Claimed By The Tyrant King

"You did wonderfully with the dance," Verity continued, and this time she glanced at Thalia for confirmation. Thalia nodded with a smile. "We were both so surprised."

That at least drew a small smile from Rosalind, and for a while the three women continued talking.

****

Later that day, an emergency meeting was called, and all the mistresses were summoned to the great hall. The room was filled with murmurs as they asked themselves why had they all been called here so suddenly.

The hall fell silent the moment Alaric stepped inside.

With his hands clasped behind his back and a grim expression shadowing his face, he crossed the room in steps that made the entire atmosphere turn cold. "Your Majesty," the women chorused, their voices blending together as tension swept through the hall.

Without a word of acknowledgment, Alaric made his way to the throne and settled into it, a slow sigh escaping his lips as his gaze swept over the women standing before him.

They looked frightened now, stiff with unease, as if they could already sense that something terrible was about to happen.

"Rosalind." The sound of her name from his lips made her jump where she stood.

"Come forward," Alaric said, beckoning with two slender fingers.

Rosalind slowly stepped away from Verity and Thalia and moved to stand a few paces ahead of the others. She kept herself still, though she could feel Alaric’s eyes fixed on her.

"Do you know why I have asked all of you to come here?" he asked.

How could she possibly know? she thought bitterly.

He always seemed to enjoy putting her on the spot!

"Enlighten me, Your Majesty," Rosalind replied carefully.

A faint curl touched Alaric’s lips. "I have discovered that what happened yesterday was not an accident," he said, his voice carrying across the hall. "It was planned."

Rosalind stared at him, eyes widening as the words struck her. Her heart leapt at the realization that someone had truly intended to kill her... by fire of all things.

Her gaze instinctively slid toward Sabine, who stood farther back with a look that had never once hidden her dislike. Rosalind was certain it was her!

Her heart raced at the thought... The palace no longer merely felt hostile, It was dangerous and she shouldn’t have gotten so comfortable in it.

"It is one thing to sabotage you," Alaric continued coldly, "but to attempt such a thing during my event is an insult that will not be met with mercy."

Mercy. The word almost sounded ironic coming from him.

"Would you like to know who it is?" Alaric mused, a smirk curving his mouth. "I think you will be quite surprised."

Rosalind clenched her fists at her sides. She did not think she would be surprised at all. There was only one person she believed capable of hating her enough to do something like this.

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said.

At once, Alaric raised a hand, and the guards dragged a servant forward before forcing her to her knees beside Rosalind. Confusion crossed Rosalind’s face as she looked down at the trembling woman.

"You tampered with Lady Rosalind’s dress, did you not?" Alaric asked, his voice chillingly calm. "There is enough evidence against you and lying will only worsen your punishment."

The servant nodded shakily.

"Under whose command?" Alaric demanded.

The servant swallowed hard, her palms visibly trembling against the floor.

"Do not make me repeat myself." This time Alaric’s voice thundered through the hall, and the servant jolted in fear.

Slowly, with every eye in the room upon the servant, she turned and raised a shaking hand, pointing toward one of the women.

Rosalind followed the direction of that hand and she felt as though the ground had disappeared beneath her.

It was not Sabine who had done it...

It was Thalia.

Thalia stood frozen, visibly shaking now, her hands trembling at her sides as if her knees might give way beneath her at any second.

Rosalind stared at her with lips parted in shock, but no words came.

She could only ask herself...How had she not seen it?

The dance lessons...

The way their friendship had formed so suddenly should have been warning enough as every moment now rearranged itself in her mind with clarity.

Alaric watched the two women stare at one another, and amusement curled slowly across his lips. To him, this betrayal was entertaining ... It was the perfect spectacle.

Then his expression turned cold as his gaze fixed on Thalia. "The hand that nearly burned what is mine," he said, each word sharp as steel, "should not leave this room unmarked."

And a dreadful silence fell.

But Alaric was not done. His gaze flickered briefly to the trembling servant... "Have her executed at once" He ordered and a cry immediately broke through the hall, from the servant.

****

The servant was dragged away, her cries and pleas growing louder with each passing second, but it was clear that Alaric’s decision would not be changed once it had been made.

When she was finally removed from the hall, the weight of the room shifted almost immediately as all eyes fell on Thalia who was next.

Thalia was trembling so violently it looked as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over her.

Her face had gone pale, and her breathing came in uneven, shallow gasps as she tried and failed to steady herself under the pressure of every watching eye.

Rosalind looked at her, uncertain whether anger or pity should come first in her heart.

If Thalia could not even face punishment, why had she done something so cruel to her in the first place?

Verity who was standing nearby, could not say she was entirely surprised. She had harboured doubts about Thalia from the beginning, though those doubts had slowly shifted into reluctant trust when she began to believe Thalia simply wanted to belong and had grown weary of Sabine’s influence.

Now, that belief felt fragile.

Sabine stood further back, her expression unreadable, though her thoughts were far from calm... As she had pushed Thalia into this, using threats to force her compliance, and now all she could do was hope Thalia would not speak.

Thalia, meanwhile, looked utterly broken, too terrified to speak or even breathe properly.

Then there came a faint sound, followed by another... and slowly, every attentionin the hall dropped downward. Beneath her, water spread across the floor.

She had lost control of herself in fear.

A faint, almost entertained smile curved Alaric’s lips as he watched from his throne, as though the scene unfolding before him was nothing more than a spectacle meant for his amusement.

And without further delay, Thalia’s punishment began.

The guards moved forward and forced her down, holding her in place as she struggled weakly beneath their grip. "Please... Your Majesty..." she sobbed, her voice breaking. "I did not mean to. I would never hurt her."

But her words meant nothing here.

An iron rod, freshly pulled from the furnace, was brought forward, glowing with heat that distorted the air around it.

Rosalind held her breath, her chest tightening painfully as the iron was pressed into Thalia’s hand.

The scream that followed was so piercing it echoed through the hall and sent birds scattering from the castle grounds outside.

Thalia thrashed against the pain, her voice breaking as the smell of burning flesh filled the air. Her eyes had gone red and glassy, locked in agony as the punishment continued without mercy.

Meanwhile, Sabine swallowed hard, forcing her expression into calm relief as she closed her eyes briefly, thankful that this had not turned back on her.

Rosalind, however, could not bear to look for long.

Her gaze shifted instead to Alaric, who still watched with that faint, unsettling smile as though none of this disturbed him in the slightest. Around the hall, every other person stood frozen in dread.

Even though Rosalind had not been harmed, she could not shake the thought that Thalia’s hand would never recover from this...

When Alaric finally decided he had seen enough, he raised his hand.

At once, the guards stopped.

Thalia’s body trembled violently as she lifted her burned hand toward her face. The skin was darkened and ruined, and the sight alone seemed to break whatever strength she had left. A moment later, her body gave out completely and she collapsed to the ground.