Chapter 13: The Old Room

Mariam set the tray down on the little desk and looked at the open drawer.

She looked at the four men around it, and the letter in Ren's hand.

Her face did not change.

"Oh, my loves," she said. "You found the forgeries."

Nobody answered her.

"The Southern court has copied my hand for a year," she said.

She poured a cup of tea as she spoke, and her hand was steady.

"I found the first of those papers last month. I meant to spare you, Ren. You had a crown to wear."

Her eyes went to the chains on their wrists.

"Look at you, chained to three foreign kings. They have bewitched my poor boy."

"Marshal," Ren said. "Read this."

He held out the letter.

The marshal took one step into the room and stopped.

"It is addressed to you," Ren said. "It tells you where to put a blade."

The marshal looked at the page, and then at Mariam.

A drop of sweat ran from his hairline into his collar.

"The dowager told me the king would be overwrought tonight," he said.

"I am the king," Ren said. "The seal answers to me."

"Yes, my lord. She asked that you be escorted to your wing, for your own safety."

"Then stand down."

"Yes, my lord." The marshal did not move. "In the morning."

Ken's lip curled back from his teeth, and a low sound came out of his chest.

It was not quite human.

Ryu moved in front of Ren without a word.

Twelve men in Western steel put their hands on their hilts.

Ren counted them. Four men in shirtsleeves and one dagger. He did not like the count.

"Stop," he said. "Ken. Ryu. Stop."

He slid the letter under his shirt while the marshal watched Ken.

Then he took Ryu's arm.

"We'll go to my wing," he said. "All four of us. Together."

He looked at the marshal.

"At noon you can explain to four courts why the king was walked to bed by a dozen swords."

Mariam smiled and held out the teacup.

"Of course, love. Drink this first. You look so tired."

Ren walked past the cup.

They went down the dark corridors with the marshal's men on every side.

The doors of the wing closed behind them, and the bolt shot home on the outside.

It was the same bed, with the same bolts in the posts and the same iron rings in the wall.

"I'm taking the chain off," Ren said. His voice was rough. "You three don't belong in a locked room with me."

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Freed the Kings He Once Chained, They Chose to Bind Him from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.