“I imagine you are satisfied with this outcome.”
“I’m not here to gloat, Krush.”
“No. You're here to keep me nice and safe until I can be executed.”
“If you behave yourself, we can see about bathing you.”
“I’ll go under the executioner’s blade with the blood of my enemies still clinging to me, thank you.”
“Krush…” Tyvian has the gall to sigh at me as if he is disappointed that I am being so very difficult. Does he expect the true king of Megaris to simply submit to imprisonment?
“I am not going to make this easy for any of you,” I tell him.
“I would not expect you to.” He opens a latch in the door and pushes a tray of something through it. It appears to be entirely empty. Then I feel the effects of it. He’s unleashed some nanobots on me. They have already crawled their tiny and imperceptible way to me, and they are beginning to consume the blood which has coated me in such a satisfying manner.
“You truly cannot let me have anything, can you, Tyvian.”
“It is best you are clean, sire,” he says. “You never know when you might need to be presentable.”
With that cryptic comment, he leaves.
Night falls, or at least, I suppose it does. It is hard to tell what time it is while locked in a rock box.
Regardless, I am very tired and on the verge of sleep when a small scratching sound heralds a visitor to my miserable little cell. She seems to come through the wall. Another scum hole, I suppose. One too small for something my size to fit through, unless I am willing to spend a decade tunneling with my claws.
It is Jax.
She crouches down in the shadows so as to avoid detection and looks at me with her innocent blue eye. I feel an odd sense of peace wash over me. When she is near, I am calm.
“I am surprised you came, little one.”
“Of course I came. This is all almost at the end now. Can’t you feel it?”
“I have no idea what you mean, human.”
She quirks a brow and shakes her head at me. “I would have come sooner, but I was helping them restore Rath’s augmentations. You turned him into a ball of purple steel wool. They think they can stop you from being king just by taking away all the trappings of your office, but they can’t. King isn’t a job. It is something in the blood.”
“Their blood,” I agree.
Is it possible that Jax is still loyal to me? She has little to no reason to be, that I can discern. Certainly, no more than the many others who pledged oaths to the crown and are now being led around by the nose by Tusk and Rath.
“Why have you come?”
“To confront you.”
“I see. Well, please, confront me.”
She swallows. She is nervous. I find that little moment of softness adorable. There has always been something delicate about Jax, even in the midst of her impressive strength. It is what made me want to protect her, even from my own righteous rage and need for justice.
“You used me.”
“I did.”
“You told me you loved me, and then you used me to trap Rath.”
“Yes.”
What is the point in denying it? I have lost the crown and I have lost the love of my life. I have no way of convincing her of my care, because I have not shown it in any practical way whatsoever. I have destroyed all my chances at happiness, and I have nobody else to blame. It is most frustrating.
Her brows draw down and her lips form a pout. “That’s all you have to say, yes?”
“I can’t deny it. Now you have your freedom. I hope you will enjoy it.”
“What if I won't enjoy it without you?”
"Why wouldn't you enjoy it without me?”
She sighs. “I thought this would feel good. I thought I'd be like, hah, you fuzk’ed up. But you’re taking all the fun out of it.”
I glower at her. I may have been deprived of my throne, but I am still a king, and I have not forgotten how to handle her. She has put herself in reach of me, and I cannot resist the temptation.
The sound which emerges from her when I grab her is a delighted squeal. Not the sound I expected. I don’t know why I keep imagining that she is afraid of me. It is very obvious from the way she squirms and cuddles into me that she is far from afraid. She is inexplicably happy to be with me. I can feel her heat and her curves against me, and they feel like paradise.
“I missed you,” she murmurs against my cheek.
“You were trying to escape Megaris. You left me in the bar. Now you miss me?”
“Yes, and you used me as bait, and apparently you love me. I think we're evenly awful. And neither one of us are as bad as Rath and Lyric. Neither one of us slaughtered each other's entire family.”