Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Kong
That same day…
Revenge is sacred.
Rage is best leashed.
“Are you here to threaten me?” Cairo asks, not looking up from the book in his hand as I push open his chamber door. “The king has threatened to kill me many times as well.” His tone drips with arrogance, but today I feel reckless, which is a rarity.
I barely recognised her…
I expected to catch a glimpse of the queen today at Sire’s funeral but never expected to see a woman. Of course, she is twenty now, but I was thrown when I saw her still so… fragile and tiny. So fearful of her own shadow.
It has been a decade.
I almost… fuck.
I nearly broke every order just to check on her, countless times, but I was kept busy on campaigns, heard whispers of her fractured sanity, of a regression into a child-like state, of months of hiding under her bed.
In the end, her nurses and the king himself told me that she doesn’t want to leave her wing.
Who was I to force her?
Who was I to sneak in?
On a child?
On a young girl?
But it is different now.
She is an adult. And I couldn’t stop myself from approaching her when I saw Cairo speaking to her, couldn’t ignore the way her tiny fingers flexed and unflexed with nervous energy. I couldn’t stop myself from taking my place at her back—inexplicably protective over the little queen.
‘You will fail,’ she said.
I will try, little queen.
Starting here; I step further into his chamber. “The difference is that Sire has a temper.” My presence fills the doorway with an intensity that is palpable even to me.
“You've always been the voice of reason in the king's ear.” He lowers his book, leaning back in his chair with a smooth smile curving his lips upward.
“I’m not here to reason with you,” I retort, my voice steady and unyielding. “And I'm not hot-headed enough to threaten you in public, Master.”
Or careless enough.
Or he’d be bones and ash.
Cairo raises an eyebrow, the mockery clear in his gaze. “No one can kill me. If you do, you know what will happen.”
“Yes.” I meet his calm arrogance with cool apathy. “Your Shadow assassins will be activated, and they'll tear through the royal Collective.”
“And her,” he adds, a threat creeping into his voice.
There it is.
He knows why I am here.
“Yes, they'll try,” I respond, my heart pounding against that warning, my inner creature thrashing to get free.
“You always had a soft spot for the fragile beings.” He laughs condescendingly. “Have you ever met a Shadow before, Kong? Huge Xin De males, with roaring iron blood that makes them near indestructible. I've seen one rip a man's arm off by accident... Do you understand me?”
Prick.
“There are no witnesses. If I wanted to act, by the time they realise you're missing, I’ll have her in a safe place.”
Cairo narrows his eyes. “She will not go with you… Have you read much about Gods?” he asks calmly. Unfazed by my blatant threat. I believe his arrogance will one day be his downfall.
“I am not interested in your lessons. I never have been.” Irritation flares within me but doesn’t breach my voice.
“They depend on faith to exist,” he goes on as if I never spoke.
“They have no actual power in this life. Only in the next. Man, Xin De, have the power in this life. Gods are just statues we worship. We modelled the queen after Gods. She has no real power. The queen will not go with you, Kong. She is a statue.”
Hatred sinks into my stomach.
My teeth lock to not growl.
Control. Calm. Restrain.
“That’s why you do it,” I hiss. “Cut them. You take away their will, their fight. What do your research papers and dusty scholarly journals say about conditioning a queen for The Trade? Start by cutting them? Before she is even a woman?” My voice is low and dangerous, but not volatile.
“Do you break the mind and heart on purpose? Or did you fuck up? Was she just too fragile? Or is everything on track for a subservient queen with no rebellion left?”
“Say what you actually came here to say, Kong. And then leave. I'm a very busy man,” he replies, dismissing me, but I can feel he isn’t completely indifferent, or he’d have called his Guards—my Guards—and had me removed.
It is in this moment, here, that realisation circles me, and a cruel smile forms on my lips.
He doesn’t want to die. No man does. He can’t celebrate from the grave the epic revenge that will ensue after his murder.
He has no power in The Crust, just like a Common, just like an animal; he is nothing when he’s dirt.
“You're mortal,” I point out, stepping closer, forcing his eyes upward to keep my gaze, both of us unwavering.
“My flesh is,” he concedes, but I catch the flicker of doubt in his eyes.
“Man, Xin De, have the power in this life, like you said.” I loom over him.
Larger. Battle-worn. Highest body count of any Guard.
“You're not powerful in any life but this.
That's how I know you don't want to die, Master Cairo. If I seek revenge for her, I may die. She may die. We can all die, as long as you die first. And I’ll make it slow.
Months. If you touch her again, I will make your end so long, so vividly nightmarish, you'll be merely a head and torso when your Shadows are activated. Do you understand me?”
The silence that follows is heavy, charged with the weight of my words. I can see the realisation dawning on him, slivers of trepidation creeping into his eyes.
“Have a pleasant night,” I finish, turning to leave, knowing that the seed of doubt I’ve planted will linger.
As long as she allows me, I will be her Guardian. I will do whatever it takes to protect her from any more pain. And Cairo will learn the depths of my resolve, and he will regret underestimating me.
Yes, revenge is sacred, and rage is best leashed, so both can collide when no one expects them.