Midnight in Everwood(85)

‘Ah, look who has come to join us!’ King Gelum’s grasp tightened on Marietta. She stifled a wince. ‘If you resist surrender, her blood shall be on your hands,’ he said.

Legat laid his sword down. His face pale as snow, his eyes trained on Marietta. At the blade on her throat. ‘If you do not release her, I vow to spend forevermore hunting you. Until winter has melted away and I am but a speck of light in the skies of a night-time.’

King Gelum’s laugh echoed through Marietta. ‘It gladdens my heart that you shall witness her death. A fitting end to a traitorous tale.’

Guards seized Legat, forcing him down onto his knees before the king. Claren and Fin were secured alongside him.

Marietta drew the ragged scraps of her courage around her like a shield. This was but a game of chess. A game of wills and control and power. And King Gelum may have been the king but kings were the weakest piece on the board. Nothing more than a figurehead. One that craved power. He had demanded Marietta dance at his command, captured Pirlipata when she’d rejected him and taken Dellara as punishment for demonstrating a power greater than his. King Gelum had murdered, tortured and bribed his path to the palace, utilising fear and pain as tools with which he might command authority. Yet he lacked respect or deference. Marietta looked at the king, who was waiting for her to be shadowed in fear, to break and shatter under his will.

‘I know your greatest fear,’ she whispered. His grasp on the dagger loosened. Marietta raised her voice. ‘Challenge him, Legat.’

Legat met her eyes. The air between them ran thick with a thousand things unsaid. She repeated, ‘Challenge him.’

Captain Legat drew his head up high and addressed everyone in the small snowy clearing, his voice filled with his command. ‘King Gelum, I challenge you to a duel.’

King Gelum flung Marietta away from him. She gasped, her throat searing as a faceless guard caught her, holding her arms behind her back. The corner of the king’s mouth lifted in a facsimile of a smile. ‘Has sugar-rot laid siege to your brain? You cannot challenge me to a duel, I am your king.’

Legat surveyed him coolly. ‘It had not occurred to me that you might fear accepting. I had believed a king such as yourself would be a most powerful leader. Not hiding behind death threats and executions. Such is the path of a lesser king. A coward at heart.’

King Gelum glared at him. ‘I have been trained by the finest, most proficient warriors that this world, among many others, has to offer. If I so choose to debase myself by engaging in a duel, I assure you that I would not lose.’

Fin’s chin was high, the twitch in his fingers concealed behind his back, where only Marietta could see. ‘Easy words to claim when we have no way of verifying them.’

Away from the palace, King Gelum’s power was weakened. This was the tipping point that might restore Everwood to its former glory. The king’s last stand; the rebellion had overthrown his rule and the ice beneath him was faltering. Marietta wanted it to crack.

‘You’re a coward,’ Dellara drawled. ‘You know it and we know it. A coward lazing about his throne, hosting balls and indulging himself and stealing women in order to avoid rejection. You may pretend otherwise, hiding behind your dwindling gold and throne and crown, but we see it. We all see it.’

The atmosphere stultified, thickening into a potent cauldron of bated breaths and brewing tension.

The king threw his cloak down on the snow. ‘If you so desire a duel then you shall have one. And after I have decimated you, I will take the lives of everyone you’ve ever cared about, ever loved.’ His gaze slid onto Marietta and, his onyx eyes locked on hers, he approached the captain, whispered something into Legat’s ear that made the captain’s spine stiffen, his pupils dilate, his glance at Marietta thick with fears that stalked the darkest, starless hours of the night.

The faceless guards surrounded King Gelum and his captain.

Legat’s sword was returned. The king wielded his own, the Mus family crest of mice engraved in the jewel-studded hilt. Yet Starhunter, Legat’s father’s sword, shone brighter. Marietta watched from behind the guards, Dellara and Pirlipata at her sides, the three of them still restrained. Claren and Fin bore the same situation further along. Marietta bit the inside of her cheek to steady her nerves and present an assuring face each time Legat glanced at her, drawing strength from her support. After all, this had been her idea.

Slow chanting emanated from behind the smooth masks of the faceless guards, their hidden voices deep and eerie. In a sudden, bone-jarring clash, King Gelum and Legat met. Two Titans at war, their battle echoing across worlds.

King Gelum’s footwork was elaborate, embroidering his steps onto the frozen forest floor. Legat’s was simple, enabling him to be faster and more direct, stepping through the king’s defences time and again. Yet he failed to land a single blow. His sword a metallic blur, everywhere Legat ventured, the king parried. Marietta’s encouraging smile froze. It appeared the king hadn’t been exaggerating about his skills. On it flew, the pair locked in an endless loop of parrying and striking, fighting to attain the most advantageous position. Slicing and cutting through the sugared air. Several blows came whisper-close to bloodletting. The thin scrape along Legat’s forearm, the scratch that had flayed open the king’s silk shirt.

The sole noise the continued chanting and crash of blades, the duel skulked on. Pirlipata managed to reach out and grasp Marietta’s hand, the guards’ restraints relaxing as the duel sucked their attention away from the women.