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The King Tiffany Reisz 14960K 2023-09-03

Alone in his bedroo alone, but his exhaustion was profound He ached all over froave hiiven hi--worse than Sam’s lie and worse than Felicia’s erotic brutality--was the sisley didn’t know anything about Saretted it

He fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow, but terrible dreams poisoned his rest In one dream he was a prisoner in his own bed, and it burned all around him In a second dream some faceless enesley had sixty seconds to find him and save him before he was shot The dream morphed a final time, noas the prisoner, and a man stood before hisley’s throat, tightening it until he couldn’t speak, couldn’t fight, couldn’t breathe

He ith a cough that wrenched his lungs and his stoh of it Finally the coughing fit ended, and on shaking legs he got out of bed It wasto his clock He’d slept an hour and a half, and yet it seehtes stayed with hied on his pants He tried to banish thehts, but the panic stayed with him He almost called Søren to reassure himself the dream of Søren’s captivity and i but a dream

Alcohol That’s what he needed He hadn’t hadFelicia He’d been drunk on her body and her pain for a month But he should drink now--heavily

He pulled on a shirt but didn’t bother buttoning it He walked down the back servants’ staircase to the wine cellar behind the kitchen Wine ht, but he discovered all the hard liquor in the house had disappeared Søren’s doing? Or Sa child these days He wouldn’t put it past either of them to hide the liquor Fine He’d drink wine A bottle of pinot would put him to sleep and subdue his restless h the dark kitchen He flinched when light suddenly infiltrated the roo a hand to his eyes "Who is it?"

"Me," Sam said She quickly came into focus "I heard footsteps and Oh, sley sat the bottle on the kitchen table and started to button his shirt But it was too late Sam had already seen him, seen the bruises and welts Felicia had left on hi here?"

"It’s not nothing Who the hell did that to you?"

Saht her wrist in his hand His head had cleared completely now, and he saw the look of fear on Sam’s face Fear? Of him? Or for him?

"Nobody," he said "And you didn’t answer ," she said "I got the financials fro?"

"I’ this conversation with you until you tell me why you look like someone beat the shit out of you," Sam demanded She looked tired, too, as tired as he probably looked

"Non," he said "Forget you saw anything"