Kanin: Crystal Kingdom Part 4

"What are you doing?" I growled and tried to push him back with my legs.

"What are you doing?" he shot back, his face hovering just above mine as he stared down at me. "You started attacking me."

"I did not," I replied instantly, but then realized that I actually did remember hitting at something. So I corrected myself. "If I did, I was just protecting myself. What did you do?"

"You were moaning and freaking out, twitching your legs like a dog having a bad dream," he explained, his expression softening from accusatory to concerned. "I thought something might be wrong, so I put my hand on your armjust to check on youand you went ballistic."

I lowered my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." He let go of my wrists and moved over so he was sitting next to me. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I sat up more slowly and ran my hand through my tangles of hair.

Since there was only the one beda narrow, lumpy double mattress on a rusted iron bed frameKonstantin and I had decided to share it last night. I'd honestly considered the floor, but there were centipedes and bugs of all kinds crawling all over it, and while the bed probably wasn't a much safer bet, I knew I wouldn't have gotten any sleep on the floor.

I'd slept as near to the edge as possible, rigidly on my side, and I was acutely aware of every breath he took and every time he shifted. Five years ago, if someone had told me that I'd share a bed with Konstantin Black, I would've been too excited to believe it, but now I had no idea what to think about any of this.

"What was the bad dream about?" Konstantin asked.

"I don't remember," I said honestly, but most of my nightmares were variations of Kasper dying, or of Kennet dying, or of me killing Cyrano, or of Ridley being ripped from my arms. None of them were pleasant to recall.

I got up and slid between Konstantin and the wall to the larger area of the room. My hair tie was around my wrist, and I pulled back my hair into a ponytail. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that it had been nearly twenty-four hours since the last time I'd eaten, and I had no idea when I'd eat again.

So, without anything better to do, I dropped to the floor and began doing push-ups. My jeans and tank top were both splattered with mud that had dried and become stiff, but I was hoping the more I moved, the more mud I'd lose.

"What are you doing?" Konstantin asked.

"I'm not just gonna sit and wait for the Queen to summon us. a.s.suming she ever does summon us." I looked up at him as I worked out. "Besides, we might have to fight our way out of here."

"And you think those extra twenty push-ups will help you fight off an ogre like that Torun guy?" he asked with a smirk.

"I'm doing a hundred," I grunted but didn't argue with him.

In truth, I had no idea how we could possibly escape from here. The Omte were much too strong for us to fight hand-to-hand. If they wanted us trapped in this tower forever, then that was what would probably happen.

Konstantin got up from the bed and walked over to the window. His arms were folded over his chest, and the rising sun cast a long shadow behind him that overtook the room. When I finished my push-ups, he was still standing like that, staring through the bars.

I stood up and wiped the sweat from my brow. "I can't believe how hot it is for how early it is. How can people live like this?"

"It is actually kind of beautiful here," Konstantin said.

I went over to see what he saw. Our room was just above the tops of the trees, and from here we had a stunning view of the trees and the water below. A few birds flew by, their wings like arcs in the bright sun, and I had to admit that he was right.

"Do you think you could fit through these bars?" he asked.

"What?" I'd been looking past the window and now I turned my attention to the three thick bars that held us in the room.

"The bars." He started pushing at the stones that lined the window. "This place isn't in the best shape, so I think I could loosen a couple stones, and"he glanced over at my waist, then looked back at the width between one bar and the window frame"I think you could just squeeze through."

I leaned forward, poking my head through the bars and looking at the sheer drop many stories below to the muddy banks. The image of Kennet falling to his death flashed through my mind, and I looked away, hoping to stop the replay.

"Maybe, but then what?" I asked as I stepped back from the window. "I'll die on the way down."

"You can climb. There's grooves between the stones." Konstantin peered down. "If you climbed out carefully and went slowly, I think you could do it."

"Even if I can, what would you do?" I asked. "I'd probably just barely be able to squeeze through, and you're much broader than I am. You wouldn't be able to make it."

He turned back to me and shrugged. "So?"

"So?" I scoffed. "How will you get out of here?"

"I won't," he replied simply. "I'm the one that suggested we come here and got us into this. We don't both need to rot in this tower until the end of time."

I shook my head. "We'll come up with something so we can both get out of here together. I'm not leaving without you."

His mouth hung open for a moment, like he wanted to argue with me, but there was something in his eyesa mixture of surprise and admirationthat stopped him. He seemed stunned that I meant what I said, and in all honesty, so was I.

I'd spent years plotting my revenge against him, and now I had a chance to leave him behind to suffer, and I wouldn't do it. I couldn't do it. After everything that had happened, and everything we had been through, I realized that Konstantin Black had somehow become my friend, and I wasn't going to let anything bad happen to him if I could help it.

The locks on the door started to creak, and we both turned our attention back to the door. The heavy wood slowly pushed inward, and Bekk Vallin came in, carrying black fabric in her arms.

"The Queen has agreed to meet with you for breakfast," Bekk said, and she tossed the clothes at me. "She wishes for you to get changed and ready yourself for the meal, and I will come back and get you when she's ready to receive you."

"Thank you," I said. Bekk simply nodded and left, locking the door behind her again.

I set the clothes on the bed to see what she'd brought us, and the clothes smelled musty and looked worn, with holes and threads coming loose. My outfit was a black dress with a corset waist, off-the-shoulder sleeves, and a large ball gown skirt. It looked like something someone might've worn to a Gothic wedding. And then they'd been buried in it for a few months.

Konstantin's outfit was about the samea worn black suit with a Victorian flare to it. He changed before I didslipping off his muddy clothes and pulling on the new ones while I had my back to him. When he'd finished, he came over to help me lace up the corset in the back of the dress.

"I feel like Dracula or something," he said, looking down at himself. "But after he's been staked." He sighed. "There's still time for you to escape instead."

"No, we're doing this," I told him firmly. "It's our only chance of making things right. We have to get the Queen on our side."

ELEVEN.

carnivorous A big black beetle scurried across the long wooden table, running directly toward the fried rabbit carca.s.s in the center, and Helge Otack walked over and smashed it with his fist. One might have expected him to wipe the mess off the dining table, but instead he left it and returned to his place standing behind Queen Bodil.

It felt like Konstantin and I had somehow slipped into a bizarro world, where everything was like a twisted version of troll culture, and nothing was quite right.

To start with, the dining hall was a rather small square room with no windows. It wasn't nearly as mossy or moldy as our room had been, but it was still dank. In compensation for the lack of windows, two large tapestries were hung on the wall, and they appeared to be depicting rather brutal Omte battles that I wasn't familiar with. The edges were frayed and coming loose, and I saw a huge brown spider crawling across one.

Two iron chandeliers hung from the ceiling, both of them lit with candles, and there were four torches on the wall. It seemed like overkill for such a small s.p.a.ce, but the interior still ended up somewhat dim.

Like most meals I went to with royals, there was a ma.s.sive spread of food covering the large table. Unlike every other meal I had been to, this one had lots of meat. Trolls weren't exactly vegetarian, and the Skojare especially had a fondness for fish. But we didn't eat it very often, preferring fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and some dairy, because everything else tended not to sit well with us.

But apparently the Omte felt differently. One platter was overflowing with whole crawfish, and I swear that I saw one of them still moving. Another had leathery soft-boiled alligator eggs on it, which the Queen insisted were delicious, but the thought of them made my stomach roll.

Four whole fried rabbits sat on a platter. Their heads were still on, which was especially unnerving, and I couldn't help but feel it was meant to be some kind of message for us as Kanin.

The only things that seemed edible were a bowl of figs and blackberries, but even they didn't look that good, thanks to the platters everything was served on. They were oxidized and dirty-looking, and despite my earlier appet.i.te, I no longer wanted to eat anything here.

Queen Bodil Elak sat at the other end of the table from us, happily loading up her plate. On the back of her chair perched a large black-bearded vulture she'd introduced as Gam.

Bodil was only a little bit taller than me, making her small by Omte standards, and she was very pretty. Her long dark waves of hair were pulled up into a braided updo, and her gown looked similar to mine, although hers was in much better shape.

Her crown sat crookedly on her head, in large part because it looked like it had been bent many times, and given what I knew about the Omte, I imagined that it had been thrown against the wall on more than one occasion. It was a thick bronze, twisted around in an attempt to look ornate, but it reminded me more of an ambitious child's art project.

She wore a necklace adorned with large gemstones, along with several gaudy rings and a bracelet. All the gems appeared to be imperial topaz, an expensive amber-colored stone. And these were all very large rocks she had.

For her part, Bodil hadn't said much to us, other than insisting that the alligator eggs were delicious. It was her Viceroy, Helge Otack, who had done most of the talking. He stood directly behind her, not eating anything, and he'd made all the introductions. He appeared much older than Bodil, probably in his fifties, but it was hard to gauge for sure because of how leathery and worn his skin looked.

Large and brutish, there was something very imposing about Helge. His scraggly light brown hair went down to his shoulders, and he wore just as much jewelry as the Queen. His eyes were the color of burnt caramel, and they were much too small for his face.

Along with the Viceroy and Queen, the young Prince Furston was here. He couldn't have been more than five, and despite the fact that a place was set for him, he hadn't sat down once. Instead he ran around the room, his dark brown curls bobbing as he laughed and squealed, and he'd grab whatever he wanted from the platters, preferring to eat on the go, apparently.

"Go ahead, eat," Bodil said in a way that sounded much more like an order than a suggestion. She stood up and reached over, roughly ripping off a leg from one of the rabbits, then sat back down. So far she'd eaten her entire meal with her hands.

"Yes, of course." Konstantin stood up first, serving himself an alligator egg and some fruit, before dishing up a similar plate for me.

"Thank you," I mumbled softly when he handed me my plate.

I took a sip of the eldvatten they'd poured for us in heavy chalices. It smelled like turpentine, but it didn't really have a flavor, unless "burning" and "fire" could be describe as tastes. I did my best to keep my expression even instead of gagging, and set the cup back on the table.

"So what brings you all here?" Helge asked, smiling in a way that reminded me of a viper.

"We've come to offer you information, and ask if you might be of some help," Konstantin said carefully.

As Bodil tore into the rabbit leg, ripping the meat off with her teeth, the vulture squawked and flapped his wings. She finished the leg quickly, then tossed the bone up to the bird, who caught it easily in his beak. Gam swallowed the bone whole, the brown feathers of his head and neck ruffling as he did.

"What information do you have?" Bodil asked, licking her fingers clean.

"Bent Stum," Konstantin said. "He was a member of your kingdom."

Furston suddenly darted over to me and grabbed a fig off my plate. Food already stained his face, and he laughed in delight before running away again.

"Bent was exiled over a year ago, and last we heard, he was dead," Helge said. "I'm not sure what information you have that could be useful to us."

"We know who killed him," I said.

"Furston, come sit with Mommy." Bodil held her hands out toward him, and the little boy ran toward her. She pulled him onto her lap, and he settled into the folds of her dress, quieting down for the first time since we'd gotten here.

"Do tell," Helge said, still smiling that reptilian smile of his.

"Viktor Dlig," I explained, lying to streamline the story. Viktor had ordered the hit on Bent, and while it hadn't been his hand on the sword, it might as well have been. "He's a sworn enemy of the Kanin, and he killed Bent to prevent anyone from finding out his plans of attack. He recruited Bent, used him up, and then killed him."

Helge inhaled through his nose. "That's unfortunate, but that's the path Bent chose when he left us."

"He didn't leave us," Bodil corrected him, giving him a hard look from the corner of her eye. "We exiled him."

Helge's smile had finally fallen away. "Bent broke the rules. He wouldn't fall in line."

"I told you when we exiled him that this could happen." Bodil ignored him and held her son closer to her. "It left him vulnerable to forces worse than he is, like this Viktor Dlig."

"My Queen, we've already discussed the matter. Bent wouldn't abide by the rules, and we must have order," Helge said. "And besides, we don't know if they're exaggerating about this Viktor Dlig. He may not have had anything to do with Bent's death. The Skojare said it was suicide."

"The Skojare were misled," Konstantin said. "I was there. I know Viktor did it." Helge glared at him, and one corner of his lip pulled up in an angry snarl.

"I believe him," Bodil decided. "Bent was my sister's son. He was strong-willed and arrogant, and he'd never have killed himself. I told you that when we heard the news. None of it made sense, and you wouldn't listen to me. Now we need to clean up the mess we've made."

As furtively as I could, I exchanged a look with Konstantin of pleasant surprise. With only limited communication between the Omte and the Kanin, I knew next to nothing of the royal family. In Ridley's conversations with the Queen after the initial incident in Chicago with Bent and Konstantin, she hadn't let on that she had a connection to him, but that was typical for the Omte. They were a very secretive people.

Now that I knew that Bent was so closely related to the Queen, it boded well for our plan to enlist the Omte to help us.

Helge bent over, lowering his voice when he spoke. "Perhaps now isn't the best time to talk about this."

"My sister will never forgive me for what happened to Bent, but maybe there's still time for me to make it right," the Queen said, turning to us. "Do you know where this Viktor Dlig is?"

"Not his exact location, but he's near Doldastam, planning an attack on the Kanin," Konstantin said.

Bodil narrowed her eyes behind her long lashes. "So that's what you wanted from us? To help you stop him from attacking?"

I nodded. "Yes. I thought we might share an enemy, and we could work together."

"As strong as you are, even sending a few of your people would do irrevocable damage to Viktor and his men," Konstantin elaborated.

"Why do you care what happens to the Kanin?" She shook her head, not understanding. "You've been banished."

"Everyone I love is still in Doldastam. I don't want them hurt or killed," I told her honestly.

For a few moments, the room was filled with a tense silence as Bodil considered what I'd said. The vulture ruffled his feathers, and a crawfish crawled free from the platter, moving slowly onto the table.

"All right," Bodil said finally. "We'll help you."

"My Queen, this Viktor Dlig has an army." Helge was nearly shouting his protests. "We don't need to get in the middle of the Kanin's fight."

"He killed Bent. No one gets away with killing one of our own," Queen Bodil said firmly. Her strong jaw was set, and her dark eyes were filled with resolve. "We must be the ones that punish him."

TWELVE.