“Get inside with Miki,” I tell her, grabbing her finger off the ground. “I’ll fix this. I promise.”
Prince Keksej nudges me with his bare foot. I get a whiff of spirits. "The healer said that you knew where the extra simka leaves are."
I straighten and nod, acutely aware of Arlet stumbling away. Just as I start to turn toward the herb hut where I prepare the plants used for the royal apothecary.
"Wait," Prince Rholker call. “Where were you?” His elder bright lets out an exasperated breath but doesn't stop him. Like always.
“Foraging,” I say.
“I don’t believe you,” he says. His voice is that same calm quality I’ve come to hate.
I turn back around and find his hand in the fire, holding something. "You were with someone else. Admit it.”
My hands go up. “No, Second Prince. I was looking for food.”
He shakes his head. “That doesn’t make sense. You get fed every day. You went to fuck a farm hand, admit it!” he roars.
I stumble backward. “I promise I haven’t.”
“Swear it on your mother’s grave,” he demands. He withdraws a long, metal rod with a circle on the end. A brand.
My eyes widen as I take a step back, realizing what he intends to do. “Please,” I beg.
“Swear,” he insists.
“I swear on my mother’s grave,” I say as fast as I can.
"Humans are easy liars. I told you last time," Prince Rholker continues, holding the brand up to my face. "If I came for you and you were not here, I'd brand your skin. Whatever man you were rutting will know you belong to the royal family." Then he points to Daniel, who is still watching Arlet, and runs out to hold me down. I fight against them, struggling with all my might to get away and not allow them to brand me. But their strength is too much, and I am overpowered.
“I wasn’t with a man!” I scream as the brand comes closer to my skin. A searing pain that is unlike anything I have ever experienced.
“Good. Then this will remind you to behave.”
I don’t even know who says it because the hot metal sears my flesh, and I scream out in agony.
I awake in my room, completely alone. My throat hurts, and my skin is coated in sweat. I roll out of bed and rush to the tub in the corner before plunging in fully clothed. The warm water soothes my aching body, but I can't shake the memory of the dream. It had felt so real. I run my fingers along the area where the brand was, but it's occupied by the new gem that the Enduares gave me.
I take deep breaths, sinking further into the water as I wait for my roiling stomach to calm.
You aren't there anymore. You are all right,I say in my language while I relax.You are to marry the king, and the giants will never touch you again. The king always comes for you.
The words are so sure, so potent. It’s true. He comes when I need him.
Then, like the sun breaking forth over the horizon, I remember what I did.
Someone knocks on my door, and I am out of the bath and into clothes in mere moments. I had expected it to be the king’s Cleaver, come to finish up what the king could not bring himself to do. Guilt had been pressing down on me like the weight of this entire mountain.
When the door swings open, it’s Liana. Her eyes are extra vibrant in her worn, wrinkled face.
“Has your nightmare passed?” she asks while looking at the dripping waves around my face.
I stare at her, unsure what to say. How does she know? Did she hear me scream? “Yes.”
"Good, we can get right to business. I am tired of your narrow mind. You tried to kill him," she says flatly. "Do you know what he is to you?"
I remember his admission and get off my bed—I don't like sitting with her standing over me like that. As I walk around the room, I straighten the mess I’ve been living in for the last day.
"He hates me. It matters not what we are to each other," I mutter, pulling open a drawer and rifling through it for a clean shirt.