When the guards dragged Pavar away from Midris, unconscious and looking like he bore every shade of injury possible, I felt my façade cracking and that vault within me opening, releasing the emotions I had fought to contain.

“Pavar!” I had cried, seeing his body go limp and fearing the worst.

“Piece of shit!” Midris had shouted, kicking Pavar’s body and clutching at the wound at his neck. “Bring me a sword,” he instructed one his men.

He raised it, and I leapt between the two, trying to block the blow and reason with him.

“Please, mighty King Midris, have mercy. As you say, the Dragselian nobles showed your ancestors none. Why not display the magnanimity that they could not?” I pleaded, unable to bear the idea of what might befall him for such an outburst.

Midris looked like the picture of vitriol, but as he recovered himself, lowering his sword, his eyes gleamed with terrifying delight as they turned on me.

“Why, Ms. Mercury, how generous of you to be so concerned over the Princes’ well-being, especially when it is their fault you are in this position.” He tilted his head as he examined me, and I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was reading my every thought.

Finally, he nodded. “Yes, I think you are right. We shall show them mercy. Xantoc, take Ms. Mercury to her quarters for the night. I have business to attend to, but we shall meet again on the morrow, and Ms. Mercury will see the full breadth of my capacity for mercy.”

Everything in his voice and his appearance indicated that mercy was not likely to be on the menu, and Pavar and his brothers were dragged out of the room.

Xantoc, my guard, yanked at my chains, slipping the cover over my face once more, and led me even more violently back to my cell.

Alone with my thoughts and bruises, I fought the urge to cry. When I watched Pavar lash out, ready to give his life for the people and kingdom that he loved, I finally realized what I couldn’t articulate to him before.

I loved him. I had fought so long to cut ties with my emotions that it was hard for me to accept what was happening, but I couldn’t deny it any longer. But now, I was about to lose him.

I spent a restless night, worried and straining my ears for any sound of him, any hint at what might be happening. No relief ever came, no sign of him, just the empty darkness.

The sun was rising, and I felt the heavy exhaustion in my body that was still not sufficient enough to dispel the worry that had made sleep elusive.

When I heard the clicking at the door, I was almost relieved that the knotting dread of the unknown was soon to be gone. Whatever our fate was to be, I wanted to face it instead of imagining a hundred different fates, each more awful than the last.

“The king is ready to show you his great mercy,” Xantoc said, sneering at me.

I was dragged back to the chamber from the day before. When he brought me into the room, it was nearly empty, except for Midris standing in the middle with Pavar, looking even more badly wounded than the day before and gagged once more.

My empty stomach recoiled at what they had done to him. He was barely recognizable, his face so swollen from being beaten. I couldn’t hold in the emotion as I met his eyes. My lip trembled and I felt the warm trickle of tears down my cheek.

“Oh, Pavar,” I heard myself muttering. “What have you done to him? What mercy is this?” I asked, shaken and angry.

His right arm hung awkwardly, unnaturally at his side, as he kneeled, chained to a metal ring in the floor and bleeding from gashes all over his bare chest. There was a weaving network of marks across his skin from lashes and cuts in different stages of healing.

“This is the mercy he deserves,” Midris proclaimed, turning to me with a gleeful smile, blood splattered on his crisp shirtfront.

“Unfortunately, it’s just not working. You see, in order for this all to go smoothly, I need his cooperation. I need to break the fight out of him, you understand? Now, one bit of juicy information did emerge in our interrogations, and I thought I’d test it this morning.”

He began walking toward me. “You see, I thought it was odd that you would be so compelled to beg for mercy on his behalf, so I offered to allow him a respite from the pain and to instead bring you into the fun. Now that got an interesting reaction, the most violent yet, in fact. So, if you’ll be so kind, Ms. Mercury, I’ll need your help this morning.”

Reaching me, he raised his hand and slapped me with enough force that I flew back and landed hard on the stone floor with a loud thud.

Pavar pulled at his restraints, but they had been doubled down, and though he fought to free himself, he remained locked in place. His eyes bulged with a mixture of terror and anger like I had never seen before, every muscle in his body tensed.

“Well, now, that’s what we were looking for!” Midris applauded.

He walked over to Pavar, then Xantoc pushed me to my feet, holding my arms behind my back.

“Now, Prince Pavar, you’re going to tell me everything I want to know, and then you’re going to go along nicely with anything I ask of you. If you don’t, I want you to think about all the fun we have had over the last two days, all of the things my men have done to you. Now, imagine them doing those to Ms. Mercury here. Do we understand each other?”

Pavar grunted angrily.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t clear enough,” he said and nodded to Xantoc, who ripped off my sheath, leaving me naked, and began hitting me with some kind of rough cane.

Pavar screamed through the cloth of his gag, shaking violently against the restraints.

“Good, very good. Set her free. I enjoy watching the chase.”

Xantoc unbound me and I scrambled back, trying to shield myself by throwing up my forearms in defense, causing him to switch instead to kicking me, sending me sprawling naked to the floor.

“Why are you doing this?” I demanded.

Midris laughed. “For him, of course. I need to kill his spirit, and the best way to do that is to hurt the people he loves. Unfortunately, these Dragselians are stubborn, and I just don’t have the time or the energy for that.”

Midris went to the settee and watched with Pavar as Xantoc continued chasing me around the room, kicking, punching, and whipping me.

“His brother put up a fight too, but I quickly found his weakness in his wife.”

“How dare you hurt that poor, fragile woman?” I yelled at him. “You’re despicable. Pavar was right. You’re far worse than the ones you accuse of doing you injustice.”

“Spare me the histrionics. Our crazy little queen has no idea what’s going on. I’ve fed her a steady supply of sedative. She is practically in a permanent dream state. If anything, she is far luckier than the rest of you. She has the privilege of carrying the next true king of Dragselia. For that service, she will be spared what is waiting for you. Although . . .” He paused.

He gestured then to Xantoc. “Bring her to me.”

Xantoc caught my ankle and dragged me toward the throne, restraining my arms behind my back.

Midris studied me then, reaching out and running his hand along the side of my breast and down to my hip.

“You are an impressive specimen. These Dragselians did succeed in finding attractive mates, at least. Maybe I should take my time with you. Let’s see what our Prince thinks, shall we?”

Midris spun me around, kissing my shoulder as we faced Pavar. The contact was revolting, sickening, and I wanted to vomit.

Pavar roared then, the sound reverberating through the room, and a stream of fire exploded from his mouth, incinerating his gag.

Midris dropped his hands from me then and walked forward. “Well, now, look at that. That’s quite the reaction.”

“You sick bastard, you’ll never get away with this. I will never stop fighting, and neither will Mulkaro or any of us.”

“See, now, that’s where you’re wrong. Unfortunately, Mulkaro is wearing out quickly. I can’t rely on his spinal fluid much longer. But you fine Princes have given me an excellent opportunity to kill off Mulkaro, stage some kind of tragic, believable death for the public, and take on your identities.

“I’ll break you, trust me, I will. And when I finally do, we’ll put you into stasis, followed by the others, of course. I’ll have a sufficient supply of Dragselian Royal spinal fluid to continue this charade for as long as it takes before the final stages of our coup. It’s all come together quite nicely, in fact. So convenient that all the princes arrived with mates—handy human torture weapons.”

“Now, come, witness all the ways in which I will enjoy your human,” Midris said.

As he approached me, I saw his hand tremble just slightly, and I recognized the movement from the day before, before he had transformed.

He still wore the vial about his neck, and I knew he needed to take it in order to stay in this form. On impulse, I grabbed at it and threw it to the floor, sending it shattering and spilling its contents on the ground.

“Bitch!” he shouted, backhanding me and sending me to the floor.

He turned to Xantoc then. “Call for Brinae. Tell her to retrieve my supply of energy serum. She’s halfway to psychosis, but at least she does my bidding.”

Moments later, Brinae entered the room, supported by a maid with braided black hair and a strange, suspicious look to her.

Brinae was off balance and shaking as she approached Midris, looking around the room, her eyes fearful when they met mine.

“I was summoned,” she said. I was surprised by the crispness of her voice, how collected it suddenly sounded.

“Obviously, I summoned you. Now give me my energy therapy,” Midris demanded, struggling to control his trembling.

Ripping the box out of her hands, he flung it open and pulled out a vial just like the one I had broken and attached it to a small metal device that hung at this belt, hidden within the folds of his tunic.

Injecting the device into his leg, he moaned in ecstasy as the trembling eased. As he did, Brinae relaxed down onto the empty settee beside his, a strange small smile playing upon her face.

Regaining himself, Midris leveled a look at Pavar and me. “Well, now, perhaps I need to revise my plans for you.”