All the Wicked Things

Chapter 7

"Really?" Leo questioned curiously, almost as though he couldn't fathom a human helping a Revenant. He gave me an approving look after the shock left his face. I bowed my head slightly in return.

As we crossed the large room, their conversation returned to last night with Leo asking Elric about the particulars of the attack. Elric made a comment to his uncle about the sophistication of the human's weaponry expanding, and Leo agreed that their knowledge of the weaknesses that plagued their kind was impressive. Elric was good at hiding his emotions, but I got the sense that he felt there was a spy in their midst, feeding information to the enemy. I looked at Elric out of the corner of my eye and caught him staring at me.

Ah, yes. I was the spy.

The king's bed was bigger than Elric's and mine put together. It was lovely and obviously custom made, but how in the world they got it in this room, I had no idea. The craftsman must have built it on site. I marveled at the detail on the posters. It wasn't covered with animals and vines like Elric's were or flowers like mine. Instead, there were strange symbols in rows, up and down the columns, like a language I had never seen before.

The king was sitting up in the middle of the bed surrounded by pillows—I would have guessed he was at least a hundred years old if someone asked, but he looked like he had a playful, youthful spirit. His long white hair and long white beard made him look like he belonged in Middle Earth or something, and he wore an ancient pair of spectacles on the tip of his nose. His face was warm and inviting and he smiled as I approached. I couldn't help but smile back.

"Your Highness, this is Miss Abigail Thurgood," Leo said, introducing me. I curtsied, not knowing which formalities I should adhere to, and then bowed my head for good measure. "Miss Abigail, this is King Turin."

"It's an honor to meet you, Your Majesty," I said as I rose from my curtsy.

"The honor is all mine, dear. I hear I owe you a debt of gratitude for tending to my son," his voice was velvet soft as it touched my ears.

"It was nothing," I replied.

"Extending a kindness to someone else can never be nothing. It takes too much effort for it to be nothing." He smiled then turned to Elric and Leo. "Leave us be. I'd like to talk to Miss Abigail in private."

The two men nodded and left while King Turin motioned for me to take a seat. Only, I didn't see a chair in the room. With a flick of his hand, a chair appeared and I smiled sheepishly for not having remembered that I was in a magical kingdom of sorts. It seemed so effortless, the way he made objects appear out of thin air.

"You must be filled with questions, child," he said once I'd taken a seat. The chair was overtly elegant with mother of pearl shells intertwined with metal to make a delicate floral design. Opulence at its finest. "Please, ask what you like and I will try my best to provide a suitable answer," he continued.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I did have a lot of questions, but where in the world was I to start. I wondered where they came from, these magical beings; I wondered if he knew where I came from; and I wondered what Elric's ultimate plans for me were—not that he'd betray his own son by telling me, but I was curious nonetheless. Those were all questions for another time, though, so I thought long and hard before meeting his eyes and gathering the nerve to continue.

"Is Elric your only son?" I asked, timidly. It seemed harmless enough to start with.

"I had one other son, Thane," he said, his voice full of love not sadness as he spoke. "He was killed earlier this year."