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Chapter 268: Speak Boldly:
“You are not afraid. A man who is innocent is afraid, because he does not know what is coming. A man who is guilty is calm, because he has already rehearsed every possible outcome.” She smiled slightly. “You have been standing there for three minutes, and you have not once asked what happened to the servant’s face.”Varek’s lips thinned.“Who did that to him, my lord?” Melissa asked, turning to Darius. “Did you not wonder? A man is on his knees, bleeding from his eyes, his nose, his mouth. Did you not think to ask?”“I assumed you had questioned him.”“I did. But Varek did not ask. Because he already knew.”The silence stretched. Garrow shifted his weight. One of the guards at the door cleared his throat nervously and then froze, as though he had made a terrible mistake.“It is a matter of delicacy,” Varek said, finally. His voice remained smooth, but a thread of something hard had entered it. “My lord, if I may speak to you privately—”“No.”“I think it wise—”“I said no.” Darius’s v
Chapter 267: Don't call me a fool!:
Varek’s gaze dropped to the huddled figure. He studied him for a long, measured moment, the way a man examines a stain on a tablecloth.“I do not believe so,” he said.“His name is Pell.”“A common name.”“He serves in the east wing.”“We have many servants.”“He was hiding behind the tapestry in my chamber, listening to me speak. He tells me he was placed there by Captain Garrow Thane, acting on your instruction.”“Ah.” Varek’s expression did not change. “That is a serious accusation.”“It is.”“And a false one.”“Is it?”“Naturally.” He turned toward Darius, spreading his long hands in a gesture of regretful candor. “My lord, I am deeply sorry that this has come to your attention in such a manner. I can only assume the man is confused, or frightened, or has been coached by someone with an interest in sowing discord. I have never given such an order.”“You did not order Captain Thane to watch the Sorceress?”“I ordered Captain Thane to ensure the Sorceress’s safety. A guard outside h
Chapter 266: A servant in distress:
“You cannot.”“I can do anything I please. That is the nature of what you bought.”“I have an agreement with the Hand.”“The Hand has an agreement with you. I have an agreement with no one.” She smiled, thin and cold. “I came here out of curiosity. Curiosity is easily satisfied. Shall I show you how easily?”She turned toward the door.“Wait.”The word was sharp, almost a command. Melissa stopped, her back to him, one hand resting on the carved frame.“Wait,” Darius said again, more quietly. He drew a long breath through his nose. His face had gone pale, and a muscle was jumping in his cheek. “You are asking a very great deal.”“I am asking for a very small thing. Respect.”“Respect is not given at sword’s point.”“It is only given at sword’s point. I learned that long ago.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Will you call him?”For a long moment, Darius stood motionless, caught between the cold calculus of power and the hot pride of a man who had never been commanded in his own house. E
Chapter 265: The Invisible Roads:
“Has she.” Darius’s eyes flicked to Melissa, then back. “How very thorough.”“I do not harm children,” Melissa said. “And I do not leave hostages in the hands of a man who would use them.”“You presume a great deal.”“I presume nothing. I know exactly what threats are made in this palace, and who makes them.”Darius turned away. He walked slowly to the hearth and stood with his back to the room, one hand braced against the marble mantel, his shoulders stiff beneath the crimson robe. The firelight threw his shadow, long and black, across the carpet toward the bed. Lady Ismene watched him, her blue eyes huge and glistening, and then, very carefully, she drew her knees up beneath the coverlet and wrapped her arms around them, making herself small.“Ismene,” Darius said, without turning. “Leave us.”“My lord—”“Now.”She slipped from the bed in a rustle of silk, snatched a shawl from the chair, and hurried across the room, keeping as far from Melissa as the walls allowed. At the door, she
Chapter 264:The Razor and the Apology:
The words hung in the firelit bedchamber like smoke after a gunshot. Nobody moved. Lady Ismene’s fingers tightened on the silk coverlet until her knuckles went the color of bone. In the doorway, Elvyn kept her head bowed and her hands folded, and did not breathe.Lord Darius stared at Melissa. For three long heartbeats, nothing at all passed across his face. Then, slowly, like a mask settling back into place, the rage drained out of it and something far more careful rose to take its place.“Varek,” he said.“Yes.”“You accuse my chief counselor of setting a spy upon you.”“I do not accuse. I report.” Melissa’s hand remained clamped on Pell’s collar, and the man swayed between her fingers like a rag on a nail. “This one has confessed. He was posted behind the tapestry in my chamber on the orders of a Captain Garrow Thane, who received those orders from Lord Varek himself. He was told to listen, to report every word, and to deliver a message if he was caught.”“What message?”“That I sh
Chapter 263: Open the gates or die:
He did.The bronze doors swung wide, revealing a long, torchlit corridor beyond, lined with plush crimson carpet and flanked by tall, narrow windows. At its far end, perhaps sixty paces away, stood a pair of massive doors of carved dark wood, bound in gold and guarded by two more soldiers in black and gold livery. These two had evidently heard the commotion, for both had drawn their swords.“Halt!” one of them shouted. “Who goes there?”“The Sorceress Melissa,” she called back. “I demand an audience with your master.”“Lord Darius has retired for the night!”“Then wake him.”“We cannot!”“Then I will.”She did not hurry. She walked down the long crimson carpet with Pell at her side and Elvyn a pace behind, her gown whispering against the floor, her staff tapping a slow, steady rhythm. The guards watched her come, their swords trembling. When she was twenty paces away, the taller of the two, a thick-necked man with a scar on his chin, stepped forward.“That is far enough,” he said hoar
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