Page 40 of Red King
I know he’s trying to provoke an outburst, and I feel a surge of anger rise within me anyway, threatening to break free. How dare he compare me to him, to the monster he has become?
“I am nothing like you,” I hiss through clenched teeth. “You betrayed our family, our people. You have blood on your hands that can never be washed away.”
He snorts, smirking. “If you kill your own flesh and blood, you will have blood on your hands, too, brother.”
“You brought it on yourself. You did this, not me. It’s time you took ownership.” My heart sinks because I know it will never happen. I look over at the female. “Thank you for your services.”
She looks at me with confusion. “But, Sire, he hasn’t said so much as a word.”
“And he never will,” I tell her, looking over at Steel. “Ice will never talk. You can torture him until he has no limbs, and he still won’t whisper so much as a word. We are wasting our time.” I look Ice in the eye. “Take him back to his cell. Have a healer see to him. Make sure he is comfortable.”
My brother’s smirk widens.
“I will see you next week. I will be in the front row of your execution, and make no mistake, I will sleep like a babe that night and every night after that. I will do so with a clean conscience.”
His face falls and starts to redden.
I turn and walk away.
“Where are you going? You traitor! You murderer!” he shouts. “You would kill your own brother? Your own flesh?” He keeps going, his voice growing softer with each step I take. Does he not hear the irony of his words?
Steel hurries to catch up.
“We need to crack his computer. It must contain information we can use,” I tell him, and not for the first time.
Steel nods. “I’m sorry, Arctic.”
“So am I,” I say with a heavy heart.
12
Paisley
I look in the mirror, turning each way so that I can assess myself from all angles.
“And?” Maggie shouts through the door. “Are you dressed yet? You’re taking forever in there.”
“Yes,” I yell back. “But—”
The door opens, and Maggie walks in, taking it slow and limping a little.
“Holy shit, babe! You look gorgeous.” She sinks carefully on the bed, wincing.
“It can’t be that bad.” I laugh.
“It wasn’t bad at all; it was a-maaaaa-zing.” She grins. “My vagina may be broken, but what a way to go.” Her eyes have this faraway look. “I had three orgasms last night,” she tells me for the third time…maybe it’s the fourth. “He carried me. Lifted me like I weighed nothing. I think I’m in love.”
“In lust, you mean.”
She shrugs. “Right now, it feels like it’s the same thing, even though you are right. It’ll take a lot to get me to love again…to trust again. It’s too early to even think about a relationship, so we’ll stick with lust. I’m in fully fledged lust.”
“So, you’re seeing him again later?” I smile.
She nods. “Yes.” Then she looks at me pointedly. “Are you sure you don’t have a painkiller that’ll help me…down there? That or numbing cream.”
I all-out laugh. “No. Wouldn’t numbing cream take away all your feeling? Wouldn’t it be counterproductive?”
“I don’t know; you’re the medical person. I’m just a little sore down there. I’ve never had sex for that long before. I’ve never had a cock that big inside me before, either.”
