Page 39 of Wicked Prince of Shadows
His eyebrow flicked upward, but he did as I demanded and sat on the dark cushioned couch. I pulled the ottoman over to sit in front of him and arranged the medical items on a small table. He took a long swig from the black bottle. The pungent scent of alcohol and some sort of bitter herb struck my nostrils, mixing with the cloves, myrrh, and cedar. After he cleared his throat, he coughed and clicked his tongue. “Begin.”
I rolled his sleeve back all the way from his forearm. The thick blood dripped slowly. Taking great care, I dipped the cloth in the salve as I had seen Doctor Rasoul do, and I began to clean the wound. As I cleaned it, I realized the wounds were deeper than I first thought. Though there were so many things I wanted to ask him, one question pressed up above all the others. “What did Queen Tanith do exactly?”
His breath hissed through his teeth, and he shook his head. “It makes little difference now.”
“I want to know,” I said, softer this time. “Besides, it might take your mind off the pain.”
“By focusing on another deeper pain, yes, very clever.” He took another swig from the bottle, his posture tight. “It was…centuries ago. My kingdom was small but strong. At that time, I was simply a prince. The second in line to be king. As such, there was little concern about who I wed so long as it was not someone who brought shame upon our kingdom. And one night,the first night of the Week of the Blood Moon, I found a woman in the garden. She was beautiful beyond compare, and she was weeping.”
He winced as I dabbed another layer of salve on the wound. Though it was no longer bleeding, the flesh looked more dead than alive. It wasn’t healing as mine had. My stomach twisted.
He continued, his gaze not on me but out the window. “She told me that she was cursed. A demon had lost its mate and now, in its grief, it sought to devour her and her people. Her pleas moved me. I invited her to stay in the palace, and I took her to my counselors and advisors. To anyone who could give help. She was grateful but distant, and at last she told me what I thought was the truth. That if she did not find love…if she did not find a royal husband, then all would be lost.”
My chest tightened. I had never heard any such thing about Queen Tanith. But all the tales I had heard were of when Queen Tanith had brought our people to the plateaus between the Crimson and the Painted Mountains from a place of great hunger and ashen darkness. That she had saved us from being trapped in the Witheringlands. I gently applied more salve to the wound, pressing on the torn flesh.
His face twisted again, but it didn’t seem to be from the wound. His gaze had gone quite distant as if he no longer saw me. “My heart broke for her, and, after a few days, I offered to wed her. It seemed…so simple. You probably think me a fool for offering so swiftly. For even daring to think that I could love."
I shook my head, adjusting his hand. "No. I've—I've never believed that it took a long time to fall in love. It's more about…well, so many things, but mostly about who you are when you meet someone and who they are and what you both need." My heart tightened as memories of loneliness and isolation spread over me.
A faint smile pulled at his mouth. "Well, at the time, we both seemed to be what the other needed. She claimed to love me, and I thought I loved her. What other responsibilities did I have? I wasn’t the king. My brother was the heir apparent and had chosen his betrothed. There was no war. Some like Maltric warned me against rushing into such a marriage. But no one could reason with me. I asked for her hand, and she agreed so long as I saw her kingdom that night. I agreed.”
His eyes shuttered. “I went. The portal was unlike anything I had ever seen, and it brought me into such a strange place. Everything was dark and devoid of life and color, even the kingdom that lay on the other side of the chasm. Everything except her. She was there, waiting for me. She told me to come with her and led me to this chasm. The bridge was so narrow I hadn’t even seen it until she showed me its path. I knew in my spirit that I should have left. But it was already too late. I wouldn’t have been able to save myself, but I could have saved my people. Love or lust or whatever it was made it easy for me to ignore.”
That dull ache in my chest intensified. I could see the chasm near the portal even now from memory. It mirrored the one in my nightmares. As the silence stretched between us, I continued cleaning the wound and applying the salve. Even on the third layer, it resisted healing though there was some improvement.
His voice dropped lower after a few moments of silence. “Once we reached the center of the chasm on this pedestal of stone, she told me to give her my hand. When I did, she cut my palm with that scrimshaw dagger in my observation room, and she called out to Chaori to free her kingdom and take this one instead. I tried to pull back—to stop her. The earth shook. The lifeless kingdom beyond the chasm vanished and the chasm itself expanded. In her city’s place was mine now. At least as much as there was room for it. After the chasm expanded, a thirdof my kingdom plunged into the abyss.” He ground his teeth, his voice sharpening. “And there was nothing I could do except watch.”
My hands fell away as I listened, my breaths shallow.
His voice cracked again. “So many died that night. I heard their screams. All of them. Something in the magic of this place…I heard the voices of my parents. They were in the Star Clove Garden in the southeastern quarter of the city when the transference happened. My brother was crushed beneath a pillar, and my sister-in-law to be was later ripped to shreds by chitter hounds when she was trying to find him.” His jaw clenched, the stitches pulling so tight I feared they might tear. “You could call it my coronation. The ache of grief certainly left me hollow. Such is the fate of every kingdom brought to this place. And each time another Hollow King or Hollow Queen is crowned, the crescent chasm expands, and it takes more.”
I swallowed, tucking my hands into my lap. Grief brimmed within me, and I wanted to say something. I could imagine some of that grief. Years ago, I’d lost my own family in tragedy, but it hadn’t been something I could blame myself for, so I hadn't had to carry such guilt. It had been senseless and tragic, but nothing like this. I wasn’t even sure how to process that it was Tanith who had done this to the Hollow King and his people. As horrific as it was, I could see how that part of the story I had heard could slip into place and be true.
His voice shuddered as he shook his head, his gaze moving across the horizon as if searching for something through the window. “I’ll never forget watching so many lives vanish into the dark. Not just the roar of the rocks and rubble but the screams. And then the moment when those who fell…stopped screaming. They never stood a chance. It didn’t end there though. The chitter hounds made it through the holes in the city walls and the gaps from the collapse. They feasted that night. Our warriorsfought bravely, but there were too many wounded and weak. Tanith didn’t stay to watch, but she told me that to end the curse, I had three choices and one day I would understand her path. One day I too would sacrifice at least one innocent.”
“Three choices?” I whispered. He had only mentioned two. One involved soul obliteration. How much worse could the third be?
He looked at me then, the amber in his eyes brighter than ever. His other hand had fisted in his robe, his claws piercing the embroidered fabric. “Each time the blood moon lasts for seven days, the portal opens near a different kingdom. In that time, I can gather what I need, seduce another royal, lure them into the Witheringlands, and, instead of wedding them, take their blood and create a substitution. Their kingdom would take the place of mine, whatever the loss of life that followed would be. The life of that kingdom would extend the life of the Witheringlands, feeding this place. Or I could sacrifice an innocent and let their soul be obliterated to open the portal’s path for my kingdom’s salvation. Or I could wed one of her descendants and open the path. I swore I would never condemn any kingdom to this fate, nor would I condemn an innocent to obliteration.”
I swallowed hard, my throat so tight I could scarcely breathe. This was so hard to comprehend. If Tanith had gone through with the wedding, would the curse have ended?
I’d grown up hearing of the Hollow King and how Queen Tanith had defeated him in a battle of wits to save us from darkness…but she had in fact condemned him and his people? How could they not hate me on sight? For them, this wasn’t ancient history but what they had lived and endured.
He tilted his head, his jaw flexing. His sleek black hair slid over his shoulders like a curtain. “And your people never knew any of this.”
It wasn’t a question. Just a statement.
I shook my head, then picked up the needle and the dark slick thread. “No.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “What is the story you were told?”
I dropped my gaze to the shattered glass on the floor. My tongue felt like a brick in my mouth. “That…the Hollow King tried to seduce her, and he threatened to enslave our kingdom in the Witheringlands, but she offered herself despite her love for another and found a way to best…the Hollow King.” I couldn’t bring myself to say “you.” “And also that the eidons themselves helped carve a path because of their love.”
“So there was another.” He said that slowly as if the words were bitter and yet to be savored. “I suspected as much. As we have tried to translate the tablets, it sometimes seemed that perhaps the marking for Tanith’s descendant could be read as ‘marked royal.’”
“Wh—what does that mean?” I frowned.
He lifted his shoulder. “I don’t know. Translations aren't my specialization. A descendant of the royal who trapped the Hollow Ruler is the most guaranteed accurate interpretation so long as those two are of the same sex. We couldn’t risk being wrong because if it is done improperly, the Witheringlands collapses and all are obliterated. Not just those who are present. But those who have died and whose souls may still linger. One scholar, may his soul rest in peace, suggested that perhaps any wedding would suffice, but we haven’t found confirmation of that or proof that the bride and groom would not both be obliterated. Regardless, I know that Tanith would not have risked her love, whoever that might be.” He paused, that muscle in his jaw jumping again. “Who was he? I’m certain your stories included him.”
