Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Edgerson looked at me, his hands together on the table. “I assume you’re the son of the late King Rolfe.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Are you?” The sarcastic quip escaped my lips like an arrow from a string.
Ivory gave me a warning with her eyes.
“I’m sorry…” Edgerson immediately glanced back and forth between us. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Yes,” I hissed. “You just fed me some bullshit. And I don’t eat bullshit.”
Edgerson still looked confused. “I’m sorry…I’m not following.”
“If you gave a shit that my father was murdered, you would have done something about it. But no one did a damn thing. Rutherford and Faron moved in, and no one blinked an eye over it.” There were no repercussions. No loyalty. Their king was murdered, and they’d made no objection.
Now Edgerson didn’t know what to say.
I went back to eating, letting the silence fester.
Edgerson looked past Ivory toward the guards standing at the doors behind her, and then with his eyes down gave a nod so slight it was almost unnoticeable.
But I noticed it because I noticed everything.
That was when the guards started to move in.
Ivory’s back was turned, so she didn’t see.
Before Edgerson could react, I pulled out my dagger and stabbed it right into his hand on the table, pinning him in place so he couldn’t do anything to Ivory across from him. Then I was out of my chair, my sword out.
The guard jerked back with his sword in hand, not nearly as confident when his foe was aware of the attack.
I came at him and the other guy at the same time, swinging my blade and taking on both of them. After a couple hits and a flurry of attacks, I sliced the throat of one and stabbed the other through the stomach.
When I turned around, a guard had a sword to Ivory’s throat.
I stopped in my tracks.
Her head was tilted back so her eyes could barely lock on mine. Her hands gripped his arm, and she breathed hard, her eyes watery.
Edgerson must have lost consciousness at the sight of the blood coming from his hand because he was passed out on the table.
“Surrender.” The guard pressed the blade into her throat. “Or your queen dies.”
I spoke through a clenched jaw. “Drop your sword, or everyone you’ve ever known dies.” I took a step forward, my sword still at my side. “Your children. Your parents if they’re still living. Your wife. Brothers. Sisters. Aunts. Uncles. Friends. Acquaintances. The butcher who sells you meat at Christmas. I’ll kill everyone you’ve ever known, and you’ll know the true meaning of loneliness.”
He stilled at my words.
“Get that fucking sword away from my wife, or I swear to the gods—”
Ivory stomped her foot into his boot and pushed back down on his arm at the same time.
That’s my baby.
She ducked so I could throw my sword and stab him into the wall by the neck.
He went limp and collapsed, but the blade went into the wall so deep that it kept him in place.
Still distressed, she dove right into my chest and grabbed on to me.
I squeezed her to my chest and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “It’s alright, baby. I’d never let anything happen to you.”
She pulled away. “So, was the whole thing a setup?”
“Probably thought they could kill me, then take my army.”
“What about the dragons?”
“They couldn’t do anything if they tried. It was an isolated event. Edgerson was stupid enough to think he could outsmart me.” I grabbed the dagger from his hand in the table then stabbed it right through the base of his skull.
He collapsed forward, his face in his plate of food.
Ivory crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. “Now what?”
“We hang their bodies for the rest of the town to see, so they know not to fuck with me.”
She turned the other way and paced, her eyes on the ground.
“What is it?”
She stopped, her eyes on the other wall. “I just didn’t realize how hard this conquering thing would be…”
“Love and war aren’t supposed to be easy.” I grabbed their bodies and dragged them into a pile in the center of the room so my men could take care of it. “I’ll evict Edgerson’s men from the castle and put our men on duty. They’ll be able to guard us as we sleep tonight.”
“You can sleep?” she asked incredulously. “After all this?”
I held her look without a hint of hesitation. “Like a baby.”
Just as a conqueror should, I fucked my wife in the royal bedchambers that now belonged to me and infected every inch of the castle with my power. I didn’t wear a crown upon my head because the only people who did were those who sat on their asses all day. My father never did—because he was too busy doing shit.