“Kallias is going to explode on me at any moment. He’ll have me thrown into prison until he decides on the proper day and manner for killing me. He’ll—
Kallias laughs so loudly and abruptly, I nearly topple out of the armchair. He has his hands on his knees while his whole body shakes from the force of the laughter. What the devils?
Did I break the king?
He manages to straighten after a moment and look over at me, but then his face contorts and he’s back to uncontrollable laughter.
I feel my limbs grow tight, my face grow hot, anger pooling into every muscle.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I snap, shouting over the top of his laughter. He wasn’t even this bad when he read Orrin’s love letter.
He says something I can’t quite make out, then rubs tears from his eyes and tries again. “You killed him!” He throws his head back and laughs and laughs.
And somehow, I know that I’m not in trouble. How can I be if he’s this jovial over the fact?
I could deny it. Plead on my behalf. But Kallias isn’t stupid. Though the constable doesn’t have enough evidence to convict me, Kallias knows the truth of it.
“I’ve an inclination to kill again,” I say, glaring at him.
Kallias props himself up on the nearest wall of books, catching his breath. Once he’s calm, he strides over to me and places his gloved hands on either side of my head.
“My little hellion. Quite the force to be reckoned with, aren’t you? Oh, say you’ll marry me, Alessandra!”
I swallow, thoroughly confused. “You’re not going to hang me?”
“Hang you?” he repeats, letting his hands fall to his sides. “The man did you wrong, Alessandra. Honestly, you’ve saved me the trouble of tracking him down and killing him myself.”
―
Tricia Levenseller,
The Shadows Between Us
