Chapter 33
Kit
Ihang around the side of the palace, close to the kitchens and by the bins, waiting for Torin to let me inside.
While I’m waiting, I make a very deliberate trip through the courtyard, murmuring under my breath and leaving a string of curses in my wake.
If someone were to notice me and step out here, they’d think I was a madman.
But quickly enough, they wouldn’t think anything of me at all, all thoughts of the man they observed floating out of their head like a bubble on the breeze.
I’ve never felt like this before. Like every piece of me is thrumming with power which feels bottomless. We need to move fast and alter things while we can, as who knows if this power boost will run out.
The side door opens, revealing an empty doorway and I break into action, ignoring the flutter of nerves at entering the palace. If I’m captured here, I’ll be practically handing myself up on a plate.
So don’t get caught.
Inspiring words from Noush, who has decided to keep me company in this tense time. I can’t wait to get to know her properly, once all this unpleasantness is out of the way and we can move on to building our lives, rather than just clinging on for all we’re worth.
“The office is at the far end of this hallway, third door on the right. His majesty is apparently eating a late breakfast in the dining hall,” Torin says, keeping his voice as low as it can go.
I nod. “See you on the other side.”
I crack my fingers, ready to get to work. If I have to curse every inch of this place to set us free, I will. I’m not going to kill him, mostly because it would be too messy. But I’m going to make it impossible for anyone to walk these halls without being affected.
You would think after all that meddling Jack’s new fiancée did in my head, I might shy away from doing the same.
But after hearing what Amble and the rest of Gower’s family had to say, I’m not about to leave things the same.
Not if this is my one chance to do something useful.
I’ve spent most of my life selfishly, collecting my trinkets and fannying about and generally enjoying myself.
But I’m going to grab my unexpected boost of power and today I’m going to do something with it.
I head down a fairly regular-looking hallway that doesn’t fit with my mental image of the inside of a palace, albeit it has very high ceilings that have fancy cornicing painted gold.
As planned, I’m in one of the staff areas, so immediately start opening doors that look vaguely cupboard-like.
The first one I try is locked, and the second opens into a cleaning supply room where a confused woman lets out a squeak of surprise when I poke my head in.
The third door I try, I find a cupboard that’s brimming with freshly ironed uniforms. Grabbing whatever I come across first, I quickly add a white apron and hat to my ensemble and head back in what I’m hoping is the correct direction for the dining room.
The hallway seems to go on forever until I reach a white door at the very end, which leads to a huge, mostly empty room that’s got a pair of yellow sofas at one side, beside an ornate fireplace.
Not the dining room. But I take a meandering route through, laying curses on the carpeted floor and the door handles as I go.
The words roll off my tongue in the language I should never have been able to learn.
Rot and power flow through me in equal measure as I hear my voice muttering the words to lay curse after curse.
I stop short at the wall, leaning heavily against it as I try to breathe through the taste of decay that lies heavy on my tongue. For a second, I’m revolted at myself and what I can do. But now’s not the time for negative feelings, and I shove them violently away.
I stagger toward another door, which opens out into another room whose use I have no idea about.
There are huge paintings on the walls, but there’s not a stick of furniture despite the size of the room.
Briefly, I wonder about how much use these rooms must get.
I keep going into the next room and the next, where I give my fellow servants a little nod as they pause in their dusting to glance at me.
Still, the doorhandles receive a whispered curse.
In the next room, I finally find myself in the dining room.
The table is ornate and big enough to fit the entire crew.
On the walls are red hangings, draped in front of huge floor-to-ceiling windows.
The crew would love to have dinner in this room.
They’d probably start a competition to see who could get the most food stains all over the ugly decor.
Too bad that the room is empty. The table has been cleared and there’s no sign of the king.
Bugger.
I was hoping to sprinkle some of Aster’s special dust into the king’s eggs, but other than the faint scent of food, there’s no sign this room has been used recently.
Time for a change of plan.
Focusing my attention on the bond with Torin in my chest, I let it lead me out of the room and scurry from room to room until I reach another hallway that’s less elaborate than the rest. On the floor is an ugly burgundy carpet that’s plastered with the king’s emblem etched in gold thread.
On my right, there’s a wooden door that’s ajar, and the bond tugs me forward.
This must be the king’s study.
From here, I can just about make out the two people in the room. The king, with his hair fast going grey, and his potbelly bulging out of his suit. And the stiff-backed assistant on the other side of his desk, standing with his back to the door.
“Can’t we just increase taxes again? The blue room needs entirely new furniture, and the roof is bound to start leaking when winter comes around. This old pile is a damn nuisance, I tell you, Smith.”
“Of course, sir.”
That voice.
My legs and lungs stop working. I’m frozen in place, leaning heavily against the wall and clutching at it with desperate fingers, since it feels like my knees might buckle any moment.
I’ve never seen the king in person before. And until this exact moment, I thought I’d never even been in the same building as him.
That voice, though.
I’m swiftly realising that while I’ve never seen him before. I’ve certainly heard that voice before. I must have repressed the memory, along with most of the others that formed while I was stuck in that terrible place.
It seems that while my mind might have forgotten, my body hasn’t. I’m struck with the ghosts of old, forgotten feelings.
Icy terror, hunger, and boredom, all mixed up with concern over my brother, and worry over what might be left of us if we ever escape.
Every feeling I had over and over in a loop back in the labs, they’re all hitting me at once, making it impossible to think straight.
My heart is pounding and waves of heat and nausea roll through me as I try to breathe through the onslaught, to not throw up all over this fine, ugly carpet.
And then comes the anger. An overwhelming raw wrath that I feel right down to my bones.
It’s the impotent fury from years locked up in a place, watching my brother turn into something that’s nightmare fuel, and disappearing from our mother’s life without warning, never getting to say goodbye to her.
It strikes me just as suddenly that I can’t do this. My feet are glued to the floor, and I find it impossible to take another step.
I just... I can’t. I can’t see the face that destroyed so many lives. Not when it feels like my knees are about to collapse from under me.
Kit? It’s all right. You’re all right, Reva murmurs as though she’s standing right beside me.
This is chased by the sensation of a phantom tentacle, patting my shoulder. Finch doesn’t speak, but I can feel his reassurance through the bond. Then Aster’s there, giving me a firm hug.
And then I can scent cloves as Torin claps his hand on my shoulder and gives a comforting squeeze. There’s an odd, unwanted glimmer of concern from Jack, but I shut that shit down. It feels like he’s no longer in the city, and he’s currently heading south.
Not something I can spare any attention on right now.
“I got here before he returned from breakfast,” Torin breathes in my ear. “Dug out a couple of papers, but it looks like they’ve not kept proper records of the labs. I destroyed what I could find.”
I nod. My hands and feet are numb, and my legs are quivering uncontrollably, but I can finally take a deep breath.
“Maybe we should just burn the place down and be done with it.”
I shake my head. My brother is wiser than a lot of people give him credit for. And I agree with his suggestion that chopping the head off this particular snake would just have another one spawning in its place.
So, we destroy all evidence that the labs ever existed, and we fix the fucked up thinking inside the palace. Ol’ kingy might think people like my Reva, Finch, and Amble are less than. But I’m going to make him realise what a foolish way of thinking that is.
“How are we going to do this?” I murmur.
“Well. It seems like this is the first time he’s done work in a while,” Torin murmurs. A brown paper package appears in front of me. “I found this in a neat pile beside his desk. Maybe you can give him one of your little gifts in person.”
He drops it into my waiting palm, and I grip it tightly, hesitating for just a moment before murmuring a final curse to cover over all the others.
“I hate it when you do that in front of me,” Torin mutters. “Always gives me the willies.” He pauses. “Good work, though. You want to do the honours, or shall I?”
I take a shuddering breath in before releasing it and gripping the parcel for dear life. “I’ll do it.”
The buzzing bond in my chest bolsters me as I take a step into the king’s office.
I’m not alone here. Not like I was for so many years.
“Package for you, Your Majesty,” I say. “From one of your adoring fans.”
The secretary splutters something, but I can feel Torin right behind me, and see the moment he blows a puff of Aster’s powder into his face. Then another, directly into the smug, shiny visage of our king. His face is puffy and red, and he looks one angry tirade away from his heart giving out.
Hopefully not before my last curse can do some good.
“A gift, you say?” he says with a look of utter bewilderment at the parcel I place onto his desk. Then his face breaks into a child-like smile, and he plucks it up, greedily tearing into the paper.
My back grows slick with sweat as I wait for some reaction, some indication that the curse has taken hold. Without saying a word, he hums and hands over the parcel to his secretary while I hover there, unsure whether to retreat. But once again, I can’t seem to make my legs work.
Then there’s the sound of muted footsteps hurrying toward us along the ugly carpet, and a woman dressed in the king’s livery knocks on the study door before giving a little curtsy.
“Your Majesty, there’s a group gathered at the palace gates. Beast-borne folk in the courtyard.”
My gut twists, and I feel the sweat pooling at the small of my back. Luckily, no one has questioned why I’m still hanging around or why I look like a clammy wreck.
“Indeed?” The king gets to his feet and makes his way to the door at a leisurely pace.
“Where are the guards?” the secretary asks sharply.
“Well, the, er, people outside seem to be racing each other. So the guards are mostly... uh, placing bets on the winner.”
I follow behind as they make their way along the hallway outside, palms sweaty and heart pounding as I wait to hear the king’s reaction.
Is this the moment he roars for their arrests and locks them all up for trespassing?
Instead, though, he laughs.
It’s a small chuckle at first, one that breaks into a full guffaw once he reaches a balcony looking out onto the courtyard.
The entire crew seems to have shifted into their animal forms, and they’re causing mayhem.
Some are racing each other while others are engaged in what looks to be a ginormous game of tig.
I peer out from behind the window, my eyes narrowing in on my brother who has lost his hood at some point.
He has both tentacles out on display and is waving them around like he’s conducting the accompanying music.
“I guess, as a test of whether it worked, this is as good as any,” Torin says in a low tone.
My shoulders are so stiff with tension that my head is beginning to hurt as I wait for the king’s verdict.
“Is this a festival day we weren’t aware of?” he asks.
“I don’t think so, sir. I’ll confirm with our beast-borne representatives,” his secretary replies.
The king hums. “This reminds me, Smith, I’ve been meaning to amend the beast-borne labour laws.”
I blink as an incredulous laugh threatens to erupt out of me.
It worked.
It really worked.
I slink backward a few steps, then turn on my heel and hurry back along the corridor.
“What did you do?” Torin asks as he strides along beside me. “That wasn’t just you getting the king to forget about what he did to us, was it?”
“I changed things,” I tell him. “Made him forget all of his rotten thoughts in the hope it’ll make things better. If it worked how I intended, he’ll have forgotten everything about the labs. As well as every negative thought he’s ever held about beast-borne folk or anyone he saw as less than.”
There may be a whole lot of empty space left in his brain now that I’ve chopped out all the toxic rot.
“So rather than cutting off the snake’s head,” Torin muses as we step outside and pause there as I let the breeze waft over me, cooling my body and drying my sweat. “You’ve turned the snake into a puppy dog?”
“Something like that,” I reply. “Now, let’s just hope that it sticks.”
“Very restrained of you,” he says, causing me to let out a dark laugh.
“Well, you don’t want to know what else happens to him on the night of the full moon.” I shoot a grin in his general direction.
And then we head out toward the chaos of the courtyard.
My eyes scan past the dozens of shifters in their animal forms, gamboling about and letting out joyful cries.
Over the top of all of them, I spot a curly head of hair and a proud, grinning face.
My chest lights up with relief and joy, and somehow, I just know I’m feeling Reva’s emotions reflected back at me.
It’s like all the noise and the movement around us fades away as my focus narrows in on my mate. I stride over to her and scoop her into my arms, burying my face in her hair.
The only way I got through the last hour was by knowing that I had her and my mates-by-proxy with me while I came face to face with the cause of my nightmares.
And maybe it’s the elation talking, but right now, I’d go through the entire ordeal at the labs all over again, as long as it brought me to her in the end.