The Queen of All that Dies (The Fallen World, #1)

by Laura Thalassa

“No, I’m just stating a fact.” I have to coax my voice to sound normal. “Just like you hating me is also you stating a fact.” “Exactly.” “Good,” he says. “Now I know that you have absolutely no idea what a fact is.”

“You can’t have me Montes! Not ever!” “My king,” a voice near me says, “should we administer the sedative?” “I will never forgive you!” I shriek. “You hear me? Never!” “I think that would be best.”

“Goddamnit, Montes, you can’t control everything—that’s not how the world works.” “It’s how my world works.”

“I want you to leave me the hell alone.” He grasps my jaw and holds it firmly, and in the dim moonlight I can just barely make out the shine of his eyes. “That is the one thing I cannot do.”

I shake my head. “No. No, no—” “Yes,” Montes says to the doctor that’s trying to hand me a hospital gown. I fold my arms. “You’re going to have to force that thing on me.” A doctor’s appointment, that’s what Montes had in mind this evening. The king was right not to say anything earlier. I’m practically shaking from nervousness. Most people don’t fear the doctor; they have no reason to. I do. War has given me plenty of reasons to. “If I must.” Montes casts a lazy glance at the two guards who stand on either side of the doorway. “Guards, why don’t you help your queen remove her clothing?” I flash them a heated look. “You touch me, you die.” Five minutes later, I’m screaming as Montes and his guards hold me down. The doctor has a pair of scissors poised over the thin cotton of my shirt. “Fine, fine! I’ll put on the goddamn robe, just get your hands off of me!” I will say this for Montes, his methods may be inhumane, but they are effective.