Chapter 32: Apparently I’m Still Alive But The Same Can’t Be Said For Versha, Marrok and Rin (Probably)
Chapter 32: Apparently I’m Still Alive But The Same Can’t Be Said For Versha, Marrok, and Rin (Probably)
Immediately Zorathys asked the question, Marrok, Versha, and Rin flinched so violently I heard something crack. I wasn’t sure whether it was bone or my sanity.
They didn’t answer. Of course, they didn’t answer. They stood there trembling like three guilty toddlers caught drawing pentagrams on the palace walls with goat blood.
Don’t ask me why that is specific. It may have happened in Aelthryn once.
Zorathys leaned forward in his chair.
And somehow the whole room felt like it held its breath.
His elbows settled on the black marble table, fingers steepled under his chin, ruby eyes glowing with the promise of violence.
"I asked," he repeated, voice low enough to freeze the room, "a question."
There were a few seconds — long, painful, body-sweating seconds — of silence.
And then Rin broke first.
She leapt forward like she’d been electrocuted and pointed straight at Marrok.
"Marrok told her!"
Marrok gasped, betrayed, and instantly pointed at Versha.
"Versha told her!"
Versha, who up until that point looked like she was experiencing sleep paralysis while fully awake, snapped out of it only to jab her finger right back at Rin.
"She told her!"
It was a perfect triangle of betrayal. I shook my head at the pathetic display.
I watched them point at each other like children in the middle of a food fight, and Zorathys watched them like he was deciding which one to dismember first.
He nodded slowly. Once. The kind of slow nod that meant nothing good ever happened after the nod finished.
"So... you all told her," he concluded.
They immediately straightened, as if that would hide their guilt.
"No... my lord, that’s not—!"
"My King... I only—!"
"It was mostly Rin...!"
He raised one eyebrow and they all shut up so fast their teeth clicked.
Then Marrok, for some reason — some terrible reason that I cannot comprehend — gathered what little courage he possessed and said, "But that’s... that’s how it’s always been, My Lord."
Zorathys blinked once. He did it slowly, like he was a predator determining if he was going to just eat his prey directly without bleeding or maybe he’d let them bleed first.
"Mm," he hummed, unimpressed. "And did you also tell her that the door moves of its own free will?"
The room stilled again.
Marrok’s wings drooped to the floor like wilted flowers, and he shook his head, eyes wide.
"No, My Lord," he whispered.
Zorathys nodded again — the thoughtful kind of nod, the kind that suggested more murder thoughts than usual.
"Mm."
His gaze sharpened.
"And did you see her enter my room," he continued, "knowing the door was wrong... and choose not to stop her?"
They all looked at each other.
Rin shot Marrok a murderous glare. "I told you we should have told her!"
"You told me when she was already inside!" Marrok hissed. "What did you want me to do? Enter the King’s room while he’s sleeping? Are you insane?! I’d die instantly!"
"You could have dragged her out!"
"How?! She was already—"
Zorathys tilted his head.
And all three of them screamed internally and externally at the same time. Their hands twitched, wings vibrated, knees buckled. Versha looked like someone had nailed her feet to the floor.
Zorathys spoke again, voice soft but coated in steel.
"So, you knew the danger." He paused. "And you still let her enter my room."
Marrok swallowed. Versha tensed. Rin squeaked like a terrified bat.
His voice dropped an octave, low enough to bury someone alive.
"What you did," he continued, "was essentially planning to kill my fiancée."
Rin made a sound like a dying mouse and threw her hands up.
"No! We thought she was dead already!"
I gave her a look. That explains why she didn’t show up when it was time for dinner.
Versha smacked Rin immediately. "Control your mouth."
Zorathys nodded thoughtfully — which terrified me more than if he’d snarled.
Then he smiled.
Slowly.
A smile that said today is an excellent day for homicide.
"Well," he murmured, "since you want my fiancée dead..." His eyes glowed brighter. "Then you should die as well."
He raised his hand and I could just imagine the snapping of his fingers. I couldn’t let that happen at all.
I leapt up so fast my chair skidded backwards with an ugly screech, and I threw myself in front of the three demons, arms stretched wide like a shield.
"No!"
Zorathys blinked.
Literally blinked — once — very slowly.
"Firefly," he said, confused, "what are you doing?"
I stood there trembling, arms stretched so wide they were beginning to ache.
"Protecting them!" I declared.
All three behind me gasped in confusion — probably because they, unlike me, suspected this was a terrible idea.
Zorathys lowered his hand a bit, brows pulled together.
"...From what?"
"You!" I blurted. "What do you mean ’from what’? You literally just said you were going to kill them!"
"Yes," he replied calmly. "I was."
My jaw dropped. "Are you out of your mind?!"
He tilted his head again — smaller tilt, but still dangerously charming in a homicidal king way.
"They abandoned you to your death," he said, his tone pure logic. "They watched you walk into danger. And they did nothing."
I sucked in a breath.
"They let you go into my room," he continued, "while I was asleep. They knew the consequences. They knew the danger. And they chose not to stop you. Why should they live?"
I stared at him, furious, terrified, and seconds from fainting.
"Because I’m still alive!" I snapped.
He blinked again.
"And because I’m not dead," I added, waving my hands. "Clearly. As you can see. Very much alive. Zero percent dead. So you don’t get to kill them, except maybe you kill me too."
"You will protect people who abandoned you? People who thought you were dead?" he asked me.
"Yes. They made a mistake. You can’t just kill them because of that. And it’s not like you plan on killing me for disturbing your sleep, right?"
I asked him, silently fishing for answers to know if I was going to remain alive or not.
"No," he told me.
"Then if you’re going to keep me alive, you can’t kill them either," I told him firmly — or at least I thought my voice sounded firm, even if every part of me shook like I had been drenched in ice-cold water.