Fulke turns his gaze over to Midas. “One night, Midas. I’ll pay you handsomely for one night with her.”
My fingers slip on the strings. A sour note clangs through the air, ruining my favorite crescendo. My gold eyes shoot over to my king. Midas will say no of course, but holy Divine, I can’t believe Fulke dared. Is Midas about to smite King Fulke for saying such a thing? Right here at the dining table?
My stomach twists as the room goes completely silent. Once, one of Midas’s financial ambassadors said something very similar, and my king had all of his toes and fingers cut off one by one before he threw them in a vat of melted gold and hung them on the man’s door. Harsh? Definitely. But it was a message to everyone who leered a little too long, who became a little too bold.
The guards and saddles go tense and alert, all of us waiting with bated breath. The kings’ advisors look between the monarchs anxiously, and my fingers stay paused on the strings, the silence a different kind of song.
King Midas carefully sets down his fork and then looks up at Fulke steadily. A long pause stretches through the air. My heart thumps in my chest as I wait to see how he’ll reprimand Fulke, how he’ll dress him down.
Midas braces an elbow on the arm of his chair, setting his face into his hand as he regards the other king, and now my stomach churns for an entirely new reason. Because there’s a gleam in my king’s eye, an inkling of contemplation.
Oh Divine, is he actually considering it?
Chapter Four
No. No way.
I refuse to believe that my king is considering giving me to another man to use. Midas would never let anyone have me. He’s far too possessive of me, loves me, prizes me. He has ever since he rode in and rescued me.
But every second that passes and he doesn’t say anything makes my gut churn.
“Well? What do you say?” Fulke presses. “Name an amount.”
Bile burns the back of my throat at Midas?
??s cocked head. What the hell is happening?
Finally, Midas lifts his hand and gestures around the room like he’s reminding Fulke of his surroundings. Gold walls, gold ceilings, gold floors. Gold fireplace and portraits and window frames. Gold, gold, gold. “In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t need to be paid anything. I have more wealth than all of the other five kingdoms combined, including yours. I’m the richest person alive.”
Thank Divine.
Instead of getting offended, Fulke just waves him off. “Bah. Not money. Something else you desire.”
My eyes bounce between them, my headache coming back full force. It pulses at my temple like an aching war drum. A beat of threat. A rhythm of dread.
How is this happening?
Usually, King Fulke just makes lewd comments about what he’d like to “do to me,” but Midas never entertains him, and it never moves past that, because my king always shuts it down. But this has gone much further than ever before. Fulke is getting bolder, and Midas...Midas is looking at Fulke with that cunning look in his eye that I know all too well. The look that tells me he’s thinking.
Unease swirls in my stomach like a dark tidepool.
One of Fulke’s advisors chances to lean forward, his face anxious. “Your Majesty—”
“Quiet,” Fulke snaps, not even looking at him.
The man promptly shuts his mouth, sharing a look with the others.
When Midas leans forward, my bated breath leans with him.
Midas holds up a single finger, his expression like a hook to a fish. “One night with her, and you give me your army for the attack I’m launching next week. I want them mobilized today so they can catch up with my own armies at Fourth’s borders.”
What?
Shock courses through me. My breath stutters to a stop, and my fingers curl around the strings of the harp like I’m trying to grab hold of reality and pull it apart. I grip them so tightly that the taut threads slice into the pads of my fingers, sending droplets of golden blood dripping down. I don’t even feel the pain.
Fulke scoffs, pushing the saddles off his lap so he can lean forward, while Polly and Rissa hurry to stand behind him. “There isn’t time for that, Midas. My army couldn’t possibly catch up to yours. And I’ve told you my stance on the matter.”
“There is if you send word today and I have my army change course,” Midas counters, as if he already had the cogs turning. My mind churns with the direction of their spin.