“Hmm,” the prince said, eyes narrowing. “That sounds like a hint, but not for me.”
“If it is a hint to anyone, it is a hint to all,” Malachi replied.
Jack felt his heart skip a beat in fear when the prince’s eyes focused on Claire. “What do you say, Miss Ramsey? How many questions do you think you would need to figure out what is in the capsule?”
When everyone looked to see her answer, Claire blushed bright red and seemed to lose the ability to speak.
“None, Your Grace,” Malachi answered for her. “If you had chosen her as one of your advisers tonight, she would be able to tell you one of the things I moved.”
Every eye went to Claire, and Jack wished he could teleport, like Tiki, so he could hold her hand as she bore the scrutiny.
“Is this true?” the prince asked her.
She very quickly shook her head. “Nope—I mean, no, Your Majesty. I have no clue.”
The boy’s eyes narrowed. “And yet Malachi says you do. Are you calling him a liar?”
“No. Of course not,” Claire said in a rush. “Maybe just … misinformed? Or overly optimistic?”
Claire looked mortified when her response got a laugh from the room.
“Malachi? Optimistic?” the boy said, and many of the spectators chuckled.
“We all have our strengths, Your Grace,” Malachi said with an easy smile. “Optimism certainly isn’t mine.”
The prince said nothing for a moment, then straightened in his seat. “As much as I desired to outwit you tonight, Prince Malachi, it appears you have done due diligence in besting me. I will concede that I have no answer to your challenge.”
“You do me honor, Your Grace,” Malachi said with a tip of his head.
“That said,” the prince said, eyes moving back to Claire. “I promised to give your date a chance to impress her skills upon those who may take up interest in training her to be an oracle to the Cobalt Pimpernel’s house.”
Jack felt his heart stop altogether when he realized what the prince was going to say next. He wanted to shout his dissent—to say it wasn’t fair. Claire deserved a better test. A more appropriate test. A more possible test.
Instead, she was going to be asked to do what literally no one else in the room could.
How was that fair?
Jack wanted to scream the words out from his high seat but knew it would do nothing to change what was about to happen. All he could do was look at Claire with all the love in his heart as the prince finished his decree.
“Impress us, fair Claire. Tell us all one of the two things Malachi moved under all our noses tonight.”
The room grew silent as everyone waited for her answer. Jack didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that Claire would have given just about anything to disappear right then.
Chapter 26
Claire
Claire would have given just about anything to disappear right then.
Me? was all she could think.
This was her test? Guess what was inside a box she’d never seen before, large enough to hold anything from a paper clip to a really cramped horse?
Talk about the definition of unfair—especially since Malachi had just given her the whole ra-ra speech about how she was ready and the importance of showing up.
Why? So she could get thrown under a bus?
Claire suddenly understood Margot’s comment about Malachi landing in a third category that was neither friend nor foe. The man was unpredictable in manifesting as either, which was much worse than consistently sticking to one column.
In that moment, Claire felt like a girl all dressed up to take last place on a game show.
Told you, a little voice piped up. Tonight would be a Cinderella or Carrie moment. Hi, Carrie.
She blinked the taunt out of mind and did her best to hold her ground like a mature adult while no less than a hundred pairs of eyes watched her every move. She wasn’t sure what passed as dignified with this group, but she could give it a go.
Taking a calming breath, she shot a betrayed look Malachi’s way, only for him to nod like she had this in the bag.
Was he insane? She did not. If he genuinely thought he’d prepared her for this moment, then she had a few choice words for him.
She had no idea what was in the box. Yet the prince thought Malachi had been sending her a clue when he’d said the prince would need sixteen guesses to figure it out.
Nope. Not a clue.
She glared at Malachi, silently thanking him for nothing, only to find him looking back at her as if to say, Yep. It was a clue just for you.
Was he trying to play with her head? Because, no. Even if she had sixteen guesses…
Wait.
Sixteen.
The number had been relevant several hours ago. A sixteen-digit code had gotten her into the office back at the beginning of all this.
It felt like a lifetime ago … back before she got on that helicopter and flew to that jet. Back when she’d been wearing a disguise and trying to figure out where Margot and Jack had gone without her.
Back when she didn’t know why that clock was counting down on Margot’s wall or what it was connected to.
Sixteen.
The number brought her mind back to the countdown clock that had zeroed out on her watch. Malachi had been quick to tell Margot and Jack that Ace had let her in and reset everything after they left, but that countdown clock still haunted her.
Why had it counted down, and why had Malachi waited until after it was done to appear?
Sixteen.
What had Malachi said right before they walked into the room? Leave all the details on the table and discard no reasonable fears?
Okay, then. If she was going to do her best not to look like an idiot in the only silver ball gown, she needed to start unpacking her brain really quick. Because she was pretty sure she’d been silent for at least ten seconds already, and she really wanted to get an answer out there before her brain started humming the Jeopardy song at her.
Sixteen-digit code.
Alarm.
Malachi specifically skirted around mentioning that it had run to zero before he reset everything, so Margot and Jack didn’t know. If all those facts were related, Malachi hadn’t wanted Jack to know the clock counted down because then he could have guessed what was in the box.
And if the container came from 5-Tek, that meant it was made by The Fours, and the only connection Jack had to The Fours was…
Holy crap!
No. You’re wrong. It’s something else. Kali’s on an island somewhere, not wherever 5-Tek is.
Even as her mind jumped into a fierce debate with itself, Claire felt confidence settle inside her.
The guess fit every detail available and definitely supported one of her worst fears. The bounty on Kali’s head was so high that Jack wasn’t sure he could get her off the island. He’d been able to check her in under anonymous circumstances, but if anyone saw her face, she was done. It was the reason he hadn’t ever visited her.
It was too dangerous.
“What say you, Miss Ramsey?” the prince said from his high throne. “What is in the capsule?”
Instinct had her catching eyes with Jack, who clearly believed she had no idea what could be inside.
She looked at Malachi next. He smiled and nodded as if welcoming her to what he’d planned all along. And looking back over the night, there was every evidence that he had.
Impossible.
And yet…
“An answer, if you please, Miss Ramsey,” the prince urged.
Here goes nothing, Carrie.
Claire cleared her throat. “Uh, if Prince Malachi is correct in saying that I’m the only one who can guess what is inside the box with one guess—” Why was her voice bouncing off the walls like she was singing in a bathroom? She tried to ignore it as she finished. “—my guess is we’ll find a woman named Kali.”
The room reacted immediately. Jack looked alarmed, as did Marg
ot, but Malachi sent her a wink.
A wink.
Claire looked at the giant container, not believing she could be right.
There was no way. It wasn’t possible.
Claire still didn’t believe it when Malachi pulled a device out of his pocket, pressed a button that launched one of the panels of the large box, and two bodies came tumbling out.
One of which was definitely Kali.
Chapter 27
Jack
It had been so long since Jack had been blindsided that it took a moment for him realize his jaw had gone slack as he watched Kali stand and dust herself off. She looked like she just stepped out of a video game, wearing all black under a rust-and-black jacket with a hood raised over the top of her, making it impossible to see her face until she looked at him.
The man next her took one look around the room and fell to his knees.
“Sanctuary!” he cried out, bowing in supplication.
Kali stayed on her feet, taking a measured look at the room and all the people in it. A chaos of voices talking over each other filled the air until the herald sounded his trumpet.
The room hushed, and the prince took control again.
“Malachi,” Prince Abed said over them all. “Explain yourself. Who are these people?”
“The man is a defector,” Malachi said, earning gasps from several in the room. “The woman is Kali, just as Ms. Ramsey said—a fact that can be verified by your pimpernel adviser.”
Could it?
Jack wasn’t sure.
When Malachi mentioned him, Kali looked right at Jack and her eyes looked … different. She was looking at him as if everything he’d done for her was wiped away and they were meeting anew as strangers.
That wasn’t the Kali he knew.
Behind her, the wild-haired doctor started babbling. “Sanctuary, please! I’ve done everything I’ve been asked to get here, and I need your help. I’ve done something terrible! I’m asking you—I’m begging you—help me!”
Malachi gestured to the man. “May I present Dr. Arin Yalin—a Three who wishes to change his stripes.”
For the first time that night, Jack saw Prince Abed consult his parents with a panicked look. His father’s eyes narrowed and his mother nodded. Jack wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but Prince Abed seemed to interpret it easily enough.
He cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the room. “It is tradition that all defectors be approved by all four Royal couples to be granted amnesty. While the Day of Anemone grants me the right to make a unilateral decision, I will defer to the wisdom to those who established our laws and leave Dr. Yalin’s fate in the hands of those much wiser than me.”
Huh. Jack hadn’t known about that rule, but it was a good one.
The prince gestured toward the man. “Knights, please take the doctor into custody.”
The doctor babbled his thanks as the four knights on the lower level stepped forward, surrounding him on all sides. One knight could defeat a dozen men attacking him at once, but there was something to be said for the intimidation factor all four men brought as an enforced perimeter.
The room stayed silent as the knights escorted the doctor away, leaving Kali to be dealt with.
Unnerved by her cold look, but knowing he would be asked to speak, Jack tried to figure out what he could say. He was still trying to find decent words when the herald tapped his staff against the marble three times, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Honored guest,” he said in a clear voice, eyes on Kali. “Please bow as your king addresses you.”
“My king?” she said, eyeing Abed incredulously. “Yeah. I’ll pass on that.”
A ripple of sharp inhales whispered through the room.
The herald did not flinch. “The courtesy is non-negotiable. You are to bow to the king.”
Kali faced the herald and, despite being much smaller than him, somehow came across as more formidable. “He’s not my king. And I am very careful about who I bow to these days if you don’t mind.”
Uh-oh. The list of things Jack could say on Kali’s behalf just got a whole lot shorter. The Royals didn’t ask for much, but they did like their formalities.
The prince leaned forward on his throne, his tone friendly. “I’m really a prince, and you’re at a party where I am king for the night. It’s a courtesy, but a non-negotiable one.”
Kali looked the boy’s opulent robes up and down. “Compulsory courtesies of subjugation, huh? Sounds like not-my-kind of party.”
No. This couldn’t be Kali. She was normally so quiet. A ghost even. Solemn. Haunted. People didn’t change personalities inside a year, and she hadn’t gotten those clothes on the island.
Had she been somewhere else without telling him?
Betrayal sparked in Jack like hunger pangs as the herald took another step forward, along with the four remaining knights.
“I must insist,” the herald said in a clear, strong voice.
“Insistence,” Kali mused on a sigh, looking completely indifferent to the advances. “Isn’t that what all these scenarios are about? The level of pressure required for me to sacrifice my will to your—” she brought her fingers up into air quotes “—‘insistence’.”
What in the world was she talking about?
“Everywhere I turn, there’s a demand for compliance with a punishment attached.” She planted her feet, looking the prince in the eye. “Comply or die. Comply or die. Comply or die. And I make the same choice. Every time. I choose not to bow. Even as a courtesy for a child. So, if you want to fight about that, I guess this is the part where we fight.”
The silence following her accusation was the loudest thing Jack had heard all night. No one moved, every eye turning to the Prince to see how he would handle her obvious disrespect.
Prince Abed’s gaze moved from Kali to Malachi. “Cousin, do you have any explanation for the insolence of your guest?”
Malachi tilted his chin down and lowered his eyes. “In Kali’s defense, she has spent the better part of a year in The Four’s virtual reality combat environment. I’m pretty sure she still thinks she’s there.”
The prince looked back at Kali. “Is this true?”
“A year?” Kali echoed, looking unconvinced. “I’d have to see a calendar on that one. But yes. Everything I’m seeing here looks virtual to me.”
The prince straightened in his throne. “Let me assure you that you have returned to reality. This is all very real.”
Kali gave Prince Abed a skeptical once-over. “I just rode a nuclear missile to an Arab prince’s birthday party, where everyone is dressed up like it’s the French revolution. Including a bear.” She paused, seeming to give space to the prince to correct if she’d gotten anything wrong. When he didn’t, she added, “Pretty sure this isn’t real.”
Okay. She might be wrong about things not being real, but she did have a point on everything else. And it would also explain the skeptical look she’d given him a moment ago. Jack could work with that … if the prince asked him to speak.
Jack chanced a glance over at Tiki to see how she was responding to the scene and found her perched on her seat with duct tape over her mouth, fanning herself with a plate.
Good.
Prince Abed was looking at his parents again. This time, they both had the same stern expression. The young boy nodded his understanding before again resuming his Royal posture—although he definitely looked less confident than he had with the doctor.
“Knights!” he said in a clear voice. “Take the guest into custody.”
Jack wanted to intervene then, but a sharp look from Margot stopped him short. Physically digging his fingers into the arms of his chair to hold himself in place, he checked in on Claire to see how she was handling the development.
He expected to find fear written all over her face as the four knights descended upon Kali. But Claire didn’t seem upset at all. Quite the opposite. She looked like she was watching a beautiful sunset or a finale
of fireworks—eyes wide and mouth tipped up in a smile.
Confused, Jack looked back to Kali, puzzled when he saw the four knights laid out in a nice diamond formation at her feet. They looked … unconscious.
When one of the knights started to get up, Kali delivered a swift kick to his head.
“Nope,” she said like she was talking to a puppy that knew better than to jump up. The knight’s head bounced against the marble floor, and he was out.
They were all out.
More than one Royal gasp echoed in the chamber, not all of them female. But Jack’s glance to Claire had put his reaction behind, so he was a beat late on realizing what had just happened.
Kali had knocked out the four knights in the time it took him to check on Claire.
Four knights … four undefeatable men, down in a blink and laying at Kali’s feet.
That wasn’t possible.
Kali’s voice covered up Jack’s own quiet gasp of disbelief.
“Look, kid,” she said. “I’m glad it’s your birthday. And I’m glad everyone dressed up. But I’m not going to bow. And I’m not going be your prisoner, okay? Been there. Done that. The free t-shirt is burning in a lab fire at 5-Tek, as we speak.”
She pointed a finger at Jack next, and the back of his neck burst into a spontaneous sweat.
“If that’s the real Jack, and he works for you, then you have nothing to worry about with me. I owe him my life, in the real world. So if this is real, you have no reason to imprison me.”
“She has a point, Your Grace,” Malachi said from behind her.
“She attacked my knights!” the prince roared.
“I compelled them to bow,” Kali replied with a shrug. “I thought you were into that kind of thing around here.”
A light thump off to Jack’s right drew his attention to where Tiki had fake-fainted onto the ground. The fact that she was still fanning herself with the plate was the giveaway she was fine.
“Your Majesty,” Malachi said with a deep bow. “I think things can be sorted out with Kali in a more private setting. I’m certain she will accept a respectful request to discuss things elsewhere, especially if your pimpernel facilitates. For now, I’d like to point out that Miss Ramsey was correct in deducing one of the things in the box. She is not yet one of us, but if one of the Royal families would like to change that, she will have a place in the Cobalt Pimpernel’s house, once training is completed.”
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