Page 29 of Crowned A Traitor
“What business is it of yours?”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed? Do you know what the King would do to you if he knew what you’re planning?”
Klara’s heart stilled, “Aren’t you tired of all this? The punishment, the distrust and paranoia. I want to live and not have to worry about every shadow that wants my inheritance.” Klara sat at the counter, placing her head in her hands.
“Running away isn’t the answer, and even if you do, they will hunt you to the ends of the earth and any other realm or plane you dare to hide in,” Frendall’s chest rose and fell with each word. “Lucifer will make me hunt you to the ends of the earth.”
A silence filled the kitchen, “You don’t need to concern yourself.”
“You think the Fae Queen will welcome the Heir of Hell warmly.”
“I expect nothing from her, and I won’t be discovered,” Klara rose to touch his arm and he moved back.
“See you have secrets you don’t want told,” Klara argued her point, and he grabbed her hand and placed it on his cheek. “I don’t want you dead, and I don’t need your sight to tell you that.”
Frendall brought her to him, and Klara felt the rumble in his chest as he spoke. “Would I prefer to be somewhere, something else? Yes, but my fate is to serve, and yours is to rule.”
“Come with me,” she looked up at him. Frendall closed his eyes and rested his forehead on her shoulder. “You aren’t your mother, you don’t have to serve him, we can start over.”
“You could change this place,” Frendall said, and she felt the sting of his words. “Accept your place here, take over. Do things the way you want them done.” Her arms dropped from his waist.
“Somethings can’t be saved. The Higher Demons hold too much power over the Lesser Demons, and there is no balance of power because Father disappears every chance he gets. Once I’m gone, the council can take my place if my Father wishes to step down.”
Frendall held his finger to his lips as voices carried into the kitchen from the hall. “Go to your room, stay the night. If you leave now, it will raise more questions.”
Klara slipped up the back stairwell as the Doomed came in with their trays piled high with empty plates and crystal goblets.
“Why is the King’s food out?” Terrified voices followed her as she tiptoed up the staircase. The Doomed quarters were empty thanks to the banquet, so Klara slipped through to the second floor undetected. Two Guards passed in their suits as she opened her bedroom door. They paused and bowed for a moment waiting for her to leave first.
The plush mattress dipped as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She touched her lips, and Frendall’s reflection appeared beside her.Get out of my head.When she looked again, he was gone.
An uprising is coming,Klara had sensed the calculating minds at the banquet table. Grabbing one of her pillows, she rolled back and clutched it over her face. Frendall’s words of warning filled her mind only to be corrupted by Abadan’s scheming smile.There is no saving Hell or Malum. The machine works too well for too many.
“Damn him,” she roared into the pillow. Klara felt the rush of her heart and took a few deep breaths as she slipped her hand inside her t-shirt. The ridges of her scarred chest made her wince.The scar will disappear soon and so will I, she thought to herself, kicking off her boots. Klara snubbed out the candles with her fingers and stared out to the never-setting sun behind the blood moon. Sleep came easy, and Klara needed all the rest she could get.
???
“Going somewhere, Heiress?” A Guard asked as Klara opened her bedroom door. She saw the two stripes on his cheek. He was a Captain. Klara smiled, and the Captain exposed his sharpened teeth.He must be one of Mila’s Guards. Private Guards often took on the characteristics of their leader to gain favour—Mila had her lethal smile and Abadan’s Crimson Guard dressed after her fiery red hair.
“I’m sure the King’s training rooms are in order if I’m permitted?” The Captain eyed her black jeans and long sleeve grey t-shirt.
“I will send for the right attire,” the Captain snapped his fingers, and another guard promptly stepped forward. “No need, I can fight in any clothing. I doubt the enemy will let me change first.”
The Captain’s yellow eyes bore into Klara, but she refused to back down.
“Am I to be confined to my room?”
“The King will need to be informed of your movements,” he said, allowing her to pass. “As protocol dictates,” Klara finished for the Captain and closed her bedroom door behind her.
Moving down the hall, she could see the reflection of two black suits following her in the long mirror at the end of the corridor. Klara smirked at their boldness. Klara hesitated at one of the mirrors between two portraits and adjusted her wig. The Guards stopped outside another room, but Klara could feel their eyes on her.
“Catch me if you can.”
The Guards’ yellow eyes went wide as she hopped through the mirror before they could stop her.Idiots.
It wasn’t just the portraits that hid passageways, but most Guards weren’t privy to such delicate information.
“Shit,” Klara grumbled as she landed on the sharp gravel path. The stones dug into her palms, and she picked herself up. She scanned the garden for others as she dusted off her jeans.
