Page 80 of The Concubine King
“Doesn’t the king get a vote?”She went quiet, an uneasy flicker crossing her face.“Poyut?”Ethyr prodded.“If it’s the person dictating my life, shouldn’t I have a say in who it is?”
“Yes,” she acquiesced.“You get a say.”
“So I should be at that council meeting.”
“Yes.”
Ethyr nodded, satisfied.“Tell the kitchen to bring my breakfast to the courtyard.I’ll be spending the morning there.”He walked off without waiting to hear if she had any protest.
The next few days went by in a slow blur.Ethyr felt like the calm root in the middle of a storm, sitting idly by while everyone else rushed frantically around him.It did quiet down a little, after Poyut and the guards managed to clear the grounds of all civilians and keep them out.The rest of the palace continued in their frenzy.Ethyr never could figure out whether their looks to him were anger or fascination or trepidation.He didn’t care for any of it, so he spent a lot of time in the gardens away from prying eyes.
He was on his way inside from one such excursion when a heated argument by the road drew his attention.Three guards were standing in front of Lyrian, ignoring his demands to enter the palace and telling him to leave.
“What’s this?”Ethyr's voice silenced the fight.
“Ah,” Lyrian said, almost triumphantly.“Your Divinity, I wanted to speak to you, but I was accosted by these fools.”
“Your Divinity,” a guard said nervously.“Poyut and Klara made it very clear we are not to allow the Guard Master inside.”
“Then don’t,” Ethyr said, waving Lyrian over.“We’ll speak outside.Go back to your posts.”They looked at each other uncertainly, but Lyrian had already slid past to take up Ethyr’s offer.He led the man to the side garden, where there was the least amount of visibility from the palace.He looked strange without his uniform, wearing a simple yellow tunic over red britches, though the silk fabric would not give any leniency into thinking it was humble attire.
“Would you like to sit?”Ethyr gestured to the iron-wrought bench, shaded under a lattice awning turned solid with climbing vines and leaves.
“I didn’t think there were seats in the palace gardens,” Lyrian commented, reaching up to feel a leaf.
“I had some put in so I can spend more time out here.”It was the only place he felt remotely at home.Ethyr sat instead, which incited Lyrian to follow.
“Your Divinity,” Lyrian said appraisingly, looking him up and down.“You’ve come into the role quite well.”
Ethyr looked away, studying the clouds.“I don’t see how I have a choice.”
“It is how one faces the inevitable that truly speaks to their character.”
He looked back at the man, whose eyes hadn’t moved off him, and failed to suppress the heat rising to his face.“You said you wanted to talk to me,” he said curtly.“So talk.”
Lyrian’s eyebrows flicked up, though he quickly tempered his expression.“I cannot blame you for being angry with me,” he conceded.“But I hope you will soon realize I did what I needed to do.”
“Poyut said you were plotting to kill Yorith all along,” Ethyr said brusquely.“That Yorith never had any plans to hurt you.”
Lyrian laughed, loud and boisterous.“Poyut said that?So she has turned you against me, I’m not surprised.Did she tell you why Yorith chose her to be your guard?”
Ethyr’s resolve faltered.“She said she had no idea why she was chosen.”
“She showed promise in the Walklands.Her captain recommended her for promotion, so I gave her a spot in the cavalry.I realized that what her captain had mistaken as initiative was in reality a stubborn brashness.”
Ethyr stared at his lap.“So what happened?”
“A servant girl stole her mistress’s jewelry, and by the time we caught her had already hawked most of the goods and spent the money.She did all this knowing her masters had fallen on hard times and the master of the house was fatally sick.That is likely what gave her the opportunity.People who take advantage of the weak and defenseless are the most rotten creatures to walk the earth.”
Ethyr squeezed his hands together, remembering the men who had grabbed him on the road, eager to take him for every value he had—and not just money.
“How cruel of her,” he whispered.
“Yes, cruel indeed.But when ordered to bring her to the forum for justice, Poyut refused, and even helped the girl escape the city.I kicked Poyut from the force but Yorith snapped her up immediately after.He was likely pleased she was so willing to disobey me.He filled the palace with people turned against me.”
Ethyr swallowed, trying to combat the unease slithering up his spine and lifting his hair.Why wouldn’t Poyut have told him that?Unless she knew she was in the wrong for it, and how suspicious it was.
“Well,” Lyrian concluded, “I’m sure she makes a wonderful King’s Guard.I have no ill-will towards her, even if she clearly does towards me.I’ve come to see if you have considered my offer.”
