The Captive King

by Susan Copperfield

  Landen truly would hate me when I was finished uprooting his council of advisors and securing a little justice for Elise and the other women. I didn’t know their names, but it didn’t matter.

  They deserved better.

  “In most courts, there are three primary types of sexual harassment and assault. Rape is the most severe, and there’s sexual assault, and sexual harassment.” I grimaced at having to talk so bluntly about what men could do to women—and what women could do to men.

  I hated people sometimes.

  “You’ll have to decide for yourself what type of accusation you make. You know Alaska’s laws better than I do, but make sure you’re confident. You don’t need proof—a truth seer will provide the proof. You will have to consent to telling exactly what happened without omission. It won’t be easy.”

  “Nothing worth doing ever is,” the older woman who’d given me the juice replied, patting my shoulder. “We’ll do our part. You have my word.”

  I nodded. “Get me a list of names, ladies. If you’re willing to tell the truth, add your name to the list. I can only promise you my best and that you’ll have a chance for justice.”

  The women scattered, and I wondered how many of them would return.

  I’d find out soon enough.

  I wasn’t certain who had come up with the idea, but only Elise remained to witness my takeover of the king’s council session. According to her, it was scheduled to run for another three hours.

  On one sheet of paper, I had a seating arrangement with everyone’s names. For the sake of efficiency, the innocent had their names covered with black marker. One thing stood out at me over the rest: no women held a place in the king’s council. Turning to Elise, I frowned, waving the sheet. “Where are the women?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There are no women on this seating chart.”

  Elise stared at me, her brow furrowing. “Yes, that’s correct. We’re the aides. What’s the problem?”

  “There are no women on this seating chart. That’s the problem. Who the hell picks the council?”

  “Voters, mostly.”

  “Women are fifty percent of the population! Why are there no women?”

  Elise scowled. “Women don’t work in politics in Alaska.”

  With a long-suffering sigh, I picked up my glass of vegetable juice, regretted its lack of alcohol, and took a drink. “All right. I’m just not going to ask. Are you coming in with me when I do this?”

  Elise nodded.

  I emptied my glass in one fell swoop, and if I did lose control over my stomach, tough luck for everyone else. Maybe I’d add fainting to my tactics, after I finished smearing the audience chamber with Stanley Hauser’s entrails.

  Why was letting the bastard live so damned important?

  I set the glass down gently so my growing agitation wouldn’t result in a mess I’d have to clean up. According to the seating chart, there were six guards in the audience chamber, and I’d need to keep my eye on them or disable them long enough to name names. I had twenty pages to read through, and the shortest one had seven accusers.

  It was going to take a long time to get through it all.

  With no reason to delay, I braced for the worst and said, “Lead the way, Elise.”

  The castle was a lot larger than I thought, and by the time we crossed the building, went up two flights of steps, and hiked what felt like a mile, she led me to a pair of tall, dark-wood doors, which were flanked by a pair of guards in mustard yellow uniforms.

  If my Landen and her Landen were the same Landen, I’d stage a revolt over the damned color and get them into something far more dignified, like a black suit. Suits made sense. Guards could move in them, they had pockets, guns could be hidden in various places or holstered openly, and they looked nice.

  “We need to see the king,” Elise said, her gaze locked on the floor.

  The guards frowned, and the younger of the two, who still had some growing to do, glanced between us before saying, “About what?”

  Elise gulped.

  “Rape accusations against His Majesty’s advisors by aides and palace employees.” I slapped the stack of papers against my leg. “Also, the unlawful imprisonment of a New York citizen. I’m going in that room, and it’s be much nicer for everyone if you let me in rather than forcing me to make my own way in.”

  “The door is locked from the inside, and the session is blacked out. I can’t let you in,” the guard replied with a shrug.

  “Well, aren’t you a useless guard? What’s the point of making you stand out here if there’s no way you can do anything about anything happening inside? That’s dumb. You could be guarding something rather than just standing around?” I sighed and tucked the papers under my arm. “Do you even carry guns?”

  Both pointed at the holsters on their hips.

  The guns were both secured with straps and snaps to keep someone from disarming them.

  The first rule of taking out armed guards was to prevent them from using their weapons, magical or mundane. I smiled.

  The castle came at my bidding, and stone softened, rose from the floors and walls, and engulfed both men, wrapping around their arms, chests, and legs. I drew a band of stone over their eyes, but left their mouths and noses uncovered. “Sorry, gentlemen. I have important business inside.”

  The second rule was to keep moving, and since the wooden doors were purportedly locked, I made my own door. As I didn’t want to hurt anyone inside, I carved out a foot-thick block of rock and dropped it in the hallway with a deafening thump.

  The guards’ mustard yellow uniforms made it easy to identify the threats. They joined the other two in stone prisons in the time it took me to hop through the opening.

  Maybe I thought the castle was too big for anyone’s good, but it liked me. The stone was warm to my senses, welcoming and energizing me when I should’ve been on the verge of collapse.

  I wanted to spin around and laugh. Instead, I slapped my papers against my leg again, located Stanley Hauser, and encased his feet in stone so he couldn’t escape. As I couldn’t see his feet, I went with his entire chair.

  The bastard deserved to be smothered, but I resisted the temptation to cover his nose and mouth. “The next time a New Yorker orders your old, sleazy ass to get her a lawyer, you do it. The next time a lady tells you to keep your filthy, perverted hands off her, you do it. I’ve a mind to bury you so deep no one will find you for a million years unless a volcanic eruption spits your charred husk of a corpse into the stratosphere.”

  I was aware of people watching me while the guards cursed me and shouted threats, most of which involved my charred husk entering the stratosphere. Under no circumstances would I look down to where the half circle opened up and the king sat behind a looming desk, listening to his advisors—and to me.

  “You whore!” Stanley Hauser howled. “Release me this minute.”

  “Hell no, you rapist scumbag.” As I had with the guards, I used stone to encase the bastard’s head, but unlike them, I left his eyes uncovered while I gagged him with rock. I hoped he broke his teeth if he tried to break out or gnash at the restraint. Satisfied he wouldn’t interrupt me, I located the sheet with his name written at the top of it, cleared my throat, and started naming names. A stunned hush fell over the gathering.

  The first few names infuriated me. After ten, a tense spot formed in my chest and spread. By the thirtieth, I shook from cold fury. Fifty-three names later, I wanted to bring the whole castle down around me and bury the accused in a pile of rubble. Instead, I held out the sheet.

  Elise stepped to my side and claimed the page from me.

  “I’m offering one choice to you pieces of filth. If you’ve abused or assaulted one of your aides or any other woman for that matter, I recommend you stand up, let yourself out, and turn yourself in for the authorities to deal with—and don’t think you’re getting away with it if you do, because it won’t be a court of your peers overseeing the trial
. It’ll be a court of my peers imported from New York, as Stanley Hauser decided to keep me locked in his little dungeon cell for three days. You probably thought you’d starve me to death so I’d conveniently disappear, didn’t you? Guess what? You messed with the wrong whore, asshole.”

  “You’re not a whore, Summer,” the last man on Earth I wanted to face announced. “I can get a dictionary to remind you of the definition, if you’d like.”

  Damn it. Elise’s Landen was my Landen. “The peanut gallery in the back needs to be quiet,” I shot back.

  He snorted. “But it’s my gallery.”

  “I’m borrowing it right now. It’s my turn. You can have a turn when I’m finished.”

  “When was the last time you had something to eat, Summer?”

  Was it that obvious I was starving? Damn it. I really should’ve looked in a mirror before storming into the chamber. I should’ve showered first, too. “This isn’t about me. It’s about me encasing a bunch of rapist assholes in stone if they don’t quietly acknowledge their guilt and stand out in the hallway and wait to be arrested. I trust rape is a crime in your kingdom, Landen?”

  Maybe I shouldn’t have snarled his name so vehemently. Looking at him would’ve been wise, too, but I kept my gaze fixed on Stanley Hauser.

  With just one twist of magic, I could make the source of Elise’s anguish disappear. I drew deep breaths until the urge subsided.

  “It is, but you are a visitor here.”

  “I’m a visitor your so-called advisor locked in a dungeon for at least three days. I’m done visiting. I’m in the middle of a hostile takeover. Could you please sit there quietly and wait your turn?”

  “To be hostilely taken over? I have to admit, this is the first time I’ve been invited to a hostile takeover.”

  It took me a minute to realize Landen was trying to defuse the situation without me plastering anyone into goo. He was probably right to try to redirect my attention. I really wanted to turn Stanley Hauser into goo. “I didn’t have time to make you a card. Sorry. I’m trying really hard to be a decent person here.”

  “I’m impressed you haven’t ripped his still-beating heart out of his chest yet.”

  “Can I?”

  “I’d prefer if you didn’t. It would be messy, and this is the only audience chamber I have. I’d rather it not be haunted. I’m very concerned about these accusations you’re bringing to my attention, however.”

  I relaxed. The first step in being heard was to have a listener.

  Landen hadn’t dismissed my claims—hadn’t dismissed the names, hadn’t dismissed Elise, hadn’t dismissed the women brave enough to take their first step in getting the justice they deserved. If he’d listen, even for a little while, true magic could happen, the kind that could heal hearts.

  It was too late for me, who’d probably never be able to move beyond having a distrustful, bitter heart, but Elise and many of her colleagues were young.

  They had a chance.

  I huffed. “Technically, I was bringing it to the attention of the rapist assholes who are either walking out of here of their own volition and quietly turning themselves in or will be like Mr. Hauser here, accused by name with the entire list of those women willing to testify against them. While encased in stone in their seats. It’s a long list. The shortest one has seven accusers.”

  “By all means. Continue. I’ll uphold your demands, as it is not in Alaska’s interests to retain, as you say, rapist assholes in this council.”

  “Your council, which we’ll be talking about later.”

  “Of course.” Landen cleared his throat. “Would you please release the guards? On my promise they will take no actions against you.”

  When an opportunity knocked, I answered, and it was my turn to defuse the situation a little—and accomplish an important goal. “Only if you swear you’ll put those poor men in reasonable suits and get rid of those yellow mustard monstrosities. Black suits would be preferred. Give them their dignity back.”

  “It’s Alaska’s official color.”

  “I don’t care. That’s my condition. Black suits, or your guards can stand there wanting to kill me until I’m done with the rapist assholes.”

  “I think you mean ultimatum.”

  “I’m tired, I’m filthy, and I’m hungry. I want these rapist assholes rotting in a fucking prison where they belong.”

  Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention to Alaska’s king, who rose from his seat, a startling mundane office chair behind a massive oak desk wide enough for two to work comfortably. I sucked in a breath as it occurred to me the second spot should’ve been occupied by a queen.

  He clasped his hands behind his back, his gaze sweeping over his council of advisors. He took a few steps forward, his attention focusing on several of the men in the room. “I can make a few guesses about who those accusations are leveled against, and I can make a few guesses about who has leveled those accusations. And, to my shame, I find myself having a difficult time believing in the ideology of innocence before proven guilt. I’m curious, however, how you intend on proving the guilt in a crime that’s so difficult to prove.”

  “Elise, may I borrow your phone, please?”

  The aide handed it to me, and at the same time, she took the papers out of my hands. I pulled up the application form for Montana’s open justice system. “Montana’s the easiest to try violent crimes through. They have open court hearings once a week for anyone who has a case that’s difficult to prove. It’s one of the first things we were taught at my university when abroad; if we can’t reach get a fair trial where we’re at, Montana is the first place to look. Montana has extradition agreements with the entirety of the Royal States and most of the world. They also will send individuals with the talent to verify the truth on demand. Rape cases are on the list of crimes they’ll send a seer to verify.”

  It took me less than thirty seconds to fill out most of the form on Elise’s behalf, and I turned the phone so Landen could see it. “All she’d need to do is add a contact number for herself, a trusted party, and any identifying details. Callbacks happen within a week, and if the victim is considered at immediate risk, arrangements might be immediate. Dig teams in Mexico are instructed to make use of Montana’s system if we get into trouble and can’t get ourselves out of it.”

  Landen strolled up the steps to join me, taking Elise’s phone out of my hand. He scrolled through the information and nodded. “While I was aware of the extradition agreements, I was unaware institutions of higher learning taught this as a standard part of its education.”

  “It is. You should hear the list New Yorkers get when we dare to leave home. It’s a three-hour lecture on what to do in every situation. New Yorkers, however, contact New York, and New York’s court system handles everything.” I turned my glare to Stanley Hauser. “I’m going to enjoy feeding you to the nastiest New York lawyer I can find. And once they’re done with you, I’m going to take your tenderized husk and feed you to an entire cartel of lawyers from Montana.”

  “I’d ask about the Alaskan lawyers, but I believe your judgment about this situation is more sound than mine.” Landen held Elise’s phone out to her. “Complete the form and submit it, and I will make certain any inquiries with Montana are handled directly. Please give me the list of accusers.”

  Elise gulped, and with shaking hands, she held out the sheets. “Your Majesty,” she stammered.

  After returning her phone and taking the papers and tucking them under his arm, Landen’s gaze landed on me. “My guards, Summer, if you’d please.”

  I inhaled, and while the stones had cooperated confining my victims, it wasn’t as eager to release them. By the time I softened the stone and returned it to its proper place, sweat stung my brow and I shivered.

  “While I’m sure Summer has broken many rules rearranging the castle to her liking, it falls under self-defense, as I did not authorize anyone being imprisoned for even twelve hours. Summer, twelve hours is
the standard holding time permitted without a set court date in Alaska. Due process does exist in my kingdom, although it seems some of my advisors have forgotten the laws apply to them as well.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  The released guards glared at me, but none of them reached for their guns, which I viewed as a promising development. None of them tried to zap my ass with magic, either.

  “As it seems my council has hearing problems this evening, I’m going to repeat what has already been said. You have a choice to make: you can acknowledge your guilt now and be tried, or you can be revealed and be tried. Either way, you’ll face a jury, and as it seems I can’t trust my own advisors and governmental system, this will not be a jury of Alaskans. Montana has the best reputation for fair trials of violent crimes with the necessary talents required to ensure justice is served. Elise?”

  The young woman gulped. “Your Majesty?”

  “Please make certain everyone with accusations knows to fill out that form Summer showed you and submit it, and if anyone attempts to prevent this from happening by any means, be it through threats, coercion, or removal of the tools you need, bring it to my attention immediately. Consider the current chain of command broken. There’s only one person you’re to discuss this matter with: me.”

  Landen pointed at two of his guards, and I found it interesting they were both younger men closer to Elise in age. “Go with her, and should anyone attempt to circumvent my ruling, I’m authorizing the use of force. Also, make it aware this is a two-way street; if any men have been subjected to similar mistreatment, they have equal right to make an accusation, but accusers better be prepared to have their words confirmed as the truth through magic, and false accusations will be punished to the maximum allowed by the law.”

  Something about Landen’s tone changed, and I glanced at him. The anger in his expression worked well at erasing the years, but I preferred his smile.