Page 13 of Crowned A Traitor
“I can’t fix it if I don’t know the damage.” Lucifer waited as she peeled off the bandage and Frendall promptly looked away, and Klara rolled her eyes,relax! Not like you are seeing any of the good parts.Klara clenched the bloodied bandage in her hand, and her Father stared at the hole in her chest.
“Holy Hell,” Lucifer expressed, covering his mouth with his hand. Klara released her t-shirt, and the wound was covered again.
“I need another heart,” Klara asked as her breathing grew laboured. Lucifer began to pace, which was never a good sign.
“Did your scouts not hear of an attempt on my daughter’s life?” Lucifer roared in Frendall’s unflinching face. “No, Your Majesty, we had no reports of malicious activity in Malum.”
“It was not an attempt,” Klara said wondering if there had been attempts, she had never known about.
“I got tangled up with a family of Ghouls.”
The King backed away since he couldn’t place the blame on his Commander.
“You took out a family of Ghouls without a heart?”
The pride in her Father’s voice made Klara wish she’d turned into a Ghoul and continued to work in the horrid Beanstalk for the rest of eternity. “Well I am your daughter. It wasn’t too hard to take them out.”
“My Queens trained you well,” Lucifer clapped his hands in delight. Klara refrained from rolling her eyes. The High Queen was merely an overseer and she had her Crimson Guard to watch Klara’s every movement.
“How are your studies coming along since I see that Lilith has provided all the necessary physical training?”
“Eve is quite dedicated,” Klara lied. Eve preferred to work on her floral perfumes and potions. She only bothered to educate Klara when her flowers failed to bloom.
“Why should I bother when you have all the necessary books to read?” Eve had said and tossed a book at Klara when she had first arrived in Malum. Lilith was the only Queen who enjoyed causing her to suffer through endless drills and combat trials.
“Glad to hear Eve has taken to the role. For the mind is just as important as strength.”
“There will be plenty of time to catch up, but can we get back to the matter at hand?” Klara pressed.
“Ah yes, I’m sure you are most uncomfortable.”
The King didn’t care if Klara suffered. He was a firm believer in dealing with the consequences of one’s actions.
“Why were you in the company of Ghouls?”
Klara could have told him she was assessing the River border for weakness, but Lucifer grew nervous whenever she got to close to the River Styx. Even if it was only the first of two borders, once you cross the River, you still had to cross the Neutral Lands before you reached the Kalion border.
“I was hunting.”
“Hunting is not the job of my daughter, let the Lesser Demons handle such business.” Father gripped his hands behind his back, his red eyes glowing as he contained his rage.
“Ghouls are such nasty Creatures,” Lucifer continued, “least I can’t be blamed for their sort.”
“Frendall, do you know how one becomes a Ghoul?” Klara asked, sure Lucifer’s Commander would know the answer, but Frendall shook his head to appease the King. The King answered in Klara’s place.
“They are created by Humans who die having eaten the flesh of other Humans. They are the maggots of the magical world.”
It was never the King’s fault even if it was his Demon’s possessing the Humans that coerced them to consume Human flesh.
“I know I should have allowed the Queens to intervene, but the Ghouls were feeding Creatures their own kind. Smuggling Humans through the Port for meat…”
Lucifer’s eyes burnt red, “and my Queens did nothing about this?”
Klara hesitated to speak, she couldn’t reveal the whole truth. Nor could she blame the Queens for fear of Abadan’s retaliation against her.
“They did, and they wanted to send Demons to handle it, but I wanted to show them that I was ready for greater responsibilities.”
Frendall glared at Klara, and she knew he could see through her lies. Even when they were little, he could always tell when she was fibbing.
