“I’m pretty sure he’s convinced I should marry him.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s persistent. I keep telling him I’m useless at relationships. What would he do with me? I dig in the dirt. What would an elite do with someone like me?”
Elise stared at me, and at first, I thought she was going to cry, but then she began laughing. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she pounded her fist against the stone wall. “You have no idea who Landen is, do you?”
“He’s a rich, snobby elite who has taken complete leave of his senses for even thinking he’d want to marry someone like me. Oh, and he likes history. And he isn’t offended when I tell him how he’d have his still-beating heart ripped out of his chest. That earned him a lot of points. The other elite? They got squeamish. It wasn’t like I was really going to rip their hearts out of their chests. I was just telling them how it would’ve been done!”
Elise slumped against the wall and slid down, rocking back and forth. “He’s going to kill Mr. Hauser, and it’s going to be the best thing I’ve ever seen in my life. He’s going to snap, there’s going to be so much bloodshed, and it’s going to be beautiful.”
Her giggles worried me.
“He?” I asked, wondering if I should just make a hole in a wall and leave. I wouldn’t. I’d given her my promise to deal with the asshole rapist myself.
And I would.
Either way, there’d be bloodshed.
“You really don’t know. He brought you here, and you don’t even know who he is, and then he let his own advisor steal you from him. He thought you were with a doctor being treated for exposure. He doesn’t know you’re down here. If he had… oh, this is a wonderful disaster.”
“You’re not making any sense, Elise.”
“Landen. Landen Benally, His Royal Majesty of Alaska. When he finds out his advisors lied to him, he’s going to be so angry. You’re all he’s talked about since he’s gotten back three days ago.”
I sat down, too. I’d been imprisoned for three days? I’d noticed some dehydration symptoms, but not three days’ worth. I’d been hungry, but not that hungry. It hadn’t felt like more than a few hours of carving in the stone.
Then her words sank in, and it was my turn to gape at her.
There was no way my Landen was her Landen, a king. It wasn’t possible. There was absolutely no way sweet, kind, overly rich Bachelor #103 was a king.
I dug in the dirt for a living, and I wasn’t even very good at the living part. Really, I considered myself a failure for my inability to overcome the last obstacle blocking me from my dreams. To cover my disappointment in myself, I chirped about human sacrifice because I liked watching people for their reactions. When I spoke to most men, I was telling them they needed to watch their step or they’d find themselves regretting their choices by morning. I was more prickly than the average cactus.
No wonder Landen had seemed so confident he could give me the buried temple as a present. As the king, the site was his and his kingdom’s. He’d be the one to decide the site’s fate.
If he wanted to sit back, relax in a lawn chair, and sip beer while watching me dig, he could.
And he’d known it, hiding that critical fact from me, probably so I wouldn’t turn tail and run for the border, which was exactly what I would have done the instant I’d learned the truth.
I was not fit to be a queen.
Could Landen, the man who’d fed me barbecue in bed, really be a king? Curiosity took a chunk out of me, and I didn’t last long before I asked, “A bit scrawny, dark hair, an ass to kill for?” For a rare change, I prayed we weren’t talking about the same man.
“Soft spoken, listens without complaint, looks far too old for his actual age, but when he smiles, it’s like he becomes twenty years younger,” Elise replied.
Fuck. That sounded like the same man to me. “I’ve never seen him in anything other than a suit.”
Or nothing at all, which wasn’t a good thought for my peace of mind.
“He doesn’t own anything other than suits.”
“His ass would have to be declared illegal in a pair of good jeans, so it’s probably for the best.”
“He works out three times a week, but he’s so stressed and doesn’t eat enough, so it doesn’t do him any good. His advisors are hoping he falls over dead so they can take his job.”
“Scrawny,” I repeated.
“He’s too nice for his own damned good, and we don’t want to bother him with our problems because he has problems enough with his damned council.”
I needed to eliminate the entirety of the council so Landen wouldn’t look like he was older than fifty. “Hauser’s at the head of this council?”
“Basically. It makes sense he’d want to get rid of you. You’re a threat.”
“I am?”
“You’re a woman.”
I looked down at my chest. “I had noticed that.”
Elise bobbed her head and fluttered her hands. “A woman means the rest of us women have a representative—and there’s a chance for an heir. An heir means they lose their chance at the throne. With a queen, we might be able to get rid of those advisors. They’re toxic.”
If my Landen was the same as her Landen, then our Landen had a revolt on his hands, one consisting entirely of the fairer gender. “How many of them have…”
“There’s a few nice ones. They’re younger, and they’re married to foreigners.”
I slumped my shoulders. “Landen wasn’t happy to learn I’m a New Yorker.”
“That’s going to cause some upheaval,” she predicted. “That’s the only reason he’d be unhappy—that, plus, well, you New Yorkers can be mean. His advisors will fear you, since you’re a New Yorker. That’s great.”
“There’s no proof my Landen is your Landen,” I reminded her.
“There aren’t many people named Landen here. It’s a Royal name. Parents will use Royal names as middle names, but they won’t name their children after the king, queen, or heir. It’s just not done.”
“But what about those poor kids who were named Landen right before Landen was born? That seems silly.”
“They carry their name with pride, of course.”
I doubted I’d ever understand Alaska or its people. Or Landen.
“He’s really the king?”
“We were really starting to think he’d never remarry after the queen and heir died in a car accident.” Elise clapped her hands. “This is wonderful.”
“This is a disaster.”
“No, no. It’s really not. It’s wonderful. It’s so wonderful.” Elise flung herself at me, and she grabbed my hands. “You could pick me. I could be your aide. I can show you the ropes, and tell you who is nice and who isn’t, and I know which servants know the best gossiping—you’ll want their help. You’ll make everything better for us.”
Hope was such a dangerous thing, and I had no idea to tell Elise I had no idea how I could help her beyond bashing a few heads together and earning a very long stay in prison.
Maybe Landen would issue me a pardon after I rampaged through his council of advisors and turned his kingdom upside down. For some reason, after I finished making a mess of things, I doubted he’d be so keen on me living in his bedroom.
Chapter Twelve
What had I gotten myself into? It was one thing to storm into a king’s audience chamber, level accusations at some perverted advisors, and crack some heads together, but it was another entirely when most of the advisors were perverts and I had a girl to protect from their perversions and cruelty.
They’d already done too much damage to Elise, but I had no idea how I could get her through the next few hours without hurting her further.
I needed the truth, and I needed it in such a way I could turn it into a weapon against a room full of men determined to abuse their power and take advantage of the women beneath them. Someone would be hurt, and Elise topped the list. Every other victim named would be hurt, too—and the men would fight for their right t
o assert their dominance.
They always did.
“Elise, how many other women would speak the truth if given the chance?”
“About what they do to us?” she asked, shuffling close to my side.
How the hell was I supposed to protect her when I didn’t know how to comfort her at all? I couldn’t shelter her. I hadn’t even been able to shelter myself. The years had turned me into a bitter survivor.
What could I do to spare her from my fate?
More questions than I wanted to deal with hammered at me. If I’d met someone like Landen sooner, would I have been so aggressive about keeping my distance? Would I have spent time with men like Sebastian?
I thought about it, and when I couldn’t come to any useful answers, I did the only thing I thought of. I wrapped my arm around her and held her. What else could I do?
“Yes. About the men who have assaulted you.”
“It’s happened to everybody.” Elise shrugged. “Not all of it’s bad. Sometimes, it’s just a feel or two.”
I flinched at her casual tone, as though she’d said something similar so many times before she no longer had to think about it. “How many of you have had it bad?”
“Mostly the aides. A couple of the palace staff, but not many—they’re worried it’ll get back to His Majesty. His Majesty has always been vocal about wanting daughters, and he’s always been kind to us. If he finds out, we’ll be the ones who pay for it.”
Landen was going to get a nasty surprise if any of those wanted daughters shared any of my genes. I hadn’t been a good daughter. I’d been a living horror show striving to drive my parents insane and disappointing them at every turn.
Then, like a dog shedding water, I redirected my thoughts from Landen and read between the lines, an implication that angered me even more than women being assaulted and abused by men in power. “You were threatened?”
She nodded. “We all have been. It’s not just us; they’ll target our families if we talk. We’ll be silenced.”
I’d heard that story before. “And because they’re elites, they can.”
“Right.”
I understood why she’d toss her lot in with me. If I took the brunt of the risks, the women might get a chance to speak. They’d be protected, able to watch the fallout before deciding to come out of the woodworks with their accusations. I’d lead the charge, and it would truly be a matter of do or die for them.
Fear was a terrible thing, but it only took one person to interrupt the cycle and bring awareness of the situation. Landen had valued every last one of my lines.
Once he knew, he’d act, no matter how pacifistic Elise believed he was. He didn’t seem like the type to watch such an injustice happen in front of him—if he knew about it.
It disappointed me he hadn’t noticed what was going on right under his nose, but I’d seen the consequences of ignorance time and time again. If his advisors had been grooming him from a young age, he might’ve been blinded to reality.
When I was finished dragging the old perverts over coals, Landen would be very aware of the situation. I didn’t care if he forgave me for what I needed to do.
What might have been between us would probably come crashing down at any moment. My actions would nail the coffin closed or make me more enemies than even a king could win against. I’d gone down a lot of dead-end roads in my life, but I’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended in a quagmire.
If I took one wrong step, I’d be sunk.
“How many women would be willing to tell the truth and have their claim verified?”
“I can think of a few.”
“Take me to them, tell them I’m going to stir some shit, and I need a list of names. We’ll start with the rapists. They’re the big fish, and they’re the ones who need to suffer the furies of hell.” I scowled. “We’ll pick our battles. The worst offenders first. Then we’ll clean up the trash.”
“Okay.” Elise scrambled to her feet and offered her hand to me, and I accepted her help with a tired groan.
I ached from head to toe, and my stomach grumbled curses at me.
“Will you be all right?”
“I’ll be fine. Let’s get this over with before either one of us changes our mind.”
I doubted she would; I was having a lot of second thoughts, and all of them involved the Alaskan king. It wouldn’t matter. Once I was finished in his audience chamber, he’d either hate me or want me even more.
It wasn’t his fault I was afraid. It wasn’t his fault he’d gotten under my skin. It wasn’t his fault I didn’t want to lose the hope of what might’ve been, if only things had been a little different.
The Alaskan women staged their revolt in the kitchen. Within an hour, Elise had unearthed thirty-two women, and I was amazed everyone fit into the room, which rivaled a massive restaurant kitchen.
I had trouble accepting I was in a castle where a king lived.
I didn’t want to think about the castle’s king at all.
I was the ugly duckling among the women, and the filthy state of my clothes didn’t help matters for me at all. I could feel them staring, their mouths hanging open as they realized their champion wore an entire layer of dirt from head to toe.
In retrospect, I should’ve taken a shower before goading Elise into finding those who were willing to speak out against those who’d abused them. I washed my hands so some part of me would feel clean.
Elise offered a glass filled with red liquid. “Vegetable juice. You’re shaking. When was the last time you had something to eat?”
“Good question,” I muttered, and while vegetable juice wasn’t my favorite drink in the world, I sipped at it. Experience had taught me to take my time with it; if I guzzled it, I’d be throwing it up within minutes as my nutrient-deprived stomach would demand more than it could handle.
“No one brought you anything?”
“I’m probably dehydrated, too.” I shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I’m tough. A little hunger isn’t going to hurt me.”
It would hurt the men I’d be facing off against. When hungry, I could turn into a queen bitch ready to burn the world down. I wasn’t just hungry anymore. I was ready to eat an entire cow by myself, as long as it wasn’t still mooing.
Huh. Maybe someone needed to tell Landen there was a difference between a queen and a queen bitch. One would help his kingdom. The other would smash it into unrecognizable pieces when left unsupervised and hungry.
The other women in the room exchanged long looks.
I went the path of most risk, chugged the juice, and set the glass aside. “All right, ladies. I’ve made a few guesses on what’s going on here, and it involves old, disgusting men doing things with you that isn’t legal—and threatening you and your families if you talk about it. I’m not going to judge or question any of you if you want to turn and walk away because you have far more to lose here than I do. I wasn’t the one assaulted or raped. I’m just the one willing to walk into a room and start naming names. If I do start naming names, however, and you want to stand with Elise, you need to be ready to go all the way.”
“It’s a five-year sentence for bringing up false accusations,” Elise mumbled. “They’ll just say we’re lying.”
I was so grateful I’d learned my rights while abroad. “Demand someone from a different kingdom who can sense the truth. The Royal States has agreements for rare talents in the case of violent crimes. Sexual assault is a violent crime. You can file with any kingdom with an open stance against violent crimes to mediate the case. Montana is such a kingdom. New York only provides for citizens, but I can request someone as I’m involved.”
I’d make Stanley Hauser rue the decision to lock me away for days. I’d even let him live to regret it.
The women’s eyes widened.
“You had no idea that was an option, did you?”
As one, they shook their heads.
“It’s an option. If your courts can’t treat you fairly, you can also request
asylum with another kingdom in the Royal States. There are at least three I can think of with such policies, including California, Montana, and Maine. Please tell me you have the internet here.”
Elise pulled a cell phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to me. Within a minute, I’d pulled up a list of asylum kingdoms and returned the phone to her. “Those links will go to an application form and the rules for status in those kingdoms, as well as the fine print. Each kingdom has different rules. I don’t know them, I just learned about them if I ever needed it.”
I considered myself lucky I hadn’t.
The women crowded around Elise, taking turns reading over the page I’d brought up on her phone. I wondered at everything, from Alaska’s education system to its general policies, that so many women hadn’t thought to check the internet to learn what rights they had as citizens of a kingdom in the Royal States.
Landen had a lot of explaining to do, but I also feared he was as much of a victim of the system as the women crowded around Elise and her phone.
An older woman refilled my glass with more vegetable juice and thrust it at me. “Drink, but slower this time. Don’t make yourself sick. You need soup and a warm bed.”
I needed a lot of things, and I wouldn’t find them in Alaska without a few miracles. To keep her happy, I did as told, sipping at the juice before setting it on the counter. “This is more important than soup and sleep.”
“It’s nothing new to us.”
“That doesn’t make it right, nor does it mean it should be swept under the rug to wait. Now is a good time. That asshole thinks I’m still locked in that dungeon. Trust me on this one, it’s a lot harder to fight against the truth when the accusations land as a surprise. If you give them time, they’ll be ready for you, and that’ll make your fight harder.” I smacked my palm against the steel countertop, and everyone jumped. “Here. Now. Write down a list of names.”
Elise gulped. “I can give you a seating chart with everyone’s names. We can circle the people responsible on it.”
“Do that, and list your names beside the person you’re accusing. I’ll take care of the rest. But don’t lie, period. I will make sure your words are judged by someone who can sense the truth.”
The Captive King Page 16