The King of Attolia (The Queen's Thief, #3)

by Megan Whalen Turner

As if you cared. If the attendants had felt chagrined, horrified, or foolish before, they were now feeling very, very small.

Philologos protested naively, “You said you were going to rest.” The king only flicked a glance in his direction. “I lied.”

“So far today I have pardoned people I would have preferred to exile, exiled the only member of this court that I like, and imprisoned for life a man I would have preferred to execute. I am going to the palace prison to indulge myself. I think I deserve it. You may stay here.”

“So, Relius,” he said finally, “are you ready to discuss the resources of your queen?”

It was a curious question, like an echo without a source. As if Relius had once asked the king the same question and the king was casting it back to him. Costis felt a chill travel down his spine.

Does she know that you came back to question me after she left?”

Relius had questioned the king. When he had been a prisoner of Attolia, Relius had pressed him for information about the Queen of Eddis.

Do you think I didn’t know, from the very beginning, that this was where I must end?” “Would you have served her if you did?” the king asked. “Gladly,” snarled the secretary,

the king said confidently, “You must hate her now.”

“If I were here for fifty years,” he said, gasping, “and she released me, I would crawl, if that was all I could do, to her feet to serve her.”

“So you would serve her still?” “Yes.”

“So would I.” He spoke so quietly that Costis had to strain to hear the words. It was too much for Relius to take in. He only stared.

He had raced to the king in the gardens before he knew that Eugenides was more than he appeared and before he knew that the queen loved him. What had shifted his opinion of the king? It might have been Costis’s suspicions of Sejanus, but he thought it was more likely the king’s tears, and the realization that the king, no matter how

obnoxious, suffered just like any other man, from teasing without mercy, from isolation, from homesickness.

The queen and Ornon were there. “What he tolerates, he does so for your sake, Your Majesty.” “What you are saying, Ambassador, is that he can be led, not driven.” The queen’s voice was chilly.

“Your Majesty, what I am saying is that I have never seen him driven, and rarely led either. However, if you were to twist him around your finger and could conceivably grind him under your heel in the process, you have

to know that I would be eternally grateful. I would ...

“His health was broken, Your Majesty. His constitution is not what it was before . . .” “Before I cut his hand off.”

“The wound is not serious, but he will be in real danger

there is infection, and we cannot afford to have him die.

The Thieves are not trained in self-preservation. I beg you would take my advice.”

“He has accepted certain restraints; that doesn’t mean that they no longer chafe. If they come from another

source, he might find them easier to bear.” “Why?” “Mostly because he can complain about them.” The queen nodded,

“Your whole goal in life is to make sure the king stays in bed. Has that been made clear, Lieutenant?”

“Obviously, His Majesty the king isn’t going to take direction from his attendants and would probably eviscerate them for giving it. He won’t take it from me

either, but he might, just might, be more suggestible to your advice. If he does take offense and eviscerates you, well, then not much is lost. Politically speaking,” Ornon added, “of course.”

“I suggest you try anything that works to keep him in bed, including bludgeoning him.

Do your best, Lieutenant, and don’t worry too much if he threatens to have you executed, because if you fail, it only means that it is your queen who will have your head.”

story about the wayward, self-indulgent boy who learns the error of his ways and grows up to be a model of decorum and never cuts anybody’s head off for spite.”

“I might. I remember suggesting it to Eddis any number of times.” “You wouldn’t do such a thing, my lord,” Phresine repeated calmly. “No, I wouldn’t. I hate killing people. There’s a secret you need to keep to yourself because I will have to kill people whether I want to or not. Yet another reason no sane man would choose to be king.”

“Good. My wife and I agreed that only

my wine was to be poisoned.”

“The risk that you take is too great,” Relius said, “and you gain nothing by pardoning me.” “The greatest risk was to the queen, and the

risk lay in your death, not your pardon.” Relius puzzled over this, and the king gave in to exasperation. “You don’t know what I mean. She is so strong, and you assume that strength has no end, no breaking point. You

and Teleus are among the few she still trusts enough to love, and you say yes, she should have you tortured and killed. What were you thinking?” “If she pardons peopl...

she loves will betray her and all of Attolia with her. A queen must make sacrifices for the common good,” Relius said. “And if what she sacrifices is her heart? Giving it up a piece ...

have then, Relius, but a heartless ruler? And what becomes of the common good then?” “The queen could never be heartless.” “No,” said the king. “She would die herself, Rel...

Could you not see it happening? Or is your faith in her strength really so blind? Everyone has a breaking point. Yet you never stop demanding more of her.” Re...

I thought we found your breaking point.” Eugenides winced, but he responded with a self-deprecating noise. “Ornon says, Ornon-who-always-has-something-to-say says, th...

We have flash points instead, like gunpowder. That’s what makes us dangerous.” “You don’t like Ornon,” said Relius. “I wouldn’t say that.” “Bec...

“Ornon and I have a great deal of hard-won respect for each other,” said the king. “Won how?” “Well, he almost managed to avert a war. I’ve heard he did a splendid job of working the

queen up to killing me on the spot when she caught me. If it hadn’t been for the Mede Ambassador’s timely and provoking interruption, I would have been safely dead,

He broke off as the queen appeared in a doorway opposite. “You’re awake,” he said. “Phresine is not,” pointed out the queen. “Oh?” “You gave her lethium.” “She gave it to me first.”

will be safely posted to a distant and very invisible location, far beyond the reach of his royal petulance the King of Attolia.” He nodded significantly. “Ornon promised.” The king stared dumbfounded, then

“Gen,” Aulus interrupted. “You’ve been reading since the sun came up. You’re ragged, and you need a rest.” Eugenides glanced at Costis. Costis straightened, prepared to

defend his king to the death against this huge Eddisian nanny. Aulus sighed wearily. “Gen. Go to sleep.” The king grudgingly slipped down under the covers. To Costis’s awed delight, the enormous Eddisian actually

“I nearly had them killed, every single one

of them, garroted, gutted, and dead.” Costis remembered the sick look on the king’s face and the sudden long silence in the cell. “Your captain, too?” Aulus asked. “Oh, certainly. He would have been first

in line.” He pushed his hand through his hair. “I told him I can do anything I want,” he admitted. “Ahh,” said Aulus, “I suppose he thought that was the Ki...

“There is a guardroom,” said one of the attendants pointedly as Aulus settled into a chair. “There is a guardroom, Your Highness, I am sure you meant to say,”