In A Time Of Darkness
Page 60
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“Are you comfortable my Lord?”
Idimus replied with only a snarl.
Kalinies moved about the room while the King remained tucked into the throne where he was safe. The Wizard made sure that everything was to his approval. He had been in a foul mood, and Kalinies feared the King would take the aggression out on the closest thing to him. Since that happened to be him, he had tread lightly ever since they left Sharia. “Do you need anything Liege?” he asked, finally pulling in front of the throne and falling to one knee.
“Leave me,” the King spoke through clamped teeth and the Wizard made not a second thought before following the order, leaving Idimus alone in the room with only his thoughts to keep him company.
Thoughts and pain.
Being chewed upon by a dragon was one thing Idimus never imagined he would experience. Nwour’s teeth had punctured his armor as well as his flesh—once near the shoulder and another his thigh. His armor had been crushed and pinched around him in several other places, so extreme that he had to be cut out of it when they returned.
Yet even after he’d been freed from the armor he still felt bound; restricted. It was only with the appearance of Valaira with Nwour did he realize how little the woman was actually telling him. All this time she had a dragon under her control, at her disposal. A creature he could have made full use of to help regain the waning control on his land. Valaira had kept him hidden; as well as Estophicles. To discover that he had only been a shell—an imposter—outraged the King. He had been a trusted advisor for years, only to be replaced by one of Valaira’s mindless puppets—and Idimus had no idea. He could not recall one lapse in his attendance, one change in his behavior the entire time he had known him. It occurred to him that Estophicles may have simply been her follower all along. That he had started out as a soldier and worked his way through the ranks, gotten close to Idimus, perhaps to watch him, as the other disguised himself as Graham’s brethren in order to study the Champion. That—below the deception and secrecy—was what intensified the King’s anger. Pondering how many opportunities Estophicles would have had to simply kill Grahamas. To end this revolt before it even started. Even when he showed her the letter from him she had said nothing; she knew where he was this entire time—only to reveal that information weeks later. Even now, knowing what she did, he felt as though he was in the dark regarding most things. Valaira seemed as though she still wanted something from Grahamas, perhaps from all of them, and she would not tell the King what.
He sighed and turned in his throne, the wound on his shoulder stinging. He believed, when Valaira first came to him, that they had similar goals. Now, the opposite was obvious. She was simply using him to further her own agenda. Idimus knew, or at least thought, that part of his loosened grip on the land was because of Valaira’s deception. If he was going to regain it he would have to free himself completely of her. She would have to die. Wielding such powerful magick and control as she did, that would prove to be quite difficult.
“Guard!” he screamed, prompting the elite soldier to enter and kneel before the throne.
“My Lord.”
“Bring Kalinies back to my chambers. Tell no one.”
The soldier exited as quickly as he came. Perhaps Idimus could not figure out a way around Valaira’s magick, so he would use the man who could.