The Sundering by Julea Payton

Author:Julea Payton [Julea Payton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: DARK DYSTOPIAN
Published: 2023-12-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Tiran dragged Mato from the throne room, silent and deadly. He rounded on her once they were alone. She cringed, knowing that he wouldn’t let her off easily.

“What have you done?” Though he’d never hurt her before, his fingers dug into her upper arms, and he shook her so hard her teeth snapped upon her tongue, the taste of copper filling her mouth.

Mato sputtered, at a loss of how to extract herself without losing her head. “I’m sorry, your Majesty. I wasn’t thinking.”

The king jerked on her arm, sweat clustering on his brow. “No, you sure as hell weren’t. I should kill you. Do you want that, hmm, little bird? Do you have a death wish?”

Mato dropped to her knees, knowing she looked good at that angle and that her position would remind the king of how useful she could be while in it. “I wanted only to please you,” she lied.

He stared her down, not taken by her protestations. “Or my mother connived you into it. Which is it, Mato? Are you mine, or do you serve your queen?”

It was a trick question, and she knew it. Either way, she lost.

Licking her lower lip, Mato answered cautiously. “The Regent came upon me in the gardens, sire. I didn’t want to displease you. I was afraid.”

He snorted. “You’ve never been afraid of anything in your life. Do you think I don’t know you?”

He didn’t, but the fact that he’d gained that much from her told Mato that she’d not been as circumspect as she’d wanted. She frowned, then pasted on her familiarly false, sweetly serene face.

“What can I do to please your Highness?”

Perhaps she could take him within her mouth, sucking him dry until he forgot any lies she told. His snarl made that fruitless. He’d never allow that now.

His voice raised. “You told her you can go through the portal. Can you? Or are you lying about that, too?”

“My father assured me I could. I’ve never tried.”

“You’re trying now. We leave at sunrise. I don’t trust you not to leave overseas if I let you out of my sight, so you’re under strict watch until then. I tell you, Mato, you’ll get yourself through that portal, or I’ll be the one making sure you die.”

Hesitantly, she answered. “You’re not coming through with me?”

Tiran gave her a chilly look. “Absolutely not.”

Mato furiously contemplated it. Without him there, or his royal oversight, any mishap or mistake could easily be swept clean away. But without him, there was the greater burden of not making it there in one piece. The queen would make certain of that.

“What about the Regent?”

“My mother thinks she rules me. She’s mistaken.”

“My king,” she said, hesitantly. “I need you.”

He scoffed, his eyes softening only when he realized that she wasn’t fooling him in the least. Mato did need him there, if only for her own purpose.

He stroked her hair. “I know.”

Then, his eyes grew cold, and his hand harsh. Like night to day, his temper changed. Tiran

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