The Belladonna

Chapter 49

"I take it you that are not lost, this time?" The man said rising to his feet. While he seemed regal and strong, his hands griped the chair tightly as if lifting his frame took more effort than he was willing to show.

The officers appeared uneasy as they moved Sky further into the room. Around the table were two middle aged men who looked uncomfortable and standing off to one side of the room was a stout grunchy looking man. His black greasy hair was pushed back and he looked as though he had walked into too many walls as a child; his nose was scrunched and his cheeks wide and flushed in anger. Despite his disgruntled appearance, Sky noticed a dark malice in his gaze as he watched the elderly officer rise.

Sky swallowed as the man, now standing tall, adjusted his glasses on his hook nose and regarded her with confusion. He looked as she remembered only more haggard, his sliver hair thin and the lines in his face tight. His uniform was immaculate however, the seven pins displayed across his chest glinting majestically. Just as before, Sky's eyes went to the ones her father had also received; Discipline, Innovation, Honour.

"Did you get what you needed last time?" He asked her with an odd tone. His voice was unexpectedly soft but Sky recognised it as the one they'd heard from outside. At his question Sky frowned before realising this had been the man to show her out of the palace. After she had broken in.

Ah... Bugger.

"So it is true then?" The man continued. No one else dared to speak. It was if he commanded their very existence. "The Cormorants' influence has reached even these people." He sighed the way one does after coming to terms with an unpleasant fact. Something about that sigh made Sky feel ashamed. She felt like she was being scolded. He looked at her the way a father would; disappointed and sad that their child had done the wrong thing.

"Sir..." Her voice small. Why did she feel the need to explain herself? To have him understand why she was there? He reminds me of my father.

"Admiral." Mr. Grunch snarled at the older gentleman. "This is what I've been saying. If only you'd listened to me during the meeting, we could have made those traitors-"

Admiral? Sky wondered in awe, and then another thought came to her. Why on earth would the Admiral be here? Surely King Patrick would want all his best men to travel down to the Southern Isles. He must have been sent before the ball. The meeting, Sky understood thinking back to her time on Karniva, must have been for this.

The Admiral held up his hand in a dismissive way to Mr. Grunch, whose snarl had consumed his face, and kept his eyes on Sky. They watched each other from the across the room and Sky suddenly wanted to tell him to sit. He seemed so frail. Tired. Conflicted. She wanted to help him the way she'd helped her father all those years ago.

"What is your name dear?" His voice turned dull. Void of emotion. "Perhaps, if you give me the names of your fellow rebels, I can give you a pardon." As she looked at his eyes she saw that he didn't want to kill her. It seemed he didn't want to be there at all.

"Pardon?!" Mr. Grunch moved towards the Admiral in an outburst. The two men who had been sitting down stood in unison at his movement, their faces tense. "You can't pardon her. She must be executed like the rest of these maggots-"

"Skyler Davion." Her voice was soft like the Admirals, though she stood taller in her captors' arms ignoring the throb in her stomach from the officer's blow. Mr. Grunch growled at being interrupted again. "Sir-" Sky cut herself off. What did she say to him? How could she make him explain why they were here, what the King was doing?

"Davion?" Mr. Grunch whirled on her, his dark bushy brows soaring up to meet his slicked hair and his expression shocked. Flashes of her brother came to mind. James would be known to most men in the Kings navy. Did they envy him? Aspire to be like him? Hate him? Or was he remembering her father?