When Dr. Emett arrived to check on Atlas, the decision was made immediately that the king needed to be moved to the hospital. An ambulance was called, and Jacob tagged along in the vehicle as the EMTs carted him off to intensive care. It was far from his job description to be the monarch’s bedside company, but after Caspian had been killed, the guard was especially protective of the only remaining member of the royal family. Until Atlas was in a stable condition again, he was going to stay by his side.

And that was exactly what he did. While the king laid on the hospital bed in a medically induced sleep, Jacob sat in a chair by the edge of the room, watching the steady rise and fall of the sickly man’s chest. A part of him was relieved that Atlas’s first reaction hadn’t been to execute every member of the team that had been sent to rescue his son, but this wasn’t much better. He worried that when their ruler woke, he wouldn’t be the same again. Right now, Aspiria needed a strong leader, and the man tasked with the job had just lost his only child. It was a terrible place for the country to be while a civil war was still raging on outside the capital.

With a sigh, he leaned back in his thinly cushioned seat and crossed his arms. The situation wouldn’t have been so detrimental if Atlas had had a second-in-command who could take over in his absence. Unfortunately, the king was too distrusting for that. The only person who was formally permitted to pick up any of the crown’s duties was Caspian, the prince who had just been killed by their enemies. Between his loss and Atlas’s waning health, there was no one left at the top of the chain of command to govern the nation. Jacob had a feeling that from today forward, Aspiria was going to be facing more civil unrest than it had in generations.

Just as he began to wonder what would happen when their current king finally died, a voice in his earpiece caught his attention. His face fell as the interrogator confirmed that the prince was dead and that they would be unable to recover his body. It wasn’t new news, but it was the nail in the coffin that meant there was no reason to continue searching for the missing royal. “Get everything out of him that you can,” he ordered solemnly. “His Majesty wants to have him executed ASAP, so this will be the last interrogation.”

Ending the connection, he pinched the bridge of his nose, overwhelmed with the situation. He’d never been a very emotional man, but even he felt a deep sadness that this was how the royal line was going to end. Caspian had been young and had the promise to become a great king after his father. Everyone knew he had a big heart and, apart from the king himself, everyone loved the way he genuinely cared about people and seemed to feel emotions more deeply than most people did. He hadn’t deserved to have his life snuffed out by a psychopath, completely alone in a place he didn’t know.

In the same way, Atlas hadn’t deserved to lose the only immediate family he had left. Their king had brought greatness to Aspiria through his endless hard work, and in return, he’d watched his wife die before his eyes, and he’d just found out that his son had been killed by a terrorist organization. With his health on a constant decline, the guard suspected it wouldn’t be much longer before he followed in his family’s footsteps and succumbed to his illness as well. It was a tragic end for the Maydestone family.

At the sound of rustling sheets, Jacob blinked dazedly and looked up to find that Atlas had woken from his slumber. The king moaned quietly, still in pain, and the guard rose to his feet. “Do you need me to call a nurse for you, Your Majesty?” he asked.

At first, Atlas didn’t reply. His eyes were roving over the room as he oriented himself to his new location. After a moment, he seemed to understand that he was back in the hospital again. “Yes, tell her to bring me morphine, would you?”

This time, it was Jacob’s turn not to reply. Wordlessly, he pushed the buzzer to summon a nurse to the room. There was no way to ask anyone for the king’s drug of choice until they got there, but he wouldn’t have honored the request anyway. Morphine was an outdated painkiller compared to the treatments Aspiria had developed in recent years. However, there was no arguing with the monarch, so it was best to let him think he had gotten his way.

“Has the devil who murdered my Caspian been killed yet?” Atlas spoke again, his voice raspy.

“Not yet, Your Highness, but his interrogation is almost over. Once it is, I can begin making arrangements for his execution.” Jacob leaned his back against the wall as he answered the question.

“Good,” the king coughed. “I want him to suffer as he made my son suffer. Tell the executioner to behead him slowly without sedation.”

Jacob grimaced. Beheading was another outdated subject to mention, and he wondered if the king was entirely mentally present. “Are you sure, Your Majesty? The executioners usually kill criminals via firing squad.”

“Very well,” Atlas exhaled as if changing methods was a bother to him. “He shall be killed by firing squad, but they will begin with his feet.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Jacob bowed his head. The beheading probably would have been less painful for Nox-Fleuret than a firing squad that would pump his whole body full of lead, but he knew better than to keep pestering the king. Besides, the rebel deserved it after what he had done to the prince. Tucking the note away in his mind to bring up with the soldiers later, he changed the subject, “My apologies if it’s too soon for you to think about this, but… I was wondering what you plan to do now that we have more information about the rebellion.”

“Oh, I’ve already decided,” Atlas replied, his gaze darkening. “We’ve been merciful to those defectors for too long. As of right now, I’m giving you full clearance to begin working with the commanders to put an end to their tantrum. Send soldiers to every district. If any commoner seems to be even remotely connected to the Scourge, they are to be killed on site. I want the bastards to understand that if they don’t surrender, I’ll make them bow down to me by force.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Jacob dipped his head again. “I’ll make the call.” Wasting no time to fulfill his new task, he stepped out of the room while a nurse entered to take care of the king. In the hallway, he took out his phone and lifted it to his ear, preparing himself to update the military that Prince Caspian was dead and that they were under new orders to shift their approach in the war from defensive to offensive.