The Forsaken King

Her seething look was as powerful as a blizzard. Constant. Ice-cold. Terrifying. “She was out of her cabin and wielding your sword. There’s only one way that could have happened. She was in your cabin—sleeping in your bed.”

I didn’t deny it.

“You lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“You told me she cried and pleaded.”

“She did—just not in the way you wanted.” I couldn’t believe I’d said that to my mother, but I wasn’t talking to my mother right now. I was talking to the queen of my people, the leader who had lost all logic and replaced it with madness.

Her eyes narrowed to slits.

Ian’s eyes immediately flicked to me, shocked that I’d said that.

Her voice was controlled, and that meant she was so pissed she had to force herself to be calm. “Need I remind you what she’s done to us? She took our throne—”

“She did nothing. Faron, her father, is the one we want. He’s the one who will be slaughtered the way my father was. He’s the one who will be tortured in every way possible until he begs for death. Don’t misunderstand my loyalty or my agenda. It’s where it has always been—with you.”

Her anger sheathed, but only slightly.

“You interfered with my plan.”

“I did not. You told me to go, and I did.”

“But not under my pretenses.”

“Doesn’t matter. Did you honestly get any satisfaction out of that anyway?”

Her face was as hard as ever. “Yes.”

“When we were attacked, she could have abandoned us and run. But she didn’t. She stayed—and fought beside me.”

Ian shifted his gaze back and forth between us.

“How stupid are you?” Her eyes narrowed like the edge of my blade. “You don’t see what she’s doing? She’s manipulating you. And like every man who succumbs to good pussy, you fall for it.”

“That’s not what she’s doing—”

“She’s doing whatever she can to survive. You’re just a way to survive, Huntley.”

“I’m not.” I knew how I sounded from her point of view, like an ignorant dumbass, but I also knew it was real.

She shook her head slightly, in overwhelming disappointment.

I’d never received that look from her before, and it hurt. “We can use her in a number of ways to get what we want. Raping her and torturing her is unnecessary.”

“You wouldn’t care about that if you weren’t fucking her.”

“Then isn’t that reason enough?” I challenged.

She shook her head again, her eyes shifting elsewhere. “You’ve lost your way.”

“I haven’t lost my way. Delacroix will be ours again. I will slay him right in front of her without a second thought. But she’s innocent. Her only crime is being born to a man who’s vile. We’re better than that. You’re the most loving person I know, and you’re better than that.”

Her eyes flicked back to me. “I have love for my people and my family—not the daughter of the man who raped me, pushed my sons off a cliff, and murdered my husband. You’re weak and, frankly, stupid.”

The insult was hard to digest coming from her.

“I don’t trust your judgment.”

Another blow. “I don’t trust yours either.”

Ian’s eyes widened.

She stilled, as if she couldn’t believe I’d just said that.

“I know why we were attacked,” I said. “The Teeth came for her. I saw them trying to drag her away. The battle was just a distraction. I could have kept that to myself, but I didn’t because my loyalty is always to you.” I rose to my feet, finished with this conversation. “You’re a commander I would follow anywhere. You’re a better queen than Father ever was a king. You’re the person I look up to most. I’m the man I am—because of you.”

She kept her eyes hard, probably on principle.

“But in this…you’ve lost your way. No woman would ever wish what happened to her to happen to someone else—especially someone whose only crime is their lineage.” I turned my back and walked out, bleeding from all the places my mother had stabbed me with her words. I returned to the stone keep, to the fire that always burned, and stopped to take a breath, to let the anger leave my core.

Footsteps sounded behind me, and I knew who they belonged to without turning around.

Her voice grew louder as she came close. “We need her for the next stage of our plan.”

My eyes shifted from the flames to her.

“She helps us—and I’ll let her go.”

I couldn’t believe she’d said those words, that she’d had a change of heart.

“But justice needs to be served first.”

And just like that, the relief was gone.

She nodded to Geralt.

No.

“Hold him.”

Mace and another guard grabbed me, and with his head bowed, Ian watched.

Geralt grinned as he walked out. “Excited to see what all the fuss is about…”

She turned back to me, her face like stone. “This time, I’ll watch—to make sure.” She followed him, and they left the stone keep.