Chapter 31 – Eisel the Usurper

The Bramble Slasher trembled in Lillia’s hands, its blade pointed toward Eisel as the white text hung between them like a death sentence.

[Vanquish Eisel the Usurper.]

Lillia turned away from the knights and leveled the Bramble Slasher at Eisel. Behind her, metal scraped against metal. Eisel raised one hand. The knights stopped at once.

“Your Highness,” Eisel said. His gaze lingered on the blade of the Bramble Slasher before he looked pointedly at the text in front of Lillia. “You aren’t going to start listening to that thing now, are you?”

Lillia adjusted her grip on the polearm. It felt heavy all of a sudden, like it was trying to bow down to the man in front of her.

“Lillia. Princess.” Eisel raised his hands and mocked surrender. He had a new cloak on. It matched the one he had given Lillia, down to the cut, clasp, and quiet sense that it belonged around someone else’s throat. “You don’t need to fight me. And if you did, I can guarantee it wouldn’t go well.”

Her back foot slid, ruining the stance Havoc had drilled into her. In another inch, she would not be fighting Eisel so much as falling open in front of him.

“Well…” Her voice was trembling. There had been a lot of horrible things in the dungeon. The dungeon had been gross, slimy, and mean. Occasionally, it had managed all three at once.

Eisel had seemed kind the first time they met. Manipulative, yes, but kind in the way court people could be kind when they wanted something.

Now, looking at him made sweat gather under her collar.

“Well, you’re—you’re in my way and…” Dammit. Every argument she formed collapsed before it reached her mouth. Each second Eisel spent staring at her shoved her protests further and further down her throat until they boiled in her stomach.

Lillia swallowed nothing.

Eisel lowered his hands.

“Good girl, Princess Lillia. You’re not going to fight me. It would just be dumb. There’s nothing you could do.”

The crystal-filtered firelight flickered on the Bramble Slasher’s blade as it shook in Lillia’s trembling hands.

“Luckily for you, your Highness, you have something I want.”

Lillia tried to take a step forward. She flickered her gaze between Eisel and the command.

[Vanquish Eisel the Usurper.]

She couldn’t do it.

The space between them was open stone. No barrier. No spell she could see. Nothing but a few steps of polished floor.

Lillia still could not cross it.

That was worse.

She felt her grip loosen on the Bramble Slasher. It sat in her fingers instead of her palms. Helpless. Useless.

“So are we willing to listen now, Your Highness?” Eisel took a step forward. The cloak flowed behind him, carried by a wind that didn’t exist. The hairs on Lillia’s neck stood on end.

Lillia checked the words again.

“Stop looking at them,” Eisel commanded. His voice boomed through the room, cracking like thunder off the walls.

Lillia obeyed. She shivered, but she obeyed.

“There we go. You don’t need to heed their words,” Eisel said. He took another step forward, Lillia braced but still wasn’t ready for it.

“I need the hearth,” Lillia said.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Please. A hearth?” Eisel chuckled. The laughter was so much deeper than his usual voice. “Lillia, I can do so much more than a hearth. Just listen to me, pet. You’ll realize the hearth is meaningless.”

Lillia swallowed. No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t meaningless. Havoc needed it. She needed it.

A second voice slipped into Lillia’s thoughts. Or maybe it was her voice, and defiance was the stranger.

He was right, it said. She should listen. This would all be easier if she went along with it.

Lillia sagged.

The Bramble Slasher clattered to the stone floor.

Everything was so heavy.

All of this was so hard. She should just listen to someone in charge.

After all, what could she do about it?

Eisel was close as the sound of metal ringing off stone faded from the room. He leaned in to Lillia. “You’re lucky you were born so privileged. Think of what you have done so far. Even just in here.”

He was behind her now, circling. If Lillia’s will to fight was dying, Eisel circled it like a vulture.

“Getting to the third floor is your greatest triumph, isn’t it? The one thing you’ve done for yourself.” Eisel clicked his tongue. “But if you think about it, Your Highness, you’ve had so much help. So many people putting in the effort. Same as it was up there. You’re just a figurehead.”

The air around Eisel was thick as velvet and just as smothering. Each breath Lillia took seemed to stop halfway into her lungs.