The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (best novels to read .txt) 📕

you saying this is caused by my own body?” the king asked threateningly, possibly ready to kill me if he thought I would lie.

Tears escaped my eyes. I heard Hadley’s voice come out of me again, though I couldn’t recall if any of the past words had been hers or mine.

“I don’t know what caused it, but it wasn’t me,” I said as I wept. “Please believe me.”

He struck me again.

I lost all hearing for a moment as I felt the world spin around me.

“You’re a liar!” he yelled.

“I swear on the life of my parents and on Valinox himself. Let the demigod come here and strike me down if I lie in his name. There is no curse that I have heard of that would do such a thing.” I had to stop, my throat closing as I cried. I swallowed and forced the next words out. “I was trying to make this work for you, your majesty. I was nervous, yes, but I wanted to please you.”

I found more of my strength and cleared the lump completely from my throat. Holding down the bile in my stomach, I put on a sweet expression as I looked into his eyes.

“We could try longer, if you’d like, but there will be people looking for me by now. If we don’t end soon, I will need to think of a lie.”

He looked at me, then at himself. I kept my eyes up and away from his disgusting genitals. I wasn’t sure I could keep my vomit down much longer.

He pushed himself up. “Get dressed and get out.”

I finally awoke from the dream. I—Jon Oklar—was finally out.

I felt paralyzed as I lay on my back. Holy hell, I muttered internally.

I was sweating. I felt sick to my stomach.

I looked over at Hadley. She sat up suddenly, so I did as well. The embers of our fire gave her face long shadows. I couldn’t make out her eyes, but I could hear her breathing hard. It matched my breath.

“Did you just have a nightmare?” I asked.

She took a sharp breath. “Don’t tell me you felt that?”

I didn’t see any benefit to lying. “I did.”

“How much?”

“All of it, I believe.”

“Oh,” she said sadly. “Oh no…I was worried that might happen.”

“All of that really occurred, just like in the nightmare?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“So that’s the real reason you left? You weren’t just sick of cursing innocent people?”

She hung her head. “Yes.”

I didn’t mind the lie. I didn’t know how I could when the truth was so terrible.

“I was certain he would figure out that he was cursed soon enough,” she said. “And he would’ve raped me if I’d removed the curse, or killed me if I didn’t. I had to get out of there. It’s true that I was sick of cursing innocent people. I had wanted to leave for some time, but I had always been too afraid of being caught. Only after that incident was I more afraid of what else he would do to me. I had to tell many lies, including to my family. It was the only way I could get out of there without being stopped by anyone.”

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen,” she said.

The king knew her age when he ordered her into his room, or he just didn’t care. I hadn’t heard much about Frederick Garlin. All I knew was that he seemed to be working with Valinox to help the spread of dteria, and this was the reason Valinox was assisting him in this war. I didn’t know what kind of plan or perhaps competition Frederick had had with the late king of Lycast, Oquin Calloum, who also seemed to be in the business of helping Valinox spread dteria. Whatever it was, the king I served seemed to be their worst enemy, but apparently I was starting to become a threat to them as well.

Hadley had been a target for different reasons. Frederick seemed like the kind of man who would want vengeance. Had he figured out what she’d done after she left?

“I’m more than just a traitor,” Hadley was telling me as I thought through all of this. “I cursed the king and denied him a certain act that he demanded from many women serving him. I had seen what he had done to the others who had denied him. He didn’t just kill them. He mutilated them. I’m sure he would do even worse to me if he caught me now.”

“Is he still cursed after all this time?”

“No, there is a limit to both the duration and range of a curse. Once one limit is reached, it fades away. Both are dependent on the strength of the curse, which depends on the ingredients used and the power of the witch. The curse faded after I got out of there. That’s why I’m sure he knows the truth about what I had done.”

There was still so much to learn about curses, it seemed. I felt a little foolish for not having asked sooner, but I was angry after what she had done to Kataleya’s father.

“Doesn’t Frederick have a wife and children?”

“Yes, and I’m sure they are aware of his indiscretions, but he has Valinox on his side. He cannot be stopped by anyone now, and he knows this, so he does whatever he wants.”

I fed the fire to chase away the cold. “Except for us,” I told Hadley.

But as the fire grew, I could see that she was shedding tears quietly as she looked at me.

“You don’t believe he can be stopped?” I asked, figuring this was the reason she cried.

She wiped her eyes, then stared into the fire for a long time. When she looked at me again, with a hauntingly sad expression, her answer was clear. She just didn’t want to say it aloud.

“We should go back to sleep,” I suggested. There was nothing I could do for her right now. Perhaps after she got to know me better she might give the right answer. We