Total pages in book: 204
Estimated words: 193124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 966(@200wpm)___ 772(@250wpm)___ 644(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 193124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 966(@200wpm)___ 772(@250wpm)___ 644(@300wpm)
“Exactly what do you think you can do for them.”
Lowering my head, I put words to my deepest terror. “Merc.”
“Tell me.”
“I think you already know.” I cross my arms over my gut. “The Dark King is inside of me, Merc—”
“Stop it, just stop it.” He covers his ears with his hands. “I won’t hear that—”
“I killed a man.” As I bark at him, I meet Merc’s stare straight on. “Back in the dungeon. One of the officers. He came to me with … intentions.”
Merc’s mouth thins to a slash and his brows sink so low, he looks positively evil himself. But I don’t let him speak. “I took a knife to him in the cell.”
“Good—”
“No, it wasn’t. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t … stop. The anger in me was so violent, so undeniable, so … powerful, that I was overcome. And what’s worse…” I close my eyes and want to scream. “When it was happening, it felt … good. I liked the pain I was giving him, the vengeance I was taking. So you have to understand, the reason I must fight is also for myself. I don’t want this inside of me.”
Merc’s head slowly shakes. “The Dark King is not within you—”
“He is.” I cannot bear to speak the words, but I know they’re true. “I am going to Prosperitus, I am going to find Julion, and I am going to do the favor he asked of me so that he will take me to his father, the King—”
“He’s just a knight—”
“That’s what he said, but his face is on one of my royal coins. You think they throw anyone on those things?”
There’s a heartbeat of silence. Then Merc shakes his head.
“Sorrel, you have to listen to me. I know more about the evils of Anathos than you ever will. If you go to that court, I don’t care what you believe about that man. He and his royal sire, if he actually is the prince, will do exactly what every ruler must and protect their people—and only their people. You’re just putting yourself in danger to no avail.”
I think of the warrior queen who sees no one. That was her reasoning, too.
Merc steps in close. “Word about what happened between you and those boys by the Fulcrum will have traveled. You’ll be hung in the gates of the city as an example of how they handle purveyors of unlawful magic. And if they eventually decide to fight on their own accord, they will lose and their soldiers will be claimed—which will only increase the power of the evil one. Every soul that’s taken makes the Dark King stronger.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then we’ll all just be consumed. Eventually. Do you really think a change in scenery, even if it’s an isolated place, can save us?”
When Merc doesn’t respond to that, fear floods my veins once more: Even though I disagree with him, I want him to be right. I wish there was a place we could go and shut out Anathos’s fate.
In the tense silence, I throw up my hands. “So fine, no fighting. No trying. I guess I’ll just walk up to the Fulcrum and get it over with. Submission strikes me as far less painful than waiting around for months, seasons, years until the Dark King finds me as the last remaining soul—and takes what he was going to have in the first place.”
“There is nothing but pain that comes with submission to evil and its dark deeds,” he says roughly.
The starkness in his voice tells me more than he ever has about all the regret he carries for the killings he’s done for money, all of what he keeps inside.
“Let me take you away from this, and keep you safe,” he says, one last time.
I slowly shake my head. “No. I’m not hiding anymore.”
Eighty-Nine
The Worst Truth.
We’re on foot outside of the village wall, having circled around to the rear where we got free of the moat. In fact, we’re in the clearing where Julion gave me his clothes and tendered his request, not all that far from the road where Merc stole our gelding.
Who died peacefully under a realm tree, just as I foresaw.
I want to go straight east, and I can tell by his stiff body language Merc still wants to take us somewhere, anywhere, else. Neither of us is saying a word. We’ve both spoken our pieces, found no agreement, and yet the newest arrangement between us hasn’t changed.
Whither I go, goes he.
And yet I’m terrified that he has a point. What if I get to the court and Julion must make an example of me? My reputation does precede me, even though I kept my face hidden.
It brought the Kingdom of the East’s prince to me, didn’t it?
“I think these two need some water,” Merc says. “Is there a stream nearby?”