Page 77 of The Dark Prince
The king unsheathed a small sword from his side, but couldn’t do much with it while the heavy oak bar sat between us. I glanced down, noticing Rolf’s unconscious body was gone. I hurriedly looked away, not wanting to draw attention to it.
“You blather nonsense,” he spat. “How do you account for my daughter, then? She is clearly unaffected.”
I saw Aella out of my peripheral vision, walking up slowly behind the king. Her blonde hair encircled her head like a halo. I kept my eyes on the king.
“I’m a thinker, your grace. I used to think it a curse to always be plagued by worry and anxiety, with scenarios unfolding and playing over and over again in my mind with every possible fluctuation accounted for until I’m so worried that sometimes I’m paralyzed with inaction. In your case, I could only come up with one scenario that leaves the princess intact.”
My eyes flicked to Aella. “You don’t love your daughter.”
Aella drew back as the king whipped around to find her there, having heard every word.
“Darling, it isn’t true,” he sputtered desperately. “This witch is—”
“I always suspected, you know,” Aella stated quietly. “I wasn’t the boy you wanted. Everyone knew that.”
“Enough! I order you all to kill this woman! I will execute anyone who disobeys!”
“Anyone who obeys will die now, as opposed to later. I don’t know about all of you fine men, but I’ll take my chances with later as opposed to now.”
I gasped as Rolf came down the stairs, flanked by a dozen men. Arne and Toke were among them, and even Leif, though he was still wearing his head wrap and they’d tied his sword to his wrist. They ran right into the guards, but only two fought back.
Aella was crying again, but that wasn’t what I was most worried about. In all the hubbub, the king slunk away behind the bar and out the back door.
I shoved my way through the fray, ignoring the fact that Aella stumbled out behind me. The deserted town was eerily quiet, except for the sounds of the scuffle back in the tavern. Bodies of humans and beasts lay in the streets like discarded bundles of clothes and flesh.
A man’s scream of pain cut through the night.
“Father!” Aella was off and running blindly toward the edge of the woods. I cursed and followed, sliding my dagger into my hand. Where was Maddeus? Where was Tyr?
I desperately prayed none of the black furred bodies I saw were his. None of them seemed big enough, so I took comfort in that.
I was faster than Aella, so easily overtook her. The king yelled threats and curses as three beasts surrounded him. I saw a large boulder nearby and dragged Aella to it, my hand a steel vise over her mouth.
I ducked behind a boulder just as the beasts lunged. Aella fought and bit and scratched, and I bore it all. I refused to let go of her.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to her. “I know. I can’t kill three of them and neither could you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Eventually, the king stopped screaming, and all we could hear was the sound of flesh tearing.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured again. Aella went quiet and docile in my arms, like a child that had fallen asleep. Except her eyes were wide open, lost and vacant.
I shook as I stood. “We need to move while they’re busy. Come on.”
I dragged her behind me around the beasts and into the woods. Branches and undergrowth snagged at our skirts and boots, but I didn’t stop. I pushed both of us forward, following that heavy feeling of wrongness and magick.
I would find the witch or die trying.
“Looking for me?”
She was in her form of lies, all youth and beauty cloaked in a purple and black dress that sparkled despite the cover of the trees. Her eyes were shrouded in dark kohl, her lips painted bright red. A black cloak covered her head and shoulders.
Aella gave a small gasp of fright and huddled close to me.
“Aw, poor baby. Did Daddy not love you? You’d make a fine collection to my menagerie. A beautiful little beast with white fur.”
She flicked her wrists, and beasts appeared all around us, growling and snarling. They had to be at least fifty, two to three deep as they advanced toward us. Some were small, tiny pups. With horror, I realized it was everyone from the village. One beast larger than all the rest lay at her side, bound and bleeding. He kept trying to get up, only to fall back over.
“Tyr!” I lurched forward, but this time, Aella held me back.
