Neegan strode over to join him. He didn’t limp this time.
Magnar handed the jewel-encrusted cup to him and Neegan took it. He grasped the stem and admired it for several long moments. Magnar took his own silver goblet into his fingers and lifted it to his lips. He took several long swallows before he beckoned me over to him. I moved closer so that I stood by his side.
“It would bring me great honor to raise a glass of wine with you, my friend,” he declared and Neegan’s grin widened. I already had the pitcher of wine in my hands and smiled obediently, topping off Magnar’s chalice first. He took it back and I took Neegan’s gifted goblet into my fingers. I poured the wine as I clutched at the top, using my forefinger to push down on the round red jewel until I felt it click.
It was time.
I handed the goblet back to Neegan. He took it without even glancing in my direction.
I stepped backwards and placed the pitcher back on a small table. My heart was pounding in my chest. I’d found the Acolyte.
And now he was going to die.
I watched almost in morbid fascination as Magnar continued his toast, but I was no longer listening. They both lifted their glasses, clinking them together so that several drops of wine splashed down onto the floor. Then they each took a big gulp.
They drained their glasses and slammed them back down onto the table with a resounding bang.
Those watching screamed with their excitement. Magnar sat down and Neegan followed suit and I almost stopped breathing. I didn’t take my eyes off of the hand of the king.
At first, he appeared as if everything was perfectly normal. He surveyed the servants bringing in the first platters of food. I only watched him.
I wanted to go to him. I wanted to lean down and whisper in his ear that it was me.
He coughed and at once, all of the color drained from his face. His fingers clutched at the table as if he could find purchase along the smooth wooden surface, but he found none. Abruptly, his breathing quickened, and he started to cower forward. He panted so hard that I questioned if he even was drawing any air into his lungs at all.
He started coughing harder and that’s when I saw that he was choking on his own bile. His spit frothed around his lips as his entire body shook, convulsing in one hard seizure after the next. His spittle ran down his chin, tinged red with blood as it dripped down onto the table beneath him.
After several more moments of prolonged agony, Neegan finally slumped forward and slammed his forehead into the table. The sound of flesh slapping against wood echoed with a sickening reverberation throughout the room. For a long moment, no one said anything at all.
Then the entire room erupted into chaos. Magnar roared so loudly that everyone cowered beside him. The concerned audience quieted in a flash. Magnar raised his left arm and pointed to Neegan’s still form.
“I have something to tell you, my loyal people. I want you to know what happens to those that betray me,” he said darkly, and my eyes slid from him to Neegan and then to King Erik who was grinning with fairly obvious amusement.
Interesting.
“You see, I want you all to remember what happens to traitors. When I sense that those closest to me are working against me, I take matters into my own hands,” he continued.
No one said a word. It was as if they were waiting for his permission to simply breathe.
“Neegan is dead because he conspired against me. You see, he planned to poison your king and take the crown for himself. I dealt with him first,” he declared angrily.
This was a show of his strength. Everyone would think that he’d been the one to kill Neegan and it would quiet anyone who thought he’d been weakened by taking me as his mate.
Only he and I would know that the two of us were stronger together.
The crowd roared with approval, safely reined in by the power of their warrior king.
“I am your king,” he roared, and the rest of the room went wild. He turned and caught Erik’s gaze. Magnar and Erik both raised their glasses in accordance with each other and then took a long sip. With one last cheer, they slammed their mugs down onto the table.
Magnar’s gaze slid to mine and I hazarded the tiniest smile in his direction. His eyes crinkled just a little with our victory.
He was proud of me. I could feel it pulsing through the bond.
He didn’t even have to say it.
Everyone would assume that he was the one that killed Neegan.
But my alpha knew it was me.