The King of Shadows by Robert McCammon

Author:Robert McCammon [McCammon, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2022-06-13T19:53:20+00:00

Twenty-five

“Are you hungry?”

There was no reply from the boy who had staggered out of his bed and stood blearily staring at the elegantly dressed Gavin Flay, who sat at his dining table before the glass wall with the garden beyond. Birds flitted back and forth, the sun streamed through the high branches onto the green grass, and quite suddenly the Black Crow’s son felt the hot sickness rising from his stomach and he bent over to expel it.

“If one drop of that touches my floor,” Flay said with a portion of corncake poised at his mouth, “you will lick every bit of it up.”

Adam clasped his hands to his mouth and with the sheer power of will swallowed the mess down again, for he knew it was going back into his stomach one way or another.

Flay ate the corncake and followed it with a sip from a glass of some dark-colored liquid. Before him on the table was a plate holding the bony debris of a consumed fowl. “Had enough rest?” he asked, one eyebrow cocking up. “You’ve slept for thirty-three hours.” He dabbed at his lips with a white lace-trimmed napkin. “I do suppose Lillian is to blame for that, as the potion you were given was a bit on the strong side. Come and sit down.”

Adam, whose entire body throbbed like a bad tooth, stood where he was.

“No need for petulance,” said the host. “Or anger, or resentment or whatever you’re feeling. What’s done is done.”

Adam made his mouth work, though his jaws felt as if they’d been wrenched apart by a particularly wicked tool. “The law should know,” he managed. “About what goes on down there.”

“Really? Well, one of the gathering happens to be a high-placed personage in the judicial system here, so I think that ship has been sunk before it sails. Now come sit down, Dominus, you might yet need not be on your feet very long.” Flay touched the chair at his side. “Come along, this is reserved just for you.”

Adam hesitated; would his rubbery legs carry him the ten feet to the table? He made it to the chair, grasped hold of the table to steady himself, and eased into the seat.

“Now we shall be civilized,” said Flay, leaning back in his own chair to take full measure of the boy. “I suggest you try my special concoction for such weak-headedness as you are currently experiencing.”

“No more concoctions.”

“Ha. Very well, then. Mind your stomach, and I’ll tell you that the guests found you simply fascinating. They were particularly excited when I informed them that you were a vicar’s son.”

“Was that before, or after?”

“Oh, before. They found it so wonderfully amusing.” Adam concentrated on drawing a breath that did not rattle in his lungs. “Amusing,” he said, “that a vicar’s son would fall prey to … to—”

“Prey is not the proper term. Potential member is.” Adam could not speak for a moment. Then, with a rattle: “Me? A member of that … that—”

“You are having severe trouble with your descriptives today, Dominus.

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