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He sliced a piece of flesh off and my skin grew dimpled with sweat.
“Uh, yes,” I said. “That’s what Tus told me on the way here.”
“Oh?” Krial said. “You didn’t know before the fight began?”
I moved to shake my head before thinking better of it. Especially while he held that blade so close.
“No, I didn’t know,” I said.
Krial tossed a chunk of my flesh with the hair attached to it in a metal container. I was relieved to see it was only a small piece.
But he still held that scalpel in his hand.
“You didn’t receive the note under your door this morning?” Krial said, his head turned half toward me, half toward Annas.
“No,” I said.
“He’s lying!” Annas said. “I slid the note under his door! I swear! I did it myself!”
“There, there,” Krial said. “There’s no need to get upset about these things.”
Annas glared at me. I couldn’t smile back. Not while I was still in this damn chair.
“I checked but the note wasn’t there,” I said.
I consoled myself with the thought there was no chance of them finding the note. I always destroyed it soon after I got it.
Annas took a step forward.
“I wrote the note in this room when you gave the order. Then I took it to his cell and slipped it under his door the way you ordered.”
Krial turned to me and tossed the scalpel in the metal container and wiped his hands on a rag.
I shrugged.
“I can only tell you I didn’t receive it. I’ve been here three months, spying and gathering information. Every time I got the note, I followed through with its instructions. Always. If I’d been told to lose, I would have lost. I had to guess what you wanted the outcome to be and decided to win.”
Annas growled and marched toward me but Krial raised a hand. She immediately shuffled back into place, the look of fury plainly evident on her face.
“Why would I lie?” Annas said.
“Why indeed,” Krial said, his yellow eyes glinting dangerously.
He was our foster father but our relationship was a one-sided affair. In the past, there had been more than four of us in his personal guard. Krial stripped us down one by one if any of us stepped out of line or failed to achieve what was asked of them.
“I’m aware you’ve had your… disagreements in the past,” Krial said to me and Annas. “I let it slide because it never interfered with my plans. Be thankful it doesn’t this time either. It was a single battle, nothing of importance. But in future, it might be a crucial element of a well thought-out plan. And if this were to happen again, I would be… displeased. Is that understood?”
We both nodded. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Annas. It really was my fault and I didn’t want to get her in trouble, but I wanted even less for Krial or the others to know what was going on between me and Harper.
Things had become too complicated, I decided. I needed to let Harper go before anything like this happened again.
Or it might not be only me that gets punished. It could well be Harper.
Harper stood at the foot of the stairs dressed in a far more conservative dress than what she usually wore. There was no sheer material and her goods were not on show to the world.
She looked stunning as if we were about to go on an outing for the day.
And I had to tell her that she was not coming with me and had to stay here.
