Page 83 of These Vile Hearts
He doesn’t. A dryad turns to dust. I hope it wasn’t someone I knew.
“CASTOR!”
Finally, I push through, leaping in front of him and grabbing hold of his wrists, wincing at the pain in my own. He stops, the fire in his eyes flickering as he looks down at me, as if he’s confused.
“Castor,” I say through a breath. “Hey. Can you hear me?”
“Maddox?”
“I need you to stop.”
The blackness undulating around him fades, sucking back toward him, retreating into his hands until they’ve returned to their normal light brown. He says my name again. And again and again.
I press my hand to his cheek. “Hey. It’s okay. Everything is okay. But you need to go home now.”
While I have him distracted, the visitors flee to the exits, giving us a wide berth like we’re the eye of the hurricane. Evodia shepherds them out.
Castor shakes his head like a stubborn child. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“Okay, I’ll…” I seek out Evodia, who’s watching us with a furious expression. I tilt my head in Castor’s direction, raising my brows and widening my eyes. She nods once as if to say she can handle the aftermath if I’ll just get this cyclone of a king out of here. I turn back to Castor. “I will go with you. Happy?”
The king peers down at me. Then his chin drops to his chest, tears spilling from his eyes. “No, of course I’m not happy,Maddox. I can’t be happy now. Not now that you…” He breathes in deeply and lets it out in a shaky whoosh. The alcohol soaking his breath nearly knocks me over. “There is no happy road anymore. To the left is death and to the right is…probably also death.” He sways dangerously on his feet.
“Are you actually crying?”
“No,” he chokes out.
I slide under his arm and look to Tamarind. His eyes are on Castor, expression alarmed. “Help me with him, will you?”
This isn’t my first time dealing with a belligerently drunk person. But none of the people I’ve helped stumble home could rot an entire forest. “Get his other side,” I snap at Tamarind, taking my frustrations out on the only sober one in this trio. “Where are we taking him?”
“We shouldn’t bring him back to the citadel like this, especially when there are blood nymphs around,” Tamarind says. “He has a house nearby.”
“Lead the way, then.”
The theater has mostly emptied, and any stragglers leap out of our way. Before we leave, I gather my throwing axe and dagger. Tamarind merely watches without comment as I buckle them in their holsters beside my pouch of supplies.
“Ready?” he asks, the slightest arch in his brow. Perhaps he’s realizing it’s not the worst thing for me to be heavily armed in this forest.
The king doesn’t resist our help, and he doesn’t rot anything else, but he does start to tearfully sing a brand-new version of the song I played earlier in the night.
“There was a boy
A very stupid golden boy
They said he kidnapped mortal girls, mortal girls
Who lived by the sea
A charming guy
Who loved to lie
So very vile was he…”
“Your Majesty? Will you kindlyshut the fuck upbefore a horde of mosquito fairies descends on us?” I whisper-yell at him.
“Those were blood nymphs,” Tamarind corrects.
