Ruler [Blood Magic, Book 3]

Chapter 13: I'll Be Watching You (revised)

"His Majesty wants you upstairs." Those were the first and only words out of Boras' mouth as he stepped off the elevator into Keel's former bedroom. No "Hello, how are you?" or "In case you're wondering, here's why His Majesty is summoning you after four days of silence" or anything else remotely kind, reassuring or useful. Then again, even this level of civility must have proved a massive strain for Boras. We'd had one sketchy encounter soon after Keel's father kidnapped me and I'd been on his sorcerer non grata list ever since. He was the type to keep things short, simple and ominous-sounding just to watch me squirm. 

"Okay," I said, seeing no point in arguing. I was up and dressed, and had been for hours. Since Keel's last visit I'd taken to sleeping in my clothes and changing in the morning. I could never be sure when His Majesty might turn up, and I'd rather be ready. 

I'd spent much of the last day (or was it night?) - with no clocks or windows time lost its meaning - pulling books off Keel's heaving bookshelf and sorting them into neat but towering piles. One series of bookish skyscrapers reserved for those written in Nosferatu and another for the English ones. The latter I intended to further organize into a "Nosferatu 101" to-be-read stack. Entertainment was scarce here. No one had shown up with my backpack. And there were no TVs, computers or smartphones. The compound was downright primitive in terms of 21st-century conveniences, and after three days of pacing the room, wandering around inside my skull, and finding zero answers, I needed to focus on something other than Keel and his plans for me. Too much brain time was pushing me towards the edge, making me ever more paranoid and skittish until I almost jumped out of my skin every time the elevator climbed to this level. So I'd started on the books. That way I wasn't avoiding the reality of my new existence but rather approaching it from a more academic angle.

As I hoisted myself up from where I was perched cross-legged amongst the volumes, Boras took in the six teetering, waist-high stacks. "You going to leave those like that?"

I shrugged, then bent over to yank down the elasticized ankles of Keel's sweatpants, which had somehow gotten bunched up around my knees. "Why not? It's not like anyone is going to come in here while I'm gone, right?"

"His Majesty would not be pleased with the mess. You shouldn't be touching his things."

"Then he should have taken them with him," I said.

Boras gave me a disapproving look, and just like that we were back to our old habits, setting each other off with pointless griping and cheap shots. Also, he was wrong. It would thrill Keel to come down here and find this mess because it would give him another thing to punish me for. I'd considered that possibility when I first sized up the bookshelf and the enormity of the sorting job ahead of me, but boredom had beaten fear of reprisal. If this didn't set him off, something else would. I couldn't tiptoe forever.

"So does His Majesty want me upstairs now or would he rather wait while I put away his precious, abandoned books?"

Boras made a huffing noise, then turned and stepped back into the elevator. I wound my way through the old tomes, careful not to topple them, and joined him.

He said nothing as the door closed behind us and the door on the opposite side opened. He retained his monk-like silence as we walked down the hall to the compound's other elevator, the one that would take us up to the throne room. But as we exited on the upper level, Boras set off towards the loading bay. I'd turned towards the carpeted corridor and almost got left behind.

"Where are we going?" I asked, jogging to catch up.

Was Keel planning on making good on his threat? I'd expected that to go down in the throne room, perhaps with the council as an audience, so they could partake in the full spectacle of my humiliation and grovelling.