Don’t think about it. It’s done.
I looked around at the other royals. Each was groaning as they awoke, lying on the ground as I was. I slowly rose to my feet, my head dizzy and throbbing.
The first face I saw was Queen Trina’s. She looked paler than usual, her gaze transfixed on the clump of red matter clenched in her hand. It was a human heart. She looked at it for a few moments before turning away and vomiting off the edge of the pavilion.
Averting my eyes, I looked at the other kings. Each held an internal organ or a bloodied weapon—Thraxus held a sharp rock, and wept softly into his blood-stained robes. Only one, King Dellian Demzred, held nothing. I caught his eye, instantly wanting to turn away, spare him the shame of knowing that I could see his own sense of defeat and humiliation from that single glance. Privately, I thought he was the only one that had shown any real integrity…what were the ministers trying to prove, that we would kill something we loved for power? Where was the honor and glory in that?
I also didn’t understand, if these were hallucinations, how we had taken fragments of them back into reality – there was nothing imagined about the blood on my blade. Were these trials and rituals so old they now had their own ancient magic?
The Impartial Ministers stepped up onto the pavilion, coming to stand in the center.
“King Demzred, you are unable to continue to take part in the imperial trials,” they announced. “The rest of you have shown your willingness to compete no matter what is asked of you. Perhaps this will bring you some comfort in the days ahead.”
I wasn’t so sure of that. My mother’s words had brought me little reassurance—my winning was possible, but her referring to me as a ‘false king’ hardly inspired confidence. And what of the ‘price’ she spoke of? Did she just mean that the trials would be difficult, or was it something more? And what other destiny awaited me? I wiped my sword clean in frustration, hearing the approaching steps of Lithan and Qentos behind me.
“Congratulations, my lord!” Qentos announced breathlessly.
I turned and nodded my thanks, sheathing my sword back in its scabbard, no longer wanting to look at the faint smears of blood that I couldn’t remove.
“We must make haste back to the castle,” Lithan informed me. “There was trouble last night.”
What?
“Why did you not inform me?” I asked icily.
“The trials took priority,” Lithan replied.
“Lithan, I will tell you what takes priority and what doesn’t. I would strongly advise that you never make that decision for me again—do you understand?”
The man trembled, closing his eyes briefly as he nodded his understanding.
“Good.”
I strode swiftly toward the bull-horses still tethered to a nearby tree, and, without waiting for my companions to join me, set off into the forest. A few moments later I could hear them approaching.
“What happened?” I asked, calmer now and willing to hear what they had to say.
“The guards last night—they were found fast asleep this morning, all of them. They’d been drained of their energy, and another stone was found missing.”
“And we suspect the boy?” I asked.
“We do. Clearly the entity is using him as his vessel, though whether that is just through mind control, or a complete invasion of his body, we do not know.”
Invasion of his body?
“Is that even possible?” I asked.
“We believe so. If the entity is locked into the castle, then it would have been in non-corporeal form. Somehow it’s been able to entirely control another being.”
It was a theory I didn’t want to share with Hazel, at least not until we understood more. If her brother had been invaded by the creature, then I didn’t know what his chances would be of ever being able to regain complete consciousness—if he was ever released at all.
I kicked the flanks of my bull-horse, speeding up. I had to reach her before she discovered this latest macabre development.
Damn my ministers to hell.
I reached the courtyard in record time and disembarked. I raced through the doors, the flanks of guards hastily standing back to let me pass.
“Where is Hazel, the human girl?” I growled at one standing in the main hallway.
“S-She’s in the human quarters, your Highness.”
I ran.
Bursting through the doors of the human quarters, I saw a group of children, Hazel standing in their midst. She turned toward me at the sound of the crashing door, her face stark white, wide-eyed and trembling.
The children moved to let me through, and I approached her slowly. She turned her gaze to the sofa, and as the last few children stood aside, I saw a human girl lying unmoving, cocooned in blankets.