Page 36 of Somber Prince

“Rha?” Elaine squinted at me through her glasses. “Since when are you on a first-name basis with the shadow prince?”

Melanie brushed her aside, leaning closer to me. “You spoke to the prince, Dawn? When?”

I nodded. “He…um, tried to have dinner with me yesterday.”

“Just you?” Elaine kept peering at me intently.

“Yes.”

A new interest sparked in Melanie’s expression. “Was it a date or something?”

“No. Of course not. Nothing like that. He…he presented me with the head of the man who killed Dad.” My voice dropped at that.

Melanie gasped. “He did what?”

Elaine squeaked in horror, gripping her throat.

“Yeah…” I rubbed my forehead. “That was his idea of justice, or closure, or whatever the heck he thought that was. He found the killer and had him beheaded, then served his head to me quite literally on a silver platter.”

Melanie grimaced in disgust. “The man is sick.”

Elaine looked like she was about to throw up.

And I…

I thought about the explanation Rha had given me. A life for a life. I stood by what I’d said to him about two wrongs not making it right. I didn’t agree with what he did, but I understood why he did it. And I accepted it. I accepted that his intentions weren’t evil.

I said none of this out loud, however, afraid it’d sound like I was defending the prince.

“You have to be careful, Dawn,” Elaine warned quietly. “We all have to be careful around them. Just because they have been taking care of us doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of hurting us if it suits them.”

“Have you been taken care of?” I asked. “How is life in the sarai?”

“Could be better.” Melanie made a face, plopping into the closest recliner. She lifted an ornate metal goblet from the edge of the fountain and took a drink. “This is plain water.” She lifted the goblet to me. “That’s all we’ve been drinking here. They feed us some tasteless shit three times a day, or a night rather, since we’re supposed to stay in our rooms during the day. They even close the sky off with solid shutters from before sunrise until after sunset.” She pointed at the opening over the garden where the stars twinkled between the crisscrossed beams. “Like we aren’t supposed to see the sun or something.”

Elaine sat down on the lounger across from Melanie, pulling me by my hand to sit next to her.

“They brought us new clothes yesterday and asked us a few questions each.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Like how we feel about coming to their kingdom,” Elaine replied.

Melanie huffed. “I told them exactly how I feel about them and their shitty kingdom. I didn’t ‘come’ here, like on vacation or something. I was forcefully brought here. This is forceful confinement, which is a crime.”

She was right about that. We didn’t choose to be here.

“But are they treating you well?” I asked.

“The guards can be bossy sometimes,” Elaine replied. “But the Keepers are friendly. They seem to want to please us. I asked if I could keep my sweater.” She stroked a soft sleeve. “And they washed it for me.”

The man I’d noticed earlier bent over the fountain pool and splashed some water on his face and neck.

“The assholes didn’t give me any pants,” he complained. “I had to yell at them to make them find me some.”

“I’m surprised they found any, since they don’t wear pants themselves,” I said.

“Yeah, well, I’m not running around with my ass bare like they are.” He gave me a once-over. “You’re the one who punched their head guy, aren’t you?” He wiped his wet hand on the side of his tunic before offering it to me. “Hi. I’m Kostya. It’s short for Konstantin.”

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