The Fairest (Book #1)

19: Fair Consequences

Darkness. Nothing but darkness and a faint burning sensation in her arms and midsection. Both urged Mageia to open her eyes, but her brain begged her to keep her body at rest. Icy cold water slithered into her nostrils and mouth and shocked her skin. She gasped awake, coughing and sputtering water. A guard with a bucket became visible in her blurred vision, along with the grins of his companions.

"Wake up, Strange," he demanded.

Mageia groaned, and the burning pain inside her body intensified. They laughed at her agony.

"That was a good jump, but good thing you didn't know those thorns cause numbness, or we'd still be chasing you."

She shook her head and crumbled into the fetal position. There were heavy chains now clasping her wrists, and someone had also bandaged both of her forearms.

"Are you finished with her, Master Fisican?" the guard asked.

Mageia squinted and noticed Master Joras holding a bloody bowl and tweezers. Dressed in his finest attire and head wrap, the Master Fisican continued to check her body with great precision.

"I plucked the thorns I saw, but who knows how many more are lodged deeper into her flesh?"

"Doesn't matter," the guard said, then shouted at her. "Get up!"

Someone grabbed a shivering arm and yanked her off the bloody grass. She stumbled into him until another guard took her by the other arm.

Her legs wobbled, slowly waking up from the numbness. "Have mercy," she managed to say through the pain.

The group of guards laughed. They dragged her inside the palace and through some hallways to a room smothered in perfumes. A sitting room. A fancy one with sofas and armchairs beside a large emerald-flecked fireplace. People and soldiers were everywhere. They muttered and cringed in horror. She was dragged to the center of the room and dropped onto the rug like a sack of potatoes.

"What have you done to her?" snarled the familiar voice of Prince Grisonce.

Mageia blinked, determined to both clear her vision and keep herself awake. Whatever kind of thorns those were, they really did their job because she felt woozy and exhausted. On top of the throbbing pain in her midsection, her fury of failure and defeat stirred deadly in her soul.

"You mean to ask, what did she do to herself," said one of the soldiers that dragged her. "She pushed Royce off the roof."

"Ledge," she corrected.

"Shut it." The guard slapped the side of her face with the back of his hand.

"Don't do that!" Prince Grisonce shouted.

Mageia shook her head, and her vision came to. Many people were present and stared at her as if she was some unidentified beast. The royal family sat in the comfortable chairs, except for Prince Grisonce, who stood wearily beside Rasheem and the slave girl, Hasana, across the room. Commander Eron stood on the opposite side of the room to her right with four Knight Escorts – one being Ser Merlin – and Dargany with other royal escorts. Even the High Priest, Lord Hercones, was present with a few other unknown officials granted access to be a witness.

The prince struggled to approach her, but two royal escorts held him back.

King Dimitri sighed heavily. His bulbous being looked close to breaking the legs of the armchair he sat in. "Grisonce, you embarrass us."

"Why? For possessing a heart?" he snapped back.

Mageia felt that one and everyone in the room did too, by proof of wavering frowns.