Chapter Kaitlyn
KAITLYN
Linton has been banished from the kitchen. Or rather, his help is no longer needed, so it means he has to haunt the stairwell outside, peeping in occasionally because no matter what the weird skeletal monks said, he will not leave me.
For monks, they have surprisingly little staying power because they gave up within half a day and allowed him to lurk on the understanding he wouldn’t enter the kitchens and would provide some unspecified labour after I’d finished for the day.
I have to say, waking up surrounded by bread buns perched literally on every available surface was one of the weirdest things which has happened to me, both in the Yeavering and back beyond the veil.
Well, not the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing is Linton, but the sight of his concerned face, which broke into the biggest of smiles the second he saw me, was one of the best things I’ve seen in my life.
How did my creepy mothman make my heart pound and my head spin in this way?
And boy, did he get me into so much trouble with the rest of the kitchen staff, who genuinely thought he had killed me. Now they’re avoiding me like the plague. Which, given how they accepted his presence yesterday, is not amusing me in the slightest.
Further, the baked goods I’m producing are going down an absolute storm. Everyone wants more. So, they’re happy to accept what I can provide, but they are not prepared to accept my mothman.
Linton does not deserve such treatment just because he is different. Everyone has their differences. So many creatures eat different things, behave in different ways, and yet, when they’re needed, or they can be used, all of that is forgotten and they become wanted.
One of the more senior members of the kitchen staff elbows me as I make my way through the narrow passage which splits the prep kitchen from the main kitchen.
“Do you mind?” I say, knowing she’s doing this because we’re out of sight of Linton.
“I don’t mind, monster lover,” she spits. “Do you?”
“Yes, I do mind. Linton is not a monster, and if you took the time to get to know him, you’d realise that,” I respond.
“I have no desire to be his next victim or his lunch,” she retorts.
“And yet, there was a time in the Yeavering when Blucaps were wanted and their diet was offered willingly.”
“That time has gone, since they proved themselves to be killers in the Night Lands.”
“And who was responsible for that? The Bluecaps or the Faerie? You do know most of the Bluecaps were wiped out in the wars, don’t you?”
The way she hesitates, I see she does not know.
“And what did you do in the wars?” I demand.
She pushes past me, going through to the prep room.
“Because he fought,” I call after her, “and it took his soul.”
My words ring through and I hear complete silence, as if the rest of the kitchen has been listening. I decide I’ve had more than enough for today, and given I was one of the first working this morning, the monks cannot complain if I stop now.
I dump the collection of dishes I’m carrying and pull off my apron before heading for the stairway where Linton lurks.
“Did you mean that?” he asks as I turn the corner and he pulls me into his arms. He opens and closes his wings a few times, scales falling from them as he nuzzles into my hair. “About me not being a monster?”
I pull back to look at his face. “Of course I do. You are not a monster, Linton. You are you.”
I snuggle back against his warm skin, luxuriating in his soft, biscuity scent. Linton absolutely smells the best.
“The wars were not for everyone,” he says quietly. “The reason the Faerie chose me, and the Wyrm, and the Barghest were because we were able to fight. Even if we didn’t want to.”
“I know.” I ball up a fist because anger flows through me like water. “But not everyone in the Yeavering had to let the Faerie do what they wanted. They could have stood against them. They were not helpless, and if they didn’t actively oppose the Faerie, then they consented to what they did.”
“The Faerie were powerful,” Linton says.
“And where are they now?” I growl.
He looks at me and does one of his long, slow blinks.
“You make my heart hurt, my Kaitlyn,” he says. “I don’t understand why.” His clawed hand curls under my chin, and he dips his head, his lips brushing mine. “It hurts even more when I do this.”
I feel my own heart crumble. I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be falling for him or for anyone in the Yeavering.
“I’m in the Yeavering to complete a mission for the human resistance,” I blurt out. “I’m here to bring about the downfall of the Faerie and to stop the human lottery.”
Linton stops with his next kiss.
“Does this mean we can’t mate anymore?”
I shake my head, unable to move my jaw because it’s clenched so tightly after the admission I never thought I’d make to a single living being here in the Yeavering.
“Then your fight is my fight, Kaitlyn,” he murmurs. “And I will stay by your side until it is done.”