Prince of Lies [COMPLETED]

Chapter 37

A day in Thescan turned into days, and though Frederick tried, he could not confirm where Arabella was being kept. By the fourth sunrise, despair began to weigh upon him with the heaviness of a boulder. He would have to go to the dungeons and see for himself if she was being kept there.

But Saebane had eyes everywhere.

The Hendlemark soldiers set up camp on the castle grounds and in the villages. Looking at their numbers, Frederick knew now that they would have never won. It had been foolish to ever try. But why they had so many numbers still made him shiver. And now Saebane and Rycard's undead army were in his kingdom, mingling with the living citizens of Thescan.

Many of the enemy soldiers would visit him throughout the day, bringing with them requests from Saebane, and none of them seemed right. Some of them had a smell so odious they would make Frederick's eyes water, many of them smiling absently as if they no longer had anything to lose. But as disturbing as they were, they were not the ones to worry about.

The prisoners from the Spiderweb were given free leave to roam about the castle halls, and they traveled in pairs wearing distinctive black-and-red leathers. When they saw Frederick they bowed with respect, many of them thanking him for his part in their freedom. And all of them were so polite, offering their assistance. They almost reminded him of the courteous vampyres he'd met at his birthday ball. But these things were criminals of the worst sort. All of them had a strength that far surpassed his own, and all of them reported directly to Saebane.

Gigantic spiders crawling through his castle halls ...

Frederick would have to find a way to squash them all.

But Urnald kept him busy all day, working hard to appease the Thescan generals. None of them were pleased by the new arrangements and they made their distaste abundantly clear. Urnald spent hours begging them to stay, and Frederick was forced to go with him to try to undo the damage already done. Not that he could bring himself to offer a word of help.

This was his father's grand plan. His father's fuck up. This would be for Urnald to sort through, and Frederick sat back and watched day after day as the generals gave them Hell.

Today would be no different, and already a fight had ensued, Urnald doing his best to soothe it.

"And what happens if we don't agree to this?" one general dared to ask. "What happens to us then?"

The others said nothing, merely waiting for the answer.

Saebane stepped forward but Urnald stuck his arm out, halting him. "Nothing happens to anyone. All right? Thescan will still be Thescan, but we need you now more than ever. We must work with the Hendlemark force as one. They are our allies now."

"You don't mean that at all, Urnald," Gweneth interrupted. "Why are you spouting such drivel? Frederick, surely you don't believe it."

No, he didn't, but he was finally sick of this, and he tasted the bitterness of his words to come. "The House of the Moon has taken the throne for the first time in two centuries. Yet you dare continue to waste my time with these petty squabbles?"

All the generals straightened.

"This is all your doing as much as it is ours," Frederick continued. "You are the ones who assisted Prince Urnald to usurp the Gentle King from the throne. I had no part in it—yet you dare question me? If there's some other king you prefer to serve, then I'm all ears. Have you forgotten your loyalty to the House of the Moon already?"

He turned his gaze upon each general and assessed them one by one. "I have things to do, and the tasks are endless, so if your allegiance no longer lies with my father—with me—then state it now so we may personally escort you to the dungeons and be done with it. I tire of days of this. Don't you all fucking tire of it?"