Page 34 of The Kingdom's Crown

The Hunger prickledand snapped as we traveled down to the dungeons. This was a part of the castle I had never had cause to visit before. I'd been fooled as I'd grown up, believing my family was beloved by our kingdom, that we were actually serving our people. I'd known there was a dungeon, but I'd never given thought to who might be found within.

The space was vast, an entire structure of its own beneath the shining surface of the castle, a dark root system with staircases that seemed to sink indefinitely. We circled down, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a long hall of cells.

"Who is kept in those?" I whispered to Cresswell, seeing a glimpse of figures pacing behind bars, arms drooping out of the cage.

He shook his head. "I've spent my time at your side. Brummer or Piper might know."

"I want a full record of who is kept here and their crimes," I said, an uneasy feeling swirling in the pit of my stomach. How could there be so many people kept in the dungeon when I'd never heard of any crime against the crown?

Aric, Daniel, and the guards were another floor down. There were no windows this low, and the air was tangy and metallic. The maid sobbed loudly in the room, words unintelligible, and I paused at the threshold, suddenly wishing I'd waited to hear from my Chosen about the answers they gathered. The room was long and dark, candles flickering in sconces along the wall cast threatening shadows from the strange instruments littered about.

This was a torture chamber.

Daniel was away from the others, head down and feet pacing back and forth, arms crossed over his chest. He paused suddenly and looked up, finding me immediately, a deep frown creasing the corners of his lips.

"Go back," he mouthed to me.

I swallowed hard at the sudden scream of the woman until it shattered into breathless sobs, my steps stumbling back, running into Thao and Cresswell's shoulders.

"Stop!" I shouted, still unaware of what was happening.

The circle of guards stumbled back, Aric amongst them, his eyes unseeing for a moment before finally landing on me.

"Come here, princess," he said gently.

I wanted to take Daniel's advice and run. Cress and Thao would certainly let me, but then Aric tilted his chin up, confidence and a challenge in his steady gaze on me. I took a deep breath and walked forward, Aric meeting me halfway.

Over his shoulder, I saw the woman who'd charged at me, sagged sideways in a chair. She was sweat-stained, face red with crying, but I didn't see any visible injury.

"It's magic," Aric whispered in my ear, his hands covering my shoulders with a gentle touch. "It isn't kind, but it's not causing permanent harm. They wanted to use rocks to crush her. I know," he said as I shuddered. "We're almost done, but there's something I'd like to try with you now."

"To hurt her?" I asked, closing my eyes as if it could block out the moaning sobs of the woman.

I had been so eager to destroy Emory when he'd come for me, had nearly sent Owen to his death in that fire. Perhaps Cresswell was right and the memory of Emory made me more reluctant to do that same harm again, or perhaps the knowledge that Amelia was in some way entangled in the scheme made the question of who was to blame less clear. Emory had been largely his own agent, and his attack on me at the Winter Palace had been self-motivated. He'd earned his punishment. I wasn't sure this woman had.

"I don't think it will hurt her. Not the way I've been," he said darkly.

I reached up between us, my fingertips finding Aric's throat as he swallowed. I leaned back and rose to my toes, pressing my face to his without a kiss. He took a deep breath of me and released it slowly, tension bleeding away.

"Show me," I said.

"You have magic?" he asked, and I nodded. "I want you to use something like what you would if you wanted us to perform for you."

"What?!" I asked, choking slightly, my eyes going wide.

Aric huffed. "Make her pliable, wanting to please you."

My lips formed an O, and I glanced over Aric's shoulder again. Whatever he'd done to plague her was subsiding, and she was taking great gulps of air. Her features were soft and smudged, and she looked a little younger than me, heavier set, and yet she had deeper lines and darker circles under her eyes. Her eyes were bloodshot now, but they found me and she whimpered, her whole body trembling.

Could my magic do as Aric asked? I didn't see how the Hunger's lust would help now, but I remembered the empty look I'd given Owen the first time I used it on him accidentally.

"All right," I said.

Aric nodded and stepped back, his voice rising out of the whisper we'd used. "We know she came here with the young Lady Ophelia. That she was charged to attack if you didn't take Ophelia on as one of your ladies."

"What more do you need to know?" I asked.

"Nothing to charge her with the crime, Your Highness," one of the guards said. He was tall and broad, not handsome but certainly impressive. "Head Guard Amos."

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