl was noble," the voice says. "Melted my dear brother's heart, certainly." A form crosses in front of me. I struggle to raise my eyes against the dizziness, but the speaker grabs my chin and forces my face up.

My vision swims, and a dark smirking face looks down at me. It takes me a moment to recognize the woman from before. Rahmi's sister... Val? I open my mouth to retort but my mind is unable to form the words.

Behind her, I see worn wooden paneling and a door with rusted hinges. We're in a very small room, with only a tiny window and crates stacked around a wood table along one wall. It smells of must and hay.

Val smirks and releases my face, letting my head slump forward. I shut my eyes against another wave of dizziness. "You... what did you give me?" I breathe shakily.

"It'll wear off in a few hours, Your Highness," Val says. She shrugs her leather-clad shoulders. "It's mostly harmless."

I shake my head, trying to dispel the dizziness. "Where... am I," I mutter.

Val barks a laugh that makes my ears ring. "Like I'd tell you." She folds her arms over her chest and sits on a worn wooden crate, crossing her legs. "I have a question for you," she begins. She doesn't wait for me to reply. She holds my gaze, her hazel eyes glittering as she smirks. "How did you do it?"

I squeeze my eyes closed for a second. My vision is slowly steadying; my head still aches with stabbing pain, but the nausea has begun to fade. "Do what?" I ask.

"Kill the king, of course," Val says impatiently. "Did you poison him first? Slip something into his wine at dinner?"

I glare at her the best I can. "I didn't do anything."

She scoffs. "Sure you didn't," she says. "But really, cutting the king's throat while he slept. Bold, even for you."

Anger flares in me. I try to lunge at her, and my shoulders twist painfully. Ropes pull at my wrists, and I finally notice that I'm bound to the chair in which I sit. I wince at the pain, my arms wrenched behind my back. My satchel is gone, my jacket unbuttoned over my shirt.

"Easy there, Highness," Val croons. "We need you in one piece." She uncrosses her legs and stands. She crosses to the small window with the drapes drawn, and peeks through a small gap in them. I can't see anything from where I'm forcibly sitting, just a sliver of light that hits Val's face.

The filigreed cuff she wears over the tip of her right ear winks in the light from the window. "Rahmi is out there now making sure the girl didn't follow us," she says. "If she did, you'll wish you hadn't saved her life." She closes the drapes on the window and steps away from it, watching me as she crosses in front of me once again. She slides her hands into the pockets of her jacket.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask her.

Val shrugs. "The Odrendi king is offering two million crowns to whoever brings in the traitor prince. Only a fool would turn down that kind of money. Although," she muses. "Who do you think will pay more for you? The Astrian king or your brother?"

I glare up at her. "You're sick."

"Maybe," she says with a sigh. "We'd be paid even more if we brought in the Navaarim that helped you escape, but Rahmi's delicate sensibilities fucked that up for us."

"What kind of person can threaten a child and live with themselves?" I growl.

"An assassin, that's who," she replies plainly.

"You're a monster," I say. "A conniving, evil monster." I spit onto the floor at her feet.

Val doesn't respond. Her head tilts to one side, and then she's moving so fast my eyes can't keep up. She swings her arm, and something hard cracks against my jaw.

My head is whipped to the side, my vision spinning dizzyingly and going black. Pain like I've never felt shoots through my jaw, making my entire skull ring with a sharp pang. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth, drips from my lips.

Val's words reach my ears as if from a distance. "You're a fool if you think I'm the worst there is in the world," she says. She swipes my blood off of the brass knuckles she wears, the metal bar across her hand glinting in the light. "Monsters are everywhere, Your Highness. I suggest you get used to us."