He looked away, but not before she saw the horror in his dark eyes. “I heard some stories from others. But I never saw anything myself.”

“Stories or bragging?” she asked him.

His face turned bright red. “Bragging mostly.”

She didn’t even want to contemplate what they’d said. It wasn’t often someone was given a free reign to brutalize a member of the aristocracy with impunity. “I promise you the stories you heard didn’t do the reality justice. When he came to power, Darling only attacked the ones who’d hurt him. It’s why you’re still a captain and why he never went after you. I’m going to wager that you never once did him harm.”

His gaze told her that she’d guessed correctly. “What about the gerents, then? Why are they rebelling against him?”

“They’re angry that Darling changed the amount of time they can work their employees into the ground. All of this was caused by that one, simple thing.” She gestured down the hall that led to where she’d left Hauk and Fain. “You’ve seen the men and women who’ve come in here to protect and watch over Governor Cruel. Do you know who and what they are?”

“I’m not sure. But I think I heard a couple of them say Sentella and Tavali.”

“Exactly. Do you truly think they’d protect a monster?”

“Yeah, I wondered about that.”

“You shouldn’t,” she assured him. “I promise you, they would be the first to kill Darling if he was the animal the media said he was. For that matter…” She lifted the hem of her dress to show him the small blaster she had sheathed in an ankle holster. “I’ve been armed since His Majesty was attacked in his office. I stay awake while he sleeps. If he were hurting me in any way or posing a threat to our people, I promise you, I would have killed him myself.”

“The news says that he’s brainwashed you.”

She scoffed. “Do you really think that?”

“But I’ve heard you scream while you’ve been here. A lot.”

Heat stung her cheeks again. “It wasn’t from pain. I assure you.”

“What about all the blood in your room and his that the housekeepers clean up on a daily basis?”

“It’s not mine, and it never has been mine. It’s from the governor when we change his bandages or he gets nosebleeds… which he gets a lot.” She left off a couple of other causes since she doubted Darling would want a stranger to know his business. “Not one drop of the blood has ever belonged to me. A simple DNA test will show that.”

There was still doubt in his eyes.

She opened her mouth to further allay his fears, but before she could speak, something shattered loudly. At first she couldn’t tell where it came from.

Not until Fain and Hauk jumped to their feet, then kicked in Darling’s door.

In that instant, she knew.

Darling was under attack.