The Blood King's Love

Nineteen

Teio's room is quite spacious. It's probably as big as my entire house back in Eseq. His bed is king-sized with nearly fifty pillows. The bed curtain was made of velvet, and the bed stand of mahogany. The rug beneath my toes is as soft as a cloud and the walls are covered in green and gold patterns. 

The door to his room are closed. Only he and I are inside. A couple guards stand outside, but for the most part we're alone. The boy is seems to be in a decent mood. He rummages in his drawer, trying to find something to show me. He invites me to sit. 

In another context I might be excited to be in here. But I can't bring myself to have a seat, or even react when he speaks to me. I can only watch him. 

"Oh! Here," he says, finally finding what he was looking for. He closes the drawer and bounces towards me with a book in his hand. "I was planning to bring this to you back in the tree house. It was pretty hard to get. I stole it from Freya's library when she wasn't looking." He sits on the bed and motions for me to follow. I do, vacantly. 

He flips through the thick book. "I told her I wanted to study in her library for a change of environment. She said okay 'cause she likes when I show interest in my royal duties. Then I grabbed this book and made sure she didn't notice for a few days before I planned to give it to you." He places the book in my lap. I look the the cover, blankly. 

After a pause, he says "Have you read this book before?"

I'm barely paying attention to him anymore. 

"Lady? Hello?"

I stand up abruptly. I throw the book on the bed and turn to the child. "Teio."

"Yeah?"

"What. The. Fuck. Is going on here."

He frowns. "You sound like my sister."

"Oh, my god!" I growl, my palm smacking my face.

"What is it?"

"What is it? What is it?!" I roar. I start to pace. "You really are a kid. You're just a little kid who doesn't know what the hell he's doing."

He stands up. "You don't trust me?"

"What! Why would I? So much has gone wrong in the past day that I don't even know where to begin! First you bring me to town--fine, I can excuse that, since I asked you to--but you bring me into a place where my wanted poster is plastered everywhere? Even if I'm in a disguise I'm bound to be caught in a place like that! You could've at least warned me. Then...then it turns out...you're a prince! And I mean I suspected you were somebody important so whatever but I was so goddamn bewildered I couldn't even register what was going on. Then you take me to the palace, the place where I was nearly murdered by the king, the place where I tried to kill myself, where I was imprisoned and caged by that crazy sociopath--I mean, fuck, the color palette in this room makes me fucking sick! Then we meet the Queen, and she wants me dead so bad, but you have this great idea to ask her to ask the Blood King if it's okay to kill me or not? When there's literally a wanted dead or alive poster plastered all over the city? Are you insane? You're literally insane. Or just a naive child. Wait, that's the same thing."

"I have a plan," he says in a quiet voice. 

"A plan? A plan of what? What could you possibly say to the Blood King to make him want to spare me? Huh?"

"I'm not sure what I'd say to him."

I collapse onto the carpet. "Dear lord. You're just delaying my death at this point."

"Talking to him is my Plan B. I have another idea."

I sigh. "And that is?"

"I'm going to arrange for you to take refuge in another city, another country, even. The deal I made with my sister was to buy me time as well as keep you in the palace where you're easier to transport right away."

"Sure. But you said that if the King ordered you to kill me you'd do it without hesitating. You're gonna go back on your promise? You'll ignore his word?"

"I mean..." Teio's eyes waver a bit. "If we're going to get you out...it has to be before he reconfirms his order." 

"And when will that be? At the end of the day? Or maybe in an hour? How much time would it take you to get a group of people to carry out this plan? How are you so sure they'll listen to you and not the actual King and Queen of this country?" This kid is driving me crazy. 

He swallows. "If I act fast then I can get you on your way quickly. Teron isn't that far by carriage. I'll only need one or two trustworthy people to do this for me."

"Trustworthy based on what? They'll listen to the word of a prince over the King?"

"Yes. If I act fast."

"So you have someone in mind."

"I think, yes."

"How do you know Freya's men won't see us and follow us out of here?"

"I know this place like the back of my hand. We can get you out safely."

"What are you going to tell them when they notice I'm gone?"

"That you escaped."

I sit up, rolling my eyes. "Teio, there's soldiers outside this room guarding us right now. How would I have gotten past them? Are you gonna disguise me again?"

He thinks. "You can leave from there," he points at his gargantuan window. "I can get everyone on that side of the castle to clear out."

"Okay...okay. You can pretend to be knocked out so it doesn't look like you were involved," I suggest, fleshing out the plan. "How will I get down? By rope?"

"...Yes. Henrik is a good climber, so he'll help you navigate your way down. Then I'll have the horses waiting on the ground floor and you can move immediately."

I guess Henrik is the name of the person he has in mind for this mission. I lay down on the carpet again, staring at the ceiling. There's a painting of some mythological figures up there. A bunch of naked people are holding a baby with angel wings. 

I review the plan we just finalized in my head. It makes sense. It's not foolproof, but it makes sense. The real problem is my lack of faith in Teio. This plan for escape really only came to fruition because I pushed him to think about it. I'm realizing now he's just a kid who makes impulsive decisions without thinking them through, and the amount of power he holds as royalty has gotten to his head. 

"Are you sure this Henrik guy will be on board?" I ask. 

"He's always on board. For anything." 

"And what if Queen Freya has already talked to the Blood King? What if he makes his decision in the next five minutes?"

"It'll take longer than that," the Prince says, looking certain. "The King isn't easy for anyone to reach, even Freya needs to schedule his time."

"Alright," I say, not quite convinced. "And if he decides in an hour?"

"You'll be gone by then. I'll make sure of it."

I put my face in my hands, let out a long breath, and sit up. "Teio."

"What?"

"What is it that you really want?"

He looks at me blankly, then says "I want to repay you for saving me from drowning. And for being cool to me at the tree house. And for letting me be someone else for a while."

My eyes soften. He's a good kid at heart, I can feel it. 

"Alright," I say, getting up and walking towards him. "You're going to head out now, right?"

He nods, and without thinking, I reach out and hug him tightly. After a second he hugs me back. When we let go, I take the book. "I'll start reading this right now." I smile.

Teio nods again, and walks to the door. He speaks with the guards, and two of them walk inside to watch me. They can't leave me alone, I suppose. I hear his little feet run down the hallway. 

I look down at the book. The prince better be right about the quality of this thing. If this plan fails, I at least want a good read before I die.