37. Kane
Chapter 37
Kane
I waited at the gates with Sam for Jerek to show up—lounging against the wall in an unbothered manner. My pistols were strapped to my chest again over my black coat. A knitted cap covered my head to keep the winter chill off my scalp. Bile caught in my throat again just thinking about what had happened. I’d never be able to burn the memory out of my brain of my fist harming Ash.
The guards that manned the gates didn’t so much as dare look at me. They were young, and I could see the terror in their eyes at my very presence.
Jerek finally showed up soon after, and we left the King’s estate and walked down the road toward the city. We walked in silence, a palpable tension between us. Jerek was angry with me for hurting Ash, but nothing could match my own self-loathing.
We strolled through the streets of the city, pretending to peruse the storefronts. The people looked at me and quickly turned away so they wouldn’t catch my eye. I had never cared much what these people thought of me. Cruel…evil…monster. They cared little that I brought in most of the blondes; they even praised me for it. What they had heard were stories of my cruelty with their sons, nephews, and brothers who came to the King’s academy. My training methods were vicious at best—whatever I had to do to prove to the King I was one worthy to share secrets with.
Today, the looks hit differently. I grew tired of everyone seeing me as the monster I was. Ash looked at me differently. She wasn’t afraid, even though she had more reason to be than anybody. She made me want to forsake this place and return home to where I could be myself and not…this.
We found ourselves in a bar with a rowdy crowd until night finally fell, still not exchanging so much as a word. In the cloak of darkness, we made our way to the abandoned apartment building surrounded by the gates that I hated. They stood beyond the rise in the mountain around the city, masked in the cover of the overgrown trees. Before we even made it to the gates, Jerek stopped. I turned to look at him, and his fist flew out of thin air and cracked across my jaw.
“That’s for hurting her,” he snarled.
I’d been expecting it. I knew he was angry at me for hurting our Princess, whom he had grown too attached to for my liking. I deserved the blow, but only once would I let him think he had any right.
“I wouldn’t suggest you do that again,” I said, rubbing my jaw.
His nostrils flared at my threat. I guess it was time to hash this out, now that we were away from everyone, and I was sure no one had followed us.
“I thought you cared for her,” he seethed.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m trying to help her.”
“ By making her bleed ?“ He stepped toward me again, and Sam moved in between us.
“ Enough ,“ he said. “We have more important things to worry about right now. You two can hash it out on the sparring mat later.”
We glared at each other, but turned toward the building once more. There was a man who needed to be interrogated. All three soldiers hadn’t died that night, contrary to what I told everyone. The wolf had only ripped two apart when I stumbled across them on my way to find Sam and Ash. The other still lived, but he didn’t deserve to. I dragged him out here and gave his family a pile of ashes and told them there wasn’t enough of him left to bury.
I felt a twinge of remorse for my actions, but if he worked with Advisor Samson Davis Sr., then he didn’t deserve a proper burial. He deserved to burn in hell.
“Tell me again what your father said that night,” I asked Sam as we made our way into the crumbling building.
“He was trying to kill her. He said it’s what the King wanted; he just didn’t know it yet.”
“How many advisors side with Davis?”
“Eight, last I heard.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Daniels turned?”
Sam nodded. “My father’s not going to give me information any longer, not after what happened. He’s always been leery of my loyalty, but now he knows for sure that I would side with the King over him.”
“Let’s see what this son of a bitch knows,” Jerek said as we strode into the room, where the man was tied to a chair.
I nodded in thanks to Caleb, who stood guard over my prisoner. Caleb wasn’t a soldier, but a civilian strapped with guns. “You can go now; we’ll take it from here.”
He dipped his chin and left to go back to his post until the next time I required his assistance. The soldier looked mangled. I would have ended his suffering sooner if he had talked the first night. A makeshift bandage covered his thigh, concealing the knife wound that I was sure Ash had left. He glared at me from under his lashes with no real heat. His eyes were glazed over from blood loss and days without food or water. I didn’t recognize him or know his name. He likely came with Davis from his territory in the South. Every advisor had an estate much like the King’s, where soldiers went to train in their designated cities. I oversaw all the soldier training in the whole of the country to keep a thumb on them, but there were thousands of soldiers that I did not know personally. We had strict regulations and curriculum that were taught at each estate to ensure soldiers were loyal only to Novum. I was to ensure they upheld these standards, but it got a little skewed at each advisor’s estate.
“Want to tell me what you were doing working for Advisor Davis instead of following the laws of King Maximus?” I asked, striding over to him.
He looked at me but didn’t respond. The hard way, then . I bent over and pushed my thumb into the knife wound on his thigh, and he cried out in pain. A bead of sweat worked its way down his face until he couldn’t take it anymore .
“Fine,” he cried through clenched teeth, and I pulled my hand away. “Fine… He has a plan.”
I waited, and he didn’t say anything further. “Care to elaborate?”
He gritted his teeth and sat in silence. I huffed out a sigh and drew the knife from my belt. So predictable. I pressed the tip of my knife into the wound, splaying his leg further open. As I pressed further into his leg, the soldier stared at me with hard eyes until he could no longer take the pain.
“He believes the King has become weak,” he spat and I pulled my knife out–a fresh stream of blood oozing down the soldier’s leg. “Allowing a blonde-haired Princess into his house to one day take the throne. It’s disgusting. She deserves to be with the rest of those freaks, dead or in the Pit. If the King can’t even control his own son and granddaughter, how are we supposed to trust him to lead the country?”
Self-righteous bastard seemed like he was gloating.
“So, what does Davis intend to do?” I asked.
His eyes flicked to Sam and then back to me. “The Dark Rise.”
The extremist group that resided in the city? I’d heard the name before, and I knew their intentions were to eradicate the blondes. I also knew that Davis had ties to the group. “They’ve been around forever, but have never been a threat,” I said.
“Davis is riling them up. More people are joining. Word is spreading of the Princess, and people are angry at the King.” Not any new information.
“So, they plan to assassinate the King?” I asked, flipping the knife in my hand.
His eyes flicked to the knife before returning to mine. “No, not yet. They still respect him, but Davis and a few other advisors that are still here are trying to convince him to change his ways. It might get ugly.” Still nothing I didn’t already know.
“What about Etan?” Jerek asked.
He shrugged. “No one knows where his loyalty lies, yet. He plays both fields.” I closed my eyes to compose myself, rubbing the spot between my eyes. That’s what I was afraid of. Etan didn’t even know where he stood, and that made him dangerous. But why would Maximus appoint him as an heir if he didn’t believe he would maintain Novum the way he wanted? Either Etan was lying to Maximus, or he was lying to Ash. I couldn’t decide which it was.
“Was it only you three working for Davis?” I snapped, glancing back up.
He looked at me with hard eyes. “You doing this for the King or you want to ask me what you really want to know?”
I yanked my gun out of the holster and pointed it at his head still holding the knife in my other hand.
“Do it. There’s no way I’m walking out of here alive, anyway,” he said with a slight tremor in his voice.
I let the impassive mask slide over my face and the cold engulf my unfeeling heart. “You’re right, but I can either make it quick and painless, or I can make sure it’s as painful as possible.”
He paused for a minute before he spoke. “It was only the three of us… We came from Copper Basin with Davis.” It looked like I needed to make the rounds to all the advisors’ cities to make sure protocols were being followed. I glanced at Sam, and he nodded. Sam knew the soldier, and that meant he was telling the truth.
“Everyone says you’re a bastard, but I thought you’d have a little mercy, seeing as how we were only trying to take care of a blonde and you’re the biggest advocate to their downfall. ”
I smashed my fist into his face to show him just how much of a bastard I was, then put my gun back up to his head. “I side with the King. They should be locked up and used as the Kingdom sees fit, not killed.” Even saying the words made bile rise in the back of my throat again.
“And you…” he raged, his eyes landing on Sam. “No wonder your father never trusted you.” He muttered insults under his breath, and I shoved the gun under his chin and yanked his hair back. “ Enough,” I seethed. His nostrils flared and his eyes glowed with hatred. I could feel the hatred where my hand grazed the skin on his scalp. I could also feel the honesty in his words—he wasn’t lying and he beamed with pride at his own actions.
“What about the other night?” I asked. “What happened?”
“You mean the freak of a Princess?” He loathed her. The hunger for her death was as tangent as the ache for the approval of Advisor Davis.
I whipped the gun across his face, leaving him with a bloody cheek. He spit blood on the ground and swore. “She was faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. Davis wanted us to catch her, and she came at us out of nowhere. We didn’t even see her coming.”
“How’d she give you that?” I glanced down at the wound on his thigh.
He shook his head in embarrassment. “Took my knife. I tried to stop her, but every time I reached for her, she moved. Like—like she knew exactly where I was going to attack.”
The gears worked in my head. It made sense. She could see the attacks coming, but with me, she played dumb. But then, that would mean… She threw herself in front of my fist on purpose.
Sharp, hot anger flooded my chest. I was livid with her, and she was about to see my temper for the first time.
“Jerek,” I snapped. “Go back to her room. I’ll be there shortly.”