We reach over to his apartment, and not bothering to use the hidden key keeps it for when he's drunk or for me when I'm really drunk.
I pick out the lock using swooping movements from the picklock. Helena has her eyebrows raised, but said nothing. We open the door, and I call out, "Dewey?"
No answer.
I look for the living room where there are two duvets meant for chatty courtiers or long hours lounging with drinks. The small kitchen only holds two pots, a small fireplace, and a kettle to warm water.
I go up to the bedroom, there is not one on the bed but one sitting against the wall staring at the empty space. His eyes catch on me and then the princess by my side, but he doesn't seem to focus on her. She crunches up his brow. "Taj?"
His voice is husky and slightly surprised, as if he didn't expect me. "We were supposed to meet at the pub."
I take a long, fast steps, crouching down to lightly slap him to wake him up. I look at his dilated pupils. "Are you drunk or high?"
He scrunches up his brows and thinks, "Both? Neither?"
I'm fighting an eye roll. Only a man would cover up a murder and then go get drunk.
"Why do you say that? A slap or bucket of water."
side of my eye, I see that Helena is fighting to grasp it, the implication that I'm about to violently sober my friend up. He purses his lip, his finger on his chin. "I don't want to drench my new carpets, so slap."
I hoist them up on his feet, our noises brush. he leans over, his breath close to mine, and his mouth is on me?
I barely have time to think before Helena tries to hoist me out of his grip when I realize he's holding a dagger to my throat. "What the hell are you doing, Dewey?"
"I'm so sorry, but the bounty on your head is high, and I have debts. Now that I see you have the princess, you can give her up, and I'm sure your crime will be forgiven." His hand is still on my neck although the knife is not pressed into it, I still feel the sting of betrayal.
"But not hers!" I bellow. "You know what they will do to her."
He sharply nods and shakes his head. "She's a princess, she can live through this. You can't. They will take off your head for this." He gives Helena a slight acknowledgment, wondering how much she knows. The sharp glare that she returns to his gaze probably tells him only he needs to know.
The cold steel to my throat slightly loosens, but his grip is firm. I could disarm him in minutes, but he is my friend. I thought I could trust him.
"You were the one who told the guards we were at the pub."
He removes the knife between us and brings his mouth inches from mine. not answering my question. "Are you really staking it all for a fuck with a princess? Come on."
I nearly roar, "She's not another fuck!"
I inch closer to the knife, welcoming it and the pain to my body. Helena tugs on my hands silently to back away from this fight, but I won't.
I grip his neck, holding it into the air, slamming it into the wall. He winces against the impact, but I don't care because I do it again. This time there is blood drawing from the back of his neck.
"Say something like that again about her, and I really will kill you. I don't care how many years we've been friends."
I dropped him to the floor, and he slacked like a rag doll, not able to walk without a master to talk through.
Helena's panicked eyes bug around the room. "We have to go!"
We turn to go to find another way out of town. But when we rebound to the entry door, the king of the realm, Lord of Malp, and Helena's Dad stand between us and the door.
-----
I've known the king for as long as I've been in this country. I've known cruelty as long as his joy. But above all, the quickest lesson I have ever received from the king was when to hold your tongue.
"Daughter," Helena went still near me.
I reached over to her hand, linking it with mine, showing in the united front the king's expression went from cold calculation to rage. "Fool, remove your hand from my daughter, or I will remove it myself."
I said nothing, I just kept my expression blank, raising my chin and not moving my eyes from his burning ones. When he took the first step towards the two of us, Helena flinch.
That was all it took to turn this rage monster into a concerned father. "Helena, if he took advantage of you, we must exact punishment for this."
Helena's eyes bounce from me to her father. Something like protectiveness rages through her, roaring to get out. "So I will go back to that wretch. You know what he did to Tara—"
His voice rang with authority, "She was heavy compensated for it."
"And those two boys, their families. Dad —"
More than rage trying to be installed into this. There was real pain to this. As if she couldn't believe that he would ignore this sort of thing.
"Your Majesty," he corrected, his cold voice rolling through the room.
The slight bouncing of steps went through the stairs. I looked, seeing Dewey scrunching up his nose from the bump that I gave him.
He halted his steps, wondering if he should return upstairs. "Dewey, my speaker," the king greeted.
I was pretty sure that he called him several times by a different name on several different occasions. So the surprised expression on his face was obvious. "You will have your price at the picking for this, my friend. Consider your price doubled if you will help me."
Dewey's eyes brightened greedily, taking in his words, then they turned to me. His guilt laying heavy on him, but I blocked it all out and let it fester inside him.
The king unlatches the door, letting entry for several city guard watches filled with heavy armor into the room. Among them was the same guard that saw us at the bar, his eyes narrowed on me. I put myself in between the guards and Helena.
I nearly flinched at the anger resonating from the action I did all the way back to her father. The nerve on his forehead looks like it's going to burst any minute. He roared, "Secure my daughter, kill the jester."
Helena screeched, still tucked under my arm, "No!"
The guards only hesitated for one second, seeing the command and the authority of the princess, but they attacked nonetheless.
One drew closer to the princess, ripping her from my arms as the other locked me between him and his sword. His sword was sharp against my back, but while his armor kept him safe, it made him slow, so I let the sword rip through my clothes, and with one quick movement, I was moving towards Helena. His grip on me was unyielding, still keeping me trapped.
The other guard by his side seemed slower, and an idea reached my head.
I took the skull of one guard, banging it against the surface of the armor of the other. The clatter sent both of them falling into tangled limbs. In the chaos, I was free to knock out the third guard. He drew his sword, putting himself between him and my girl.
I was a fucking wraith, and he was a man with a pointy shiny sword.
Something caught on the ripped fabric on my back. The same fucking knife that was there not a few minutes ago was on me. Literally ready to stab me in the back.
"I'm so sorry, Taj," he whispered into the shell of my ear. I thrashed against him, meaning to give him one good hit.
He gave me one kiss on a cheek before knocking me out. The last thing I saw was Helena rushing towards me, holding me, yelling for anyone to help.