Page 24 of Crowned A Traitor
"We will have to look out for each other in this vile world," Klara said.
"I knew you two would be a force to be reckoned with," Lucifer delighted in their false embrace as Klara peeled herself away from Mila.
Klara reached for her Father's hand. "I beg you to let me take on this task. If I need help, then I will call for Frendall or Mila. Since they both have your every confidence."
"A chance to prove yourself," the King tested it on his tongue as Frendall's gaze fixed on Klara.He doesn't believe me, yet he helped me.Klara figured she would find out what Frendall wanted in exchange for his silence.
"Exactly, a chance is all I'm asking for as I'm sure Frendall has proven himself countless times.”
The King's eyes drifted to Frendall while Mila remained all too focused on her food. Klara was relieved Mila held her tongue or Klara might have been tempted to take it.
"One year." The King said firmly.
"You won't regret this." Klara straightened in her chair.One step closer to salvation. The sound of Mila scraping her fork against the plate jarred her, and Mila offered a faint smile to excuse the mistake.
"I will inform the Queens of my decision, and you will start right away. I want reports on the breaches as soon as possible."
"And those she discovers?" Frendall said, not looking away from Klara.
"Death." The King said chewing through eel skin. Klara's grand scheme might ensure her escape, but she couldn't take the life of a Creature trying to escape their desperate life.
"A lesser charge surely, most in Malum are desperate, they do not know their treason," Klara tried to press her point, but her Father's grueling eyes told her to hush.
"Good and evil. There is a clear divide, we are born into our nature and pushed hard enough, it will be revealed." The clench of her Father's jaw told her not to push further.
"We can't have one land corrupt the other," Lucifer bellowed, and the table rose their glasses once again. Klara rose her glass a fraction of a second too late, and Mila caught Klara's hesitation with a weak smile.
The feast vanished with a wave of Lucifer's hand, and the starving Doomed looked over the remaining plates with forlorn hope. A skeletal hand passed Klara’s shoulder and lifted her plate. Starvation was a great weapon, Eve had told her during her lectures, harnessed correctly, you could bend the strongest will.
"Let us retire to the throne room for drinks and potions." Lucifer stood as he addressed the room.When will this night end!Klara thought as she took her Father's arm.
~7~
“Frendall, how is your mother doing?
The crystal glass cracked in Klara’s hand as Mila spoke. “Are you all right?” Mila raised an eyebrow as the bright green liquid leaked through the crystal. A Doomed scurried between them and took the glass from Klara. “Don’t know my own strength. Must be the new heart.” Klara laughed it off as some of the other guests stared at her.
His mother?Klara looked at Frendall’s fixed jaw while Mila exposed her sharpened smile.She must take chunks out of her tongue. Klara deemed it a fitting punishment for someone incapable of keeping their mouth shut. Mila waited for Frendall’s response.
“Excuse me?” Frendall said as the Doomed interrupted them with another glass for Klara.
“I’m sure Klara has been filling you in on her accomplishments in Malum.”
The Queens? Which Queen?Klara studied Frendall’s features, his slightly crooked nose and strong chin, it wasn’t pointed like Eve’s, and his hair and skin was much too light to be one of Lilith’s descendants. Then she saw it, the ears. Abadan wore her hair down so no one would notice her small ears that stuck out ever so slightly from her head. It was a small feature, a simplicity overlooked. Klara’s stomach heaved, and it wasn’t the eyeball soup from earlier.Frendall was Abadan’s son. She was the Demon that had betrayed Father.
“Mila, that is not a suitable conversation for present company,” Lucifer said.
“Oh, I apologize my King. I didn’t think it was a secret. I assumed that since she is close with the Queens,” Mila covered her mouth with her hand.
“Your mother…Abadan,” Klara said looking at Frendall. His back straightened, and he downed his drink. “Yes, how is the High Queen?”
“Ruthless as always.”
“I’d expect nothing less.” Frendall took another glass of venom from a Doomed’s passing tray.
“Like mother like son,” Klara smiled, and her Father placed a hand on her back. “Do I sense a tone Klara,” Lucifer raised an eyebrow.
“Why wasn’t I told of this?” Klara asked, and Lucifer kissed her cheek, he had no intention of answering her. Klara looked around the room,does everyone know?With Lucifer’s favour and the High Queen of Malum as a mother, Frendall’s claim to Hell threatened her own. Good thing she had no interest in Hell. It was the lies that caused fear to snake up her spine. The story her Father had told her about Frendall had been a lie. He was the reason why Abadan continued to make her life a misery and sent her here to show Lucifer how dutiful her own son was while Klara was a misfit in need of punishment.
