A Queen and Her Seven Servants {BTS}

Chapter Thirty Seven ~

"So, how do you feel about getting one of my loyal servants killed?" the king taunted as he stood over my hunched body. His whole demeanor mocked me, from the crown sitting regally on the top of his head to the laughter in his tone. He had called me to have a "formal discussion" with him, though I didn't understand what was so formal about me being bound on his study's clean floor, dirty and hurt.

I swallowed before looking up at him. The mere sight of him made my blood boil at an intense temperature. "He doesn't sound very loyal if he bowed to a queen that wasn't his own – especially when he refused to bow to his true king."

An awful smack rang through the room and the side of my face burned from the slap the King directed at me. My eyes began watering, but I quickly blinked the tears away. Fight.

"He did it because you made him pity you – it had nothing to do with me," the King argued, crossing his arms defensively. "You made it seem as though I was working you like a slave even though I gave you the same work my maids do every day."

"Or maybe he realized how awful a king you really are," I sneered, earning another forceful slap that turned the side of my face an ugly shade of red. I couldn't tell if it was worse than the other or if my face was just starting to numb. Both could be true, for all I know.

The king paced back and forth for a few minutes, debating on what argument to taunt me with next. It had been a little over a week since the nice guard that had bowed to me had been killed. Before this meeting with the king, I knew it was my fault. The other guards would mention the poor guard and send angry glares at me as I sat in my cell. It didn't take long for me to put the pieces together and figure out that someone had spotted the guard bow to me and snitched to the king. When the king asked him about it, he wouldn't budge and when he was ordered to bow to his true ruler, he straightened his posture, standing firmly before his king. The king immediately ordered him to be put to death and just an hour later, he was beheaded in the capital's town square for all to see.

"Your servants," the king began. He turned to me, peering down at me past his long nose. Jackson had inherited much of his mother's physical attributes as opposed to his dad. "Why haven't they come and rescued you yet? I thought they were at your every beck and call?" He laughed to himself before he sighed. "We all know it was the other way around, Eve. We all know that you did nothing in that castle." He leaned down to peer at my sorry state. "So, have you realized that they didn't really care for you? You were just a pawn they used to rule a kingdom. You really trusted criminals to help you?"

"How did you-" But then I remembered. I was no longer wearing the ring, meaning every spell I had cast was no longer in effect. For all I knew, the boys had been found out, not knowing I had been separated from the ring, and been killed for the crimes they had run away from long ago. I sighed, thinking about Namjoon's sorrowful eyes looking at me before he closed the door behind him as they left. "I let them go from their positions the day you kidnapped me."

"How do you know, then, that didn't they give you up to us, knowing very well that it was us who attacked your castle that night?" the king asked. "How do you know that they wouldn't receive a bountiful reward if they handed you over to us?"

"I don't," I answered truthfully.

The king looked at my eyes for a minute before smirking. "I hate to admit that you're pretty smart for your age," the king said. He sighed. "Too bad you couldn't waste it on your decrepit kingdom... too bad you'll never get to use it, anyway. Once I've had enough fun messing with your head and deciding that the only place fit for a queen like you is six feet under, I'll ride into Aaliyah and rescue them from their sorrows of having a useless queen."

"You won't rescue them," I replied, my brows furrowing. "You'll abuse them and rule them with fear. They won't be your citizens – they'll be your prisoners."

"Just like you," the king shot back quickly. "It wouldn't be much different living under me than you. They might as well have been considered prisoners when you ruled them."

My jaw clenched. "Why don't look at things from someone else's perspective rather than staring down your own nose for once?" I barked. "My parents died when I was sixteen and I forced to become queen to take care of Aaliyah. I have been depressed and scared for these last two years. No one likes me – the citizens or my advisors. I had not been taught how to rule with an iron fist, unlike you."

"Yes, you rule with a rather weak one," the king murmured.

I swallowed hard before staring down at the floor made of marble. The white resembled snow and the black that was swirled within the stone contrasted it well. I couldn't help but think of my castle back at home, collecting dust that Butler Park would be furious about. My head shot up. "At least I didn't change my son's name in hopes of crafting him into the monster his dad is."

The king's face turned bright red, his mouth forming a tight frown full of anger. A fire burned behind his eyes and I knew I had just edged myself farther into his trap – deeper than I had ever been before. He cleared his throat and looked at the guard that been holding me the whole time. "My wife once told me that a woman's pride is her hair." He smirked. "Cut it. After that... send her to clean the stables. A queen like her deserves to live in shit."

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