Page 41 of The Devil In Blue
“Until he gave her eternity.”
“And then what?”
That question made me so uncomfortable. A stinging chill rolled down my spine and I stiffened at my own words.
“And then… she took what he’d given her and she left. Tore his heart out of his chest.”
“Why would she do that?”
“She was curious. He loved her curiosity, but it led her to places he could not follow. She wanted the joys of being human.” He was beginning to speak with more tension like his jaw was clenched. I could tell he was bitter about it. Perhaps he didn’t have the same rage in him that the king did, but he was deeply upset. “It was all in the note she left before she disappeared. Her remorse. Her confessions. Her betrayal. But none of it stopped her from leaving.”
“You love your king,” I whispered.
“Sometimes. Most of the time I hate him.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He is a fool. He left himself without armor when it came to her and he was destroyed for it. This place was once impenetrable and since she happened, it’s fallen to pieces. He goes into the Labyrinth and more and more souls lose themselves to the endless wandering because he spent so long denying his responsibilities here. Too long pining for a woman who only betrayed him. The sounds they make… I hear them at night. They’re loud and consuming and it would not be that way if he’d just kept lighting the candles and helping them move on like he’s supposed to. Then, maybe fewer souls would wander out to be devoured by the hungry beasts prowling this world. But he believed too strongly in his love for her so when it was gone, he believed too strongly in vengeance.”
I felt shame for whatever happened between the king and the woman he loved and I didn’t know why because I couldn’t be her. There was no way. It was too fantastical a story. It was impossible and yet… I felt guilty for her transgressions.
“I can’t hear them,” I said. “The souls, I mean.”
“No, only he can. And me, of course.”
“Why you?”
“Because, in a way, the king and I are the same. It’s very hard to explain. We were both created here and so we are both this place. Him, the king, and me, the slave.”
Words escaped me. The conversation had stumped me and I could add nothing else to its progression when my mind was too tangled up in the strangeness of it all.
“Enough of that,” Petris said, slapping the table with his hands and standing. “It’s not my place to tell you these things. But seeing as the king lets his emotions dictate his conversations, perhaps it was better that the story came from me.”
“I imagine he would have shouted it all and thrown something,” I said, amused when I should have been scared of the idea.
Petris let out that handsome chuckle again and circled around the table to me.
“Come with me,” he said. “I want to show you something. If you’re going to be here for a while, you should have a way to pass the time.”
I followed Petris through the kitchen to the other door and found myself standing at the bottom of another stairway. This one spiraled upward and the narrower path was almost secretive. We climbed and climbed, past the second floor to a hallway that opened into a dark, gloomy level of the palace. It was then that I realized where we were. We were on the floor that I’d seen when I visited the courtyard. The dark windows and the quiet stillness gave it away.
The hall smelled like dust and candle wax like it had gone untouched for years. A few strides down the passage, Petris stopped and looked back at me. I was busy ogling the high walls and unlit sconces and nearly collided with him before I realized he wasn’t moving anymore. He held out a hand to me and I took it without hesitation.
We strolled further. Balconies with glass doors were all along the path allowing the bright blue moonlight in. Glancing at the floor, I saw purple carpeting with swirling silver designs.
“Everything about this place is like a dream,” I said.
“It was built by the first sovereign. And each king following added to it in some way.”
My interest piqued. “How many kings have there been?”
“Many. Each turning of the ages, the king is reincarnated.”
“So… it is the same king in a different body?”
“The same soul. Different minds. Different hearts. Different desires, dislikes, and ideals.”
“Can a king be corrupt?”
