Page 38 of The Concubine King
She brought him to the room he’d once eavesdropped on.As they approached, four guards left, looking like dogs slinking off with their tails between their legs.
Inside, the room was huge and spacious, with a fireplace in the far wall surrounded by cushioned seats.A large table covered in papers stood under a window that had real glass, with sunlight streaming through to land picturesquely on the papers.Shelves took up the rest of the wall around the window, filled with scrolls and books.A large rug covered most of the floor, though the front of the fire had its own little rug, plush and deep blue.
In the middle of it all stood Yorith.He was half turned away, his face fully turned away to look out the window, hands clasped behind his back.Ethyr didn’t know why he was choked with anxiety and shame—he wasn’t intimidated by the dumb old man anymore, and he wasn’t ashamed of attempting a bid for freedom.Though he was plenty embarrassed at how poorly it had gone.
“Sir,” Poyut said quietly, bowing low.
“Close the door on your way out,” Yorith replied curtly without glancing their way.Poyut bowed again and skirted out.The knock of wood on wood as the door shut felt somehow final in its gentleness.
Yorith’s head swiveled to lock his piercing eyes onto him.Ethyr drew in a deep breath, squaring his shoulders and forcing his own gaze hard and fierce.
“I suppose you’re pleased with yourself, then,” Yorith said, his cold enunciation belying an undertone of fury.“Making me, the guards, and the whole palace look like fools.”
“You are fools,” Ethyr said sharply.“You don’t need me for that.”
Yorith set his jaw, looking Ethyr over.“I hope your fantasies and sentiments have found a permanent grave now,” he said.“But why you have them in the first place is beyond me.You are lifted from squalor and given comfort and luxuries you would not have glimpsed or imagined in your life.”
“I didn’t need to imagine them,” Ethyr seethed.“I didn’t ask for them, I was perfectly happy in my life as it was.I’d rather live in ‘squalor’ with the people I love than live as a prisoner in luxury.”
“How many times must I tell you?”Yorith said through tense lips, stepping forward.Ethyr stepped back.“Your wants do not matter.Your past life, your relationships, do not matter.You belong to the gods now, and they are all that matter.”
“Says who?!”Ethyr burst out.“Just because I’m king I can’t have my own free will?I can’t leave this awful place?Did the gods declare that?!”
“It is for your own protection,” Yorith said frigidly.
Ethyr threw his hands.“They can pick another fucking king then, they have the whole damn kingdom to choose from!”
“Yes, and out of the whole damn kingdom, they chose you,” Yorith barked back, then reined himself in, though he continued with cold fury.“I cannot fault you for not grasping the privilege and honor of that decision, but you are certainly old enough to know the importance of responsibility of this level.But since even that faculty has failed you, I will make it clear for you.If you attempt something like this again, it is not the gods you need worry about.I will order every last crop in Linwood burned and every hut in your village razed to the ground.”
Ethyr stared at him, horrified.
“Because that is the fate you are risking for the entire rest of the kingdom,” Yorith finished.“It is about time you took that seriously.”He lifted his chin.“Poyut!”he barked.
The door opened and she stepped inside, head down.
“Take him back to his quarters.Tell the guards he is not to leave and no one is to enter unless I allow it.”
She dipped her torso.“Yes, sir.”She straightened, face steely, and held out an arm for Ethyr to go through the doorway.
He stared at her, then Yorith, horror and fury and disbelief keeping a firm hold on his tongue.Poyut said nothing.Yorith watched him with a daring haughtiness.
He clenched his teeth and stormed out.
CHAPTER TEN
Ethyr’s outrage propelled him to a striding pace that even Poyut struggled to match.
“Ethyr,” she implored.
“You’re just going to do what he says?”Ethyr snapped over his shoulder.“Keep me prisoner?”
“I have no choice; I answer to him.If I don’t he will simply replace me.”
“You’re my guard,” Ethyr said angrily.“Shouldn’t you do what I want?”
“It doesn’t… it doesn’t work like that.”
“Of course not,” Ethyr growled.That decrepit geezer had made sure the entire city was wrapped around his finger.
