Obsidian Ridge - Jess Lebow [49]
"Does she want to scare me?" The king was thinking out loud. "Let me know she can get to me anytime she wants? If that's the case, then why offer an alliance?"
And how could she know about his plans to fight Xeries? Outside of himself, only Kaden, Quinn, and Senator Divian were aware of his thinking on the matter. The idea was Divian's, and he'd known her too long to think she was the one who would jeopardize the plan by revealing it to the underworld. Kaden and Quinn were the two men the king most trusted, leaving his own life in their hands on a daily basis. If either one of them turned out to be a spy for the underworld, then everyone in the entire palace was suspect. Was there no one he could trust?
Then it hit him. There was someone else who knew of that conversation, someone else who could have told the Matron their plans.
That someone was Whitman.
The king looked to the Magistrate who had brought him the healing potion. "Soldier, I want you to go to the front gate of the palace. Ask the guard there for an accounting of all persons who entered or left the palace last night and early this morning."
"Yes, my lord," replied the Magistrate, and he hurried off.
The king nodded to two other soldiers. "You two, take hold of this man."
Without hesitation the Magistrates grabbed hold of Whitman, pinning him down.
"What… what are you-?" stuttered the scribe.
Korox stood in front of Whitman, his shadow looming large over the prone man. "Anything you want to tell me before that solider returns?"
Whitman's eyes grew wide. "My lord, what… whatever do you mean?"
Korox could feel his anger rising. "Don't play me for the fool, Whitman."
"My lord, I would never-"
"When that Magistrate returns," continued the king, "I suspect he's going to have an accounting of you leaving the palace last night-not gagged and carried by four men, but under your own power."
Whitman looked up at the king, swallowing hard.
Korox reached for the hilt of his sword. It wasn't there, and he realized he'd taken it out while he was sparring with Kaden.
"If you're lying to me, Whitman," he growled, "if you're helping the underworld in any part of this, so help me, I'll beat you with my bare hands."
The doors on all the barracks burst open, and Magistrates poured out. Apparently alarmed by the sound of the king's raised voice, they arrived in various states of dress, all of them carrying weapons.
Seeing nearly a unit of the King's Magistrates appear as if from nowhere must have scared the scribe, because his eyes grew wide and he started to thrash around-a desperate, guilty man making one last attempt at freedom.
Korox leaned over, his face nearly touching Whitmans, his fists already in balls. "Did you tell the Matron about the mages' convocation?"
The beaten man burst into tears, and he curled up into a ball, defending himself against a coming blow. "It was me. Please don't hurt me. I can't take anymore. I admit it. I told the Matron about the plans to defeat Xeries. I've been working with her all along. Please. Please. Just don't hurt me."
King Korox Morkann spun around with his right fist, catching the scribe squarely on the jaw, knocking a pair of teeth out of the man's mouth with his powerful blow.
"Where-"
He swung again, his massive frame blocking out the morning sun, and burying Whitman in the king's shadow. The scribe's head flopped around on his neck like the chained ball of a flail.
"Is-"
Another blow.
"My-"
And then a fourth. "Daughter!"
With this final impact, Whitman's body began to convulse. Blood oozed from his nose and mouth. His eyes rolled around in his head, hardly able to focus.
Korox wound up for another strike, but Captain Kaden caught his arm.
"My lord!" pleaded the leader of the Magistrates. "Let him speak."
Whitman could hardly move his lips, so badly beaten was he. Drooling blood and mucus, his eyes now both swollen shut, the scribe ran his hand across his mouth, clearing out another broken tooth.
"She's… she's in the Cellar."
King Korox's heart froze, and his stomach knotted. "The Cellar."