I woke up, it was dark, and I knew Albian had returned to finish the job. I sat up and scread, looking for a weapon.
“Princess! You’re ok. Cayce, you’re alright.” Morry knelt in front of . “It’s night now, you fell asleep. We didn’t let anyone else co visit you.”
“Oh. I thought, I was sure . . .”
He took my hand in his, warm and large, “He’s gone. You’re ok. I’m here, no one is going to disturb you.”
I winced, “I wish you could kill him again.”
Morry smiled, “If you can raise the dead, I’ll kill him again. Here,” he passed a teacup, “I kept tea warm, in case you awoke. And had opium brought up.”
“Opium? That’s tempting. Maybe too easy, though.”
“Sothing to be careful with.”
“I’ll start with tea. Maybe move onto hard drugs later.”
“It was my father’s.”
“The opium?”
“The greatsword. Passed down from his father before him.” He rested into the nearby sofa-chair. “My grandfather was an earl. But when he passed on, well, the earldom fell into debt. After my father died, I took this sword, my brother took his armor. Didn’t fit anyway.”
“Wow. And the estate?”
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“Divided and sold.” He looked at the floor.
“That’s a sha.” I made a ntal note to look into it, thinking that perhaps I could reinstate his earldom. “It’s a good sword.”
“It is. Fine steel, excellent craftsmanship.”
“Hey, have you ever seen anything like Bechalle’s knife?” I went to pick it up from the side table, but it wasn’t there. “Oh, fudge. Morry, it’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“I had it right here! I need that knife. Wanted to study it. The grand magister must have taken it.”
“You let him see it?”
I buried my face in my hands, “I’m an idiot! I was hoping he’d tell more about the damned thing. But he wanted ti to study it.”
“Why didn’t you just give it to him?”
“Now you’re the one being naïve.”
“The wizards, they work for you. Uphold your crown.”
“Not in this case, I think. Sothing larger is going on here. Morry,” I had to say it, I didn’t want to, but I needed him to hear, “Bechalle thought I was a deity. The carving on my skin, it’s a symbol. One the wizard was very interested in.”
“Hmm, it’s going to be difficult if he’s not on your side.”
“That’s underselling it.”
“Well, if you’re a deity, Cayce, you’re the worst I’ve ever seen.”
“Ha! Yeah, gods don’t usually get themselves beaten for hours.”
“No, they do not.”
“Morry?”
“Yes?”
“This reality bites.”
“Bites?”
“Like, it’s bad. This reality is kinda shit. If you take my aning.”
“I tend to agree, Princess. But why ‘bites’?”
“Uhm, I’m gonna let you work that one out.”
“If you insist.”
“It’s a sexual reference. Think sothing unpleasant.”
“It seems you worked it out for .”
“Ah, yeah. Apologies. Morry, what do I do? My previous mistake was in not branding the Barclays traitors. But I just can’t, I really can’t kill Brin’s family.”
“I understand that. I’m sure Brin agrees with you.”
I put the tea to my mouth, took a sip, “She’d make a terrible mistress of the bedroom after.”
He coughed, maybe laughed a bit.
“I guess that ans I won’t be killing her parents.”
“Good mistresses of the bedroom being so hard to find these days.”
“Heh. Yeah. I’m going to, I’m gonna . . . just shut my eyes a bit.”
“Goodnight, Princess.” My last images were of Morry resting a blanket over my body.
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