Alliar

I jumped to my feet as the door opened and Jonathan entered the room, his eyes finding mine in an instant. I drew my bottom lip into my mouth and sucked on it nervously while my fingers fidgeted with the edge of my tattered dress. Jonathan looked me over before stepping further into the room and shrugging off the shoulder plate of his light armor.

I bit my lip desperate to keep the words from rushing out of my mouth. There was so many things I wanted to know. I wanted to ask him about the castle, about the fake walls and the shadow knights, about the way the castle was built into the cliff and its defenses and about the stories I had heard of the North and the harsh land. But I didn't. I couldn't. Jonathan was my key to survival and I needed to stay on the good side of his line. I needed to keep his favour. Which meant I needed to keep my mouth shut.

"I think this is the quietus you have ever been." He broke our silence as he pulled his shirt over his head.

I went to respond but quickly thought better of it. I needed to think before I spoke.

"And again she has nothing to say. Have they cut your tongue out already?" He chuckled as if he had made a joke - maybe he had?

I took a deep breath and put effort into keeping my tone neutral as my mother had taught me for political meetings. "And who might they be?"

"And here come the questions." Again he chuckled.

I strangely liked the sound of his deep chesty chuckle but quickly pushed the thought away.

"Will you answer my questions?"

Is it safe to even ask all of my questions?

"Probably not."

"Then why waste my breath?"

"That has never stopped you before. Why now?" He turned to face me now and I could see the curiosity dancing across his eyes. He was confused and curious by my sudden silence. The thought made me want to smile.

"I was warned to stay silent."

"Ah yes." He nodded. "Good advice." Jonathan moved to stay barely an inch away from me. His eyes were staring into mine with that darkness I have grown accustomed too.

A knock came at the door. "Come in." He commanded, his gaze never leaving mine.

The door opened and a servant dressed in black pants and a brown shirt entered the room with his head facing the floor and a tray in his hands. "Your Grace." He bowed before quickly shuffling to the table and placing the tray down before scurrying away once again.

Jonathan moved to sit by the table and I quickly followed, eager to eat something that wasn't a gamey rabbit or over cook stew.

He pushed a plate over to me and leaned back in his chair, slowly running a hand along his jaw. "You can't hide away in here forever but I thought it best to face the crowd tomorrow once you rest a little. I know you didn't sleep last night."

"No. It was hard to with the screaming."

"Bertram does that, you get used to it." He shrugged.

"Is there something you can do for him?"

He nodded and picked up a piece of bread. "A tonic our physician Kodak made up does the trick but he hates taking it, says it dulls his mind."

I nodded in understanding, pleased that they had at least helped him. I considered for a moment asking about Bertram's past but decided against it knowing that it wasn't any of my business and even if I did, the answer would probably be the same as Demetri's.

"What will I do while I'm here?" I thought this was a safe topic.

Jonathan pressed his lips together for a moment in thought. "Mainly to be here when I want you and avoid my uncle at all costs. Other than that I suppose you should have a job, or a task. It will be much easier to hide you that way."

I opened my mouth to take a bite of the soup but stopped hearing his words. "Avoid your uncle?" I raised my brow in question.

"So what does a blacksmith's daughter know how to do again? Sorry I get confused which lie you're using by the day."

"You changed the subject."

"Need I remind you: I'm King. I can do that."

I sighed deeply and nodded my head deciding I would press it again the next chance I got. I could hardly let him get off that easy. "What would be the easiest to learn?"

"I'm thinking more: Where would you be easily hidden. Perhaps the kitchens?" He took another piece of bread and ripped it in half, never once touching his soup.

I stopped eating for a moment. He hasn't touched his soup. Looking down I evaluated it quickly. Was it poisoned? I've been too hungry to notice any strange tastes or smells that come with the deadliest of poisons.

I dropped my spoon and felt the sudden urge to throw up.

Jonathan reached across the table and tipped my chin up with two fingers until my gaping mouth was closed and my wide eyes met his.

His brow frowned as he took in my panicked expression and hesitation. "What?"

"You're not eating the soup."

His eyebrows raised in surprise as he registered my words, and then quickly followed by recognition. "It's not poisoned Little Miss. I hate soup, reminds me of being at war and having nothing but over cooked broth."

Relief flooded my entire being. That was a good start. Eagerly, I took another spoonful of the food, only pausing to look up under my lashes to see Jonathan hiding a smile behind his hand. "And now she knows poisons."

Think quickly!

"I - I read stories. I hear rumors." I cursed myself for stuttering in the beginning.

"Yes, well, you shouldn't worry. The food here is tasted before it is served and if any of my family wants you dead it will be much more direct than food."

I gulped. There it was again. That simple threat of his family. "And would this be a likely occurrence?"

"So the kitchens it is then. Tomorrow you will settle in. We have guests arriving tomorrow so you should go unnoticed in the commotion but the day after you will begin work. By then you need to have your story straight."

I nodded to show him my understanding before continuing to ask: "Will your family try to kill me?" This time I raised my voice ever so slightly to the firm commanding tone I was born to use.

Jonathan narrowed his eyes, not pleased with my tone.

I swallowed hard and worked to soften my features, smoothing out eyes so that I didn't glare at him, relaxing my brow so that I didn't scowl. "I just want to know if I should be looking over my shoulder." My voice was low, submissive.

He watched me a moment longer and could see the conflict in his eyes. He didn't want to answer me because he didn't know if he should tell me the truth, or lie. Or maybe I was wrong. Maybe this was a scare tactic? Maybe this was his plan to ensure my submission to him, to make sure that I did everything he said without argument, after all, if I thought my life was tied to his - which I do - then why would I cause a fuss?

"No." He finally answered me.

I still couldn't read if it was the truth, or a lie, although, my instincts told me it was a lie.

"Then why the warnings? Are you trying to scare me my King." I added my King almost as a sneer - I couldn't help it. He was beginning to frustrate me and if I was giving up my old life, the least he could do was answer my bloody questions.

His gaze became deadly.

I knew I had reached that invisible line and was dancing along the edge, testing his limits.

"Do you remember what you said to me. You would not speak or question me."

"Outside and in public. But here, when it is only the two of us you will at least entertain my concerns." I tried to be political once again.

He ran his hands over his face and then leaned forward in his chair, closing some distance between us. "Alright," he nodded his head, I thought mainly to convince himself. "Within these walls I will answer your annoying questions but if even so much as hear you talking about any of this I will do far worse then just cut out your tongue and kill you."

It wasn't the tone of his words that made a chill run down my spine or the threat to my life. No. What frightened me the most was the darkness of his eyes and the way they sparked at the thought of torture. In that one simple look I saw the rumors and stories I had heard about him: the Reaper King.

I nodded slowly not trusting myself to speak. I moved my hands to my lap and intertwined my fingers to stop the trembling twitches that enveloped them.

He smirked seeming pleased with the effect of his threat and I had the sudden urge to slap it off his face to show him I wasn't afraid - even if I was.

"My aunt wouldn't touch you. My uncle on the other hand will enforce our old rules about mistress's, which does not bode well for you Little Miss. He won't touch you until you give him reason to and even then he will want me to do it as it will be my mess to clean up."

I didn't want to stay silent, to give him the satisfaction of my silence. "What are the old rules?"

He didn't appear to be pleased with my continued interrogation.

"Was what Jacqueline said accurate?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes at the mention of her name. "She was told a very exaggerated version."

"By Gabriel?" I let it slip. I was stabbing in the dark here. Jacqueline had said she had overheard conversations between Jonathan and the lord of the Rivers of Rohan - Gabriel - but Jonathan said she was told. And if Jonathan didn't tell her, that left only one person. The only one I knew to have survived the laws she spoke of was Gabriel. She had said Gabriel had sent her to the convent to hide her, maybe that was out of his own guilt than keeping anything a secret. He knew what the King would do if he discovered she knew anything.

The look on Jonathan's face however was priceless. His lips were parted and his hands hovered mid reached. He was stunned, truly shocked.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I shouldn't have let him know how much I knew.

"Jacqueline said that your family takes mistress' and have illegitimate children, but their killed as soon as they're born or when you no longer have use for them."

He pushed a finger to his lips in an attempt to hush himself. In that moment I knew it was true.

"So when you get bored of me, that will be my fate."

"Yes."

It was like a slap across my cheek. Like being held under water watching the sun hit the surface and knowing it's there but never truly being able to breath. Slowly suffocating - dying.

"In the past, we take Mistress' who are barren - so that they could never give us a child - or married so that any child could be passed off as another's."

"Like Gabriel?"

His eyes closed briefly as he shook his head from side to side. "You don't miss much do you?"

"No."

His lips twitched upward before he nodded. "Yes. When I came into my reign I was told about him. They warned me. Told me to drown him the river and be done with it."

"But if he never knew then how - "

He cut me off. "He did know. He knew he was different from his brothers and the man he called father. And that's why he was a risk."

"But you didn't."

"A mistake. He's a thorn in my side. Has been since the day I saved his ungrateful ass."

I nodded in understanding and thought this through. It was smart by their part. No married woman would dare claim she had the King's bastard as a son for if the king denied it - which they would - then she would be beaten or hung for treason against her husband and possibly the crown.

"And women who aren't married, or barren?"

"Killed mostly. On occasion they were married off to friends of the crown, especially if they became with child and the King at the time didn't have the heart to poison it."

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat knowing that this was the future I was to endure. Killed. Married off in haste to someone I don't know. And lastly, any child I have in imminent danger before they even breath their first breath - from their own father.

I remembered when we were in the tent alone, on the field just after soldiers raided the camp. "You promised to do it quickly, while I'm asleep."

He nodded slowly. "You have my word. If it's by my hand, you won't suffer."

I closed my eyes feeling both fearful, and grateful.

I pushed my bowl away no longer hungry despite still having half a bowl.

Jonathan stood from his chair and grabbed my hand, helping me up. He stepped behind me, his hand moving to spread across my stomach and his lips brush against my neck, kissing me.

"Get your story straight tomorrow." He whispered in my ear while his fingers pulled at the strings of my dress.

I turned in his arms to face him. "I'll try."  

***

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