A Kingdom of Wrath and Ruin

chapter ten

It was him. It was the boy from earlier.

Cat paused mid-clap, her hands floating in the air as she glanced sideways at Solana, her face creasing in concern.

"Are you okay?" she asked, reaching out to hold Solana's arm. Her touch was light, but it steadied her all the same.

"Fine," Solana nodded, forcing herself to dismiss her worries, at least outwardly. She briefly cursed herself for being so foolish. How had she missed his identity? His cold gaze was the same as the eyes that had stared down at her in the corridors. How had she not seen that they matched the portraits of past monarchs?

King Rivera lifted his hands, and the room fell silent as if he had willed it upon them.

"Good people of Kadaris, it would be my great pleasure to welcome you here today," he began. His voice was quiet, yet it still carried clearly across the room. He had a sly smile on his face, a smile that reflected his satisfaction. He was able to control a room full of people without ever lifting a finger.

Solana blinked, and the expression had been wiped from his face, replaced by a troubled look. Cat tensed beside her, and even Ana seemed to shrink away from his presence.

"However, it seems to me that we have a traitor in our midst," he said. His voice had dropped to a menacing tone that made Solana's skin crawl. Her blood ran cold, and her eyes darted around the room as she considered her options. Tightness constricted her chest, and she had to fight to claw down each breath as she waited for him to continue.

The King's arm shot out, and he pointed a slender finger at a young man in the centre of the room. Despite being high up on his balcony, everyone could tell who he was referring to. The crowd around the accused recoiled from him as if his skin had been set aflame. They parted until he was stood in a sphere of isolation.

Solana stood on tiptoes to see him, but it seemed like everyone else was trying to do the same thing, and she just about got a glimpse of his face. Sweat gleamed on the man's brow, and his face was completely drained of colour. He wore his guilt like a crown, Solana grimaced, but something else tugged at her mind. Relief. Relief that she hadn't been caught, not yet anyway.

King Rivera leaned forward, smiling once again, but something dangerous lurked in this expression that hadn't been there before. 

"I have been informed that a weapon was discovered in your luggage this morning," the king said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "Is this true?"

"N-No, Your Majesty," the man stuttered, wringing his hands in front of him. "I swear-"

"Silence!" the King roared, his face contorting into an expression of pure fury. Fury that raged on like a fire that would never be tamed. It made Solana flinch, and she was not easily disturbed. "You dare lie to me, of all people?"

He was leaning over the balcony, dangerously close to toppling over and falling to his death. Solana almost willed it so, the thought wrapping around her like a blanket. A knot of fear tightened within her at the prospect of having to one day face this man. Someday soon.

"I-I'm not lying, Your Majesty-"

The King raised a hand, immediately silencing the accused. He pointed at the ground, a simple gesture that would perhaps have been used for a domestic animal.

"Prove your innocence," King Rivera breathed. Power danced in his eyes, and he wielded it like a skilled soldier wielded a weapon. It was his, and only his. "Beg."

The man had started crying, fat teardrops rolling down his face and splashing on the floor by his feet. At the King's words, he fell to his knees, clasping his hands together above his head.