Chapter 16

The king’s bedroom smells of camphor and tallow candles.

The drapes are pulled closed making the room feel oppressively heavy and dark.

There are two nurses at his side. They bow to me and exit through the only other door, one hidden behind a large tapestry that leads straight to the healer’s quarters.

Since he slipped into a coma two months ago, King Hald has been under constant watch.

I go to his bed and sit on the wooden stool left by one of the nurses. On the bedside table, a candle, in its bronze holder, flickers with my movement, the flame going sideways.

The dancing light casts eerie shadows over the dying Everland king.

His head is nestled in a dip in his feather pillow, the thick brocade blanket pulled up to his neck. His mouth is hanging open and every breath he takes makes his chest sink in, and then rattles his lungs on the exit.

“When will you wake up?” I whisper. “I am like a fly caught in a web and I can’t help but feel you helped spin it.” I laugh, but it’s full of despair. “Perhaps that is too harsh. I knew what I was signing up for. I just never could have foreseen this.”

I reach over, gripping his thin arm through the blanket. “Please, Hald. I need you more than ever. I don’t know what to do.”

The flame flickers again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the tapestry lift as the door opens. Footsteps sound on the stone floor.

Hally comes into the bloom of light cast by the candle.

He looks so much like his father — mildly handsome with thick blond hair, a sharp jaw, a thin Everland nose and dark, deep brown eyes.

When I married his father, we were the same age, Hally and I. His father was twice our age and chronically ill with disease.

But then Hald recovered, and then he stopped aging.

That’s when the whispers began. That the king had struck a deal with the fae. Or maybe he drank from a fairy fountain. Or the worst, that he married a witch, meaning me.

Hald quickly squashed the rumors by declaring himself marked by the gods. And who would ever be bold enough to call a king a liar?

Once the gossiping quieted, I thought we were safe, even though Hally made it quite clear he still thought me either a con-woman or a witch.

I didn’t think his opinion mattered because he’d be long dead before his father.

I should have known better. Hally is too resourceful, too ambitious.

If his father wasn’t going to age, then neither was he.

I haven’t a clue how he managed it though.

I have my suspicions. Just no concrete proof.

“Your Majesty,” he says and gives me a shallow bow.

“Your Highness,” I say in return.

Hally goes to the foot of the bed and leans against the thick post, crossing his legs at the ankles. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he says.

“I’m sure.”

“I overheard you pleading with my father to wake, that you didn’t know what to do. But dear stepmother. I am here for you. I know it must be difficult, running this country as a woman. It is a job that was never meant for the more fragile sex.”

I roll my eyes.

“Step down and allow me to fill the role of co-regent and you can return to your leisure time.”

The nerve of this asshole.

I let go of Hald and stand up, shoulders and back straight. “If the role was never meant for a woman, then why did your father revise the royal code? Why did he make me heir to the throne in the event of his…” I swallow. “His incapacitation or departure?”

This, this is the web I am trapped in.

Once Hally stopped aging, Hald accused him of courting the vermes and changed the line of succession, giving the throne to me.

I thought he would be around forever and saying yes wouldn’t matter. I thought I could help him, no matter what danger or treachery he faced.

I was wrong.

Now, not only is Hald in a coma, but everyone in court is looking at me like I somehow caused it because I am the one who stands to gain the most.

But I didn’t do this.

I never wanted to rule. I saw the stress the highest seat in the land caused my husband.

You would be a fool to want that position.

I could do as Hally asks — I could denounce my position and hand over the reins to him. But I made Hald a promise.

That, and I’m not entirely sure having Hally in charge is for the good of the land.

Why must I have a conscience?

Everland has never loved me. So why the hell do I feel a responsibility to it?

I look over at Hald as he struggles for another breath.

Perhaps, in some way, my responsibility is to him.

He is a decent man. Despite the way I came to be his wife, he still always treated me with respect and decency.

It’s more than I can say for James or Roc.

In fact, Hald and I never even consummated our marriage because Hald knew I didn’t feel that way about him and I was more than happy to look the other way when he took on one or more mistresses.

“The answer is simple,” Hally finally says.

“And what’s that?”

“My father wasn’t in his right mind.”

I snort.

“Either that, or you twisted his mind.”

“I would never, so you have no proof.”

“It’s only a matter of time, Wendy.” He bites out my name like it’s a curse and I sense the approaching spider.

I turn for the door. “I’ll leave you to your private time with your father. Good day, Your Highness.”

“I look forward to getting to know our special guests tonight. I’m sure they’ll have much to say about their old friend Wendy Darling.”