Midnight in Everwood(78)
Marietta hesitated. ‘Oh, well, as it happens—’
‘Hurry.’ Dellara ushered her out of the snow globe.
Marietta approached King Gelum. She retained him in her sights, imagining he was one of the stags her father had instructed her to shoot on their country estate. She had refused once it had appeared in her crosshairs, drawn to its regal manner, its intrinsic grace. After Theodore had taken the killing shot himself, she had declined to accompany him on any more such outings.
King Gelum was conversing with Captain Legat. ‘—situation covered, seems most logical it was a harmless prank. I remain certain it was not an assassination attempt, not the least due to the Mistpointians not possessing sufficient imagination for the likes of this,’ Legat was saying. ‘You know better than to overestimate the fish-people,’ he added in a lighter tone.
Amusement curled around the king’s features. It evaporated upon him marking Marietta’s presence. She smiled prettily, paying no heed to how the captain’s presence toyed with her emotions. He remained at the king’s side, standing tall in his impeccable livery, an arm tucked behind his back, the other hand a fingerbreadth from his sword. She felt his eyes on her.
‘It would seem the reindeer have been returned to their stables,’ she said without waiting to be granted permission to speak. ‘I cannot help but notice your guests have become inflicted with restlessness.’ King Gelum’s eye wandered onto the gossiping, glamorous creatures that filled his halls in an enchantment of gowns, coated in a pall of boredom. Marietta pouted, the expression an unfamiliar configuration of lips and petulance. Legat coughed into a gloved fist. She studiously avoided his gaze. ‘And I wish to dance,’ she added, stealing closer to the king.
A spark of fury danced over him. The swords on his cape glinted. ‘You dare to impose such demands upon your king?’ His voice was low, punctured with ice.
Marietta’s scarred feet throbbed. ‘My apologies, it was a mere invitation.’
He stepped forward, his eyebrows pinching together as she failed to allow him space. His breath was rot-sweet when he spoke into her face. ‘I am the king. I am not in need of an invitation. I shall take what I desire, when I desire it and you would do well to remember that.’
Marietta’s throat grew too dry to form words. King Gelum considered her with a budding smile.
Dellara materialised at her side. ‘I’m certain she intended you no disrespect, Your Majesty,’ she said smoothly, pressing Marietta’s hand. ‘She’s merely na?ve to our ways.’ Her hand left Marietta’s, which was now empty. ‘Perhaps you might see it in your generous nature to forgive her her impetuosity?’ Dellara crept closer to the king and, fast as a snake strike, dropped the mouse back into his pocket, allowing her fingers to linger upon his side as she did so, accompanied by a syrupy smile.
King Gelum looked between them, suspicion gathering like a snowstorm. He removed Dellara’s hand, dropping it without ceremony. His other hand dipped into his pocket. Marietta attempted to conjure an air of innocence around herself. She sensed Dellara projecting the same attitude beside her. The captain was expressionless, rigid, refusing to meet Marietta’s eye when she stole a glance at him.
King Gelum raised a finger, pointed at both women. ‘Do not take me for a fool. Confess your transgressions at once.’ Their silence thickened. The king leered at Marietta. ‘I have methods for persuading my girls to confide in me.’ He stole closer, yanked a lock of her hair free from its curled coiffure. Rubbed it between his fingers. ‘Soon I shall taste the sweetness of your secrets when they tumble from your lips as I take you apart, bit by bit.’ Marietta closed her eyes, her horror amassing into a beast, strong enough to snap her. The king pulled her hair, making her stumble into his waiting arms, his hands framing her face, forcing her to look upon him, his smile wild and ecstatic. ‘You’ll look at me when I slice your skin open,’ he whispered. ‘When I take your bones in my hands.’ Over his shoulder, she saw Legat’s knuckles whiten on his hilt. Fear iced her veins.
‘Guards!’ King Gelum snapped his fingers and Marietta saw her fate uncoil in a tableau of masked guards, a sadistic king, her life spilling from her, one blade, one scream at a time. She gave a small shake of her head to Legat, who had paled to snow, revealing several inches of blade from his sword sheath. She refused to condemn his life along with hers.
Pirlipata entered Marietta’s peripheral vision, storming towards the king in a swirl of sunsetting silks and slinking golden necklaces. ‘King Gelum,’ she declared with all the weight of her title.
He looked at her, narrowed his eyes at her imperiousness. ‘Were you involved in whatever little conspiration these two attempted?’ His hands tightened on Marietta. ‘My guards have informed me that you have formed an affectionate bond. Perhaps it would be preferable to keep you apart henceforth.’ His smile was a dark, bloody promise. It chilled Marietta down to the marrow. ‘If this one survives our playtime, that is.’
Eyeing the guards readied to seize her once King Gelum relinquished his hold on her, Marietta’s nerves lurched. She could not bear being ripped from Pirlipata and Dellara; their strength resided in their unity. Fighting as one to engender their escape. When Marietta was in their midst, the endless night didn’t feel as dark, the future as dreamless. They were her starlight, her guiding beacon.