The Tangled Tree

by S. K Munt

  Gabby- Gabby or Satan. My blood felt cold. ‘And the message?’

  Kohl frowned again and then said: ‘Tell Larkin that the designer and her family cannot wait until they see her in it! And thank her for the surprise invite!’

  The world tilted so sharply that I actually swayed and had to cling on to Elijah of all people. ‘The designer…?’ tears filled my eyes. ‘And her family? Oh God!’ I whirled around, grasping at Kohén. ‘Lindy!’ I hissed, and he leaned his head forward, like he was about to fall over. ‘She’s here, Kohén! Lindy’s here! Her family too, oh God!’

  ‘Glad tidings indeed!’ Elijah boomed, patting my back, misconstruing my horror for jubilation. ‘You were rather close with the Trevassé family, weren’t you?’

  But Kohén did not need to be told that it was the worst news I could have been given. ‘I… he…?’

  I nodded. ‘He ordered this, Kohén! He brought them here! I…’ I looked down at the envelope in my hand and with a thundering heart, tore it open until I saw the card inside. It was on a piece of the palace’s official stationary, and the script was too perfectly composed to have been from anyone but the crowned prince:

  Dear Larkin.

  I’d rather hoped that we’d be meeting at midnight tonight to tear up your contract along with all of the others before enjoying a private celebration for two, and though circumstances have changed, my desire for you has not. It may appear that way, but you would be foolish to believe that anything would prevent me from taking you in my arms at long last. I have fallen silent and I have kept away- but only physically for the sake of keeping up appearances, Larkin. Inside my body I am screaming for you and reducing that harem and anyone who tries to stop me from getting to you to rubble. Were it not for my desire to maintain some dignity as far as my family name is concerned, I would have done so already!

  But dignity can be restored in the Barachiel name in many ways, and we cannot be watched every second, despite what they all believe, so you will come to me before midnight, or I will come to you. That is not a threat, sweet angel- but a heartfelt promise. And Barachiel men take promises awfully seriously, so I beg you to keep the one you made to me- and your gratitude for all I have done to you- at the forefront of your mind when you ask yourself what I mean to you and what I still could, because birthday wishes can only be granted after the candle has been blown out- and the candle I hold burning for you could withstand an electrical storm and a monsoon, my love- so it can mostly certainly weather those that would oppose it!

  So fight for me the way I am fighting for you. Slip your beautiful being into this beautiful gown and then come celebrate my birthday with me, your dear friends, and the blue collar family have travelled across the country to tell you how much your sacrifice meant to them, and know that I will be counting the seconds until you arrive-

  ... and that I will remain the most eligible bachelor in Calliel until I have had the chance to capture you the way you have captured me.

  Sincerely,

  Prince Charming.

  The world was spinning by the time that my eyes traced over his signature, and I cupped my hand to my mouth as Kohén snatched the paper from me and stormed across the room, getting distance from our audience so that he could read it in private. Too numb to even cry, I watched Kohén’s eyes trace Karol’s elegant cursive, and saw the actual moment when his mind snapped. He let out a bellow of indignation and then turned back to gape at me, astonished.

  ‘What is it?’ Constance demanded, watching Kohl lope over to Kohén, asking to read it too, but Kohén held him off, making it clear that he had not even finished yet. She made to follow but I held her back and watched as Kohén handed Kohl the letter at last and then turned around to start screaming and cussing so loudly that I cringed at last and shrunk into myself.

  ‘What is going on NOW?’ Elijah demanded, but neither twin answered him so he looked to me. ‘Larkin, who is the gown from?’

  Thinking quickly and all too aware that Kohén would not be capable of doing the same for quite some time, I looked down at the sheath of paper that I still had in my hands that Karol had included- an invitation to the ball. It had the Barachiel family crest at the top- more ‘official’ paper, and when I turned it over, saw that the reverse side had the same. An idea grew from a theory and then it became a plan as I realised that the only way to get myself or at least- Lindy and Coaxley- out of this mess, was to repeat the behaviour that had gotten me into it in the first place. I would strike a deal with the most powerful man in the world to get me out of debt to the second-most powerful man in the world. Neither of us would like it, but we both needed it to happen in order to get what we wanted. So, swallowing back bile, I looked up at Elijah and asked:

  ‘How badly do you want me to go to that ball, your highness?’

  Elijah looked non-plussed. ‘What?’

  I pointed at Kohén. ‘He’s about to forbid me from attending, and I have to do as he asks. I do not want to go now either, would gladly taking a whipping for refusing and fear that if I do I will only be able to go as a hysterical mess- but there is a way that you can calm me down and possibly even placate him.’ I handed him the piece of paper and then pointed to the leather bag that he’d brought along with him. ‘Do you have a pen in there?’

  ‘I do but-’

  ‘Get it,’ I said quickly, and though the king looked like he was about to protest, both twins were now cursing and arguing and snatching the letter from one another’s grasp, and so he sighed and took the pen from Constance, who had already fished it out.

  ‘Larkin, what’s going on?’ Constance asked, staring at the boys, stricken. ‘What is this new crisis, child?’

  ‘This is a solution to a crisis, but only if you act quickly.’ I motioned to the paper, which Elijah was holding rather stupidly. ‘I will go to that ball and I will win Arcadia’s trust back, but only after you have secured mine. Right now, this very second, you need to write a pardon for me.’

  ‘Why?’ he barked, but was already kneeling. ‘What have you done?!’

  ‘A pardon for me to gift to another,’ I pointed to the paper again. ‘Write: I King Elijah the second of Arcadia, do solemnly swear…’ I paused, holding my breath as the king first stared at me and then began to write, ‘to pardon Lindy and Coaxley Trevassé of their crimes against the crown...’

  ‘Crimes?! Elijah demanded. ‘As in plural?’

  ‘Coaxley? Larkin… whatever are you talking about?’ Constance was staring at me like I was an alien being. ‘Those two would never hurt a fly!’

  ‘I know that,’ I said quickly, ‘but they are criminals by Arcadian law all the same, and I will have them pardoned before their sins can come to light, or I will go out there and scream everything that I have not told you two!’

  ‘Larkin-’

  ‘The dress is a warning- a threat against the family of the designer, and I’ll not speak another word about it and what that means for me, this family or hers until I know that they will be pardoned for their behaviour as quickly as Elijah has pardoned his own kin- because we are all equals, right?’

  Constance burst into tears. ‘You’ve kept so much from me Larkin! I thought we were confidantes?’

  ‘I have kept a lot of things from a lot of people,’ I said pointedly, silently reminding her about the secrets of hers that I had in my possession. ‘And now that you know only of the existence of two of them, can you not understand why I stay hushed on the others? They’re all vile.’

  ‘Fine!’ Elijah shook his head, writing fiercely. ‘This is disgusting behaviour- a man of God, covering up sin after sin and for what? To save a bunch of ungrateful bastards that insist on sinning! What I ought to do is write this entire family off and see if Ewan and his children could fare any better upon this throne!’

  He was right, but he wouldn’t do it. Like Miguel he was determined to do what was right- but just as pre-disposed to do what was wrong.

  ‘Sign it,’ I said quickly, leaning over to
peer at it to make sure he’d written what I’d dictated, verbatim. The moment his signature slashed down the page I blew out my breath and nodded. ‘Thank you. Deliver that unto them and the moment they have it, I will walk out that door with a smile on my face.’

  ‘Deliver what?’ Kohén stalked back over to my side, looking from me to his father. ‘You’re not going anywhere Larkin, and you couldn’t possibly want to! Not with all that’s at stake!’

  ‘I have just erased most of what was at stake,’ I told him firmly, pointing to the declaration. ‘Your father has pardoned Lindy and her family and once they have it, I will be able to walk out there safe in the knowledge that refusing to follow the instructions in that letter will not ruin their lives... and what is left of my faith in mankind.’

  ‘You’ll be able to walk out there safe in the knowledge that the crowned prince has been decapitated and his head run through on a spike!’ Kohén spat, taking me and forcefully sitting me down on the edge of the pool as his family gasped. All but Kohl of course, who was nodding in agreement. ‘He thinks we ought to fear his temper? Ha! Once I’m through with him, he won’t have the strength to cover a blemish let alone get an erection-’

  ‘He won’t touch me if I refuse him!’ I cried. ‘He wanted me willingly, Kohén! He will lash out at them when I make it clear that I am anything but willing, but he won’t be able to hurt them once your father has absolved them, so-’

  ‘He will so touch you!’ Kohén bellowed. ‘Or he believes that he will!’

  ‘Karol?’ Constance pressed her hand to her forehead. ‘You’re talking about Karol now?’

  ‘Yes mother surprise surprise- he’s as fucked up and corrupt as the rest of us- only more so. But don’t let that make me the lesser of two evils or anything… I know how much you like believing that I am the only horrid one!’ Kohén turned straight back to me as his mother recoiled back into her spouse’s arms. ‘Honestly Larkin… how could you receive a letter so sinister and loaded with double-entendres and walk away believing that all that is good and light will triumph in the end?’

  ‘Because that is the whole point, isn’t it? This is a family that has descended from angels!’ I hated Kohén being so angry with me, but I hated how jaded I had become towards the world more and desperately needed something to change- to believe that something could change. ‘You want me to believe in the best of you! So let me believe in the best in him!’

  ‘But you’re only saving your friends with that letter,’ Kohl pointed out, arriving at my side and resting his hand on my shoulder. ‘What about the other things he hinted towards doing to spite you? Marrying Ora? Releasing the others like me? No I agree with Kohén- you need to stay away from him until midnight, and under lock and key. Karol talks a big game but he’s trying to scare you by making threats that he himself would be too scared to follow through on, and if you fall for it and go out there you will walk right into his hands! He says he will rip the harem apart? I say let him try! But he will have to contend with both of us first, and then explain his sudden renovations to the rest of the kingdom that will surely be gawking!’

  ‘And Ora,’ Kohén said quickly. ‘I overheard them talking about their dream weddings this afternoon- planning and plotting about drama and beauty and making it the biggest event of all time! Do you honestly believe he’d shatter the heart of Rabia’s most beloved child by doing anything as gratuitous as what he has hinted towards?’

  ‘WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?’ Elijah thundered, and Constance jumped, pressing her hand to her heart. ‘What has Karol got to do with any of this?’

  ‘He wants her, father!’ Kohén leapt up and shook the letter in his fist. ‘And what’s worse, he believes that he has the right to have her and is threatening to do whatever it takes to bring that to pass! The gown is from him, the letter is from him, and it contains orders for Larkin to come to him before midnight, because only once she does will he follow through on his birthday wish and propose to our first future queen!’

  I moaned and covered my face while Kohl rubbed my back and once again, Kohén forgot to be jealous and crazy over him because he had someone else to focus his ire on.

  ‘Father has to know, Larkin…’ Kohl whispered. ‘He is the only person that can settle this matter.’

  But he couldn’t- I knew Elijah wouldn’t. He’d be so furious when he learned of what I’d promised Karol and why I had, that I knew that there was a reason why Satan had predicted that my life would end this night: because it was fate. I knew I’d done wrong when I’d gone to Karol the year before, and I’d known that every day that had passed without anyone finding out about it all had been a stay of execution… but I’d known that eventually, the truth would come out and I would be ended as a result.

  Satan hadn’t been trying to scare me, she’d truly been trying to warn me. One of the Barachiel’s was going to kill me by the end of this night, and even if they didn’t, I would be left with so little to live for that I would kill myself.

  22.

  ‘But Larkin is not permitted to go with another man, so why would Karol believe that she’d break a law to-’

  ‘Larkin promised she would, okay?’ Kohl said quietly. ‘In a moment of desperation and in need of his assistance to get Lindy and Coaxley out of Arcadia before their third-born child could arrive-’

  ‘What?!’

  ‘She went to Karol and offered him what she knew he wanted: her. She’d said she’d come to him freely the moment she was released, and in exchange for that, he would sneak her friends out so that they could live in a country where it wasn’t a crime to have three children!’

  ‘Karol would never accept that offer!’

  ‘Or break such rules!’

  ‘But he did!’ I snapped at his parents. ‘He got them out and is determined to make me keep my end of the bargain even though I don’t get to walk free at all now, and never will!’

  ‘Why would you offer him such a thing, Lark?’ Constance asked, mystified. ‘You wanted out of here so badly! And you’ve made your dislike of our eldest son obvious! Why break so many rules for him?’

  ‘Because I was so angry and scared at the time that I didn’t care about my own future anymore!’ I shrugged. ‘I might have made it through the series of disasters that pre-dated my chat with Karol, but I received a letter from Martya that very morning- one she’d hidden before leaving- warning me that Elijah had threatened her privately- threats that he said would come to pass in that awful dungeon room.’ Constance blanched and Elijah’s eyes flashed but I went on: ‘She told me that she feared for my life, and said that if I didn’t hear from her again then I should assume that something awful had happened to her, at our king’s hands.’ Elijah finally crackled with rage, but I lifted my chin and met his eyes when I said: ‘And I never heard from her again, your highness! So tell me… what would you have done in my position, hmm? Trusted you- or turned your back to God?’

  There was a scuttling sound as Constance swooned into Kohl’s waiting arms, and now that I’d finally unburdened myself of that revelation to the king’s face, I was tempted to do the same.

  ‘Constance!’ Elijah took after his wife, lifting her face so that her fluttering gaze would meet his, and moaned when he saw her recoil in horror. ‘No, don’t you believe her, it’s all lies!’ Elijah turned back to snarl at me as his wife covered her face with her hands and sobbed, and his sons looked at him with matching expressions of horror. ‘Martya’s death was a freak accident!’ he snapped at me. ‘She filled your head with paranoia and then somehow cursed herself! I never touched her!’ He looked back at Constance and kneeled before her, taking her hand and patting it and I smirked to see him drop his indestructible façade for once. ‘Darling please... I admit that I threatened her so, but I didn’t follow through with them! I was furious with her when I found out that that panacea was a fake but before I could contemplate how to punish her for it, she was dead and Karol had already unearthed the missing ingredient anyway! We were at sea
together at the time-you have to believe me!’

  ‘Oh Elijah…’ Constance shook her head sadly, looking away as she wiped at her tears and allowed Kohl to stand her up again. ‘You ask for the faith of a devoted wife, but you ask of it from a woman that has been forced to stand aside and watch you go into that dungeon room time and time again?’ She stood back, hugging herself. ‘I’m sorry. Like Larkin, I want to believe in the best in all of you, but you have all robbed me of that right this very night.’

  ‘And Karol didn’t find the missing ingredient either, father,’ Kohl said softly, and my heart skipped another beat as he proceeded to fill Elijah in on all of those sordid details wile I moaned behind my hands. He made me come off as a hero for saving someone other than myself, but it didn’t change the fact that I’d gone behind Elijah’s back!

  Kohén breathed in sharply when Kohl had finished. ‘You knew so much? For that long?’

  ‘When do you think Larkin and I connected, big kahuna?’ Kohl asked. ‘You went out the door on her sixteenth and she went out the window where I was waiting with my gift for her.’

  ‘A jar of fireflies that he released for me,’ I said softly, closing my eyes and wincing in pain as I remembered how much Kohl had meant to me that night- and how much I’d hurt him since.’

  ‘Fantastic!’ Kohén stood up and threw up his hands. ‘Once again you sweep in and play the romantic hero at your leisure while I was the one juggling my responsibilities and affection for her, trying to make it all work!’

  ‘Blame me all you want for what has gone wrong between you since, but the reason why she did not run that night and hurl herself over the edge of the tidal fall was because I was there for her when you were not!’ Kohl made a disgusted sound and turned to me. ‘I’m sorry, Larkin but tonight… I can’t help but think that you would have been better off if I hadn’t been there to stop you. And that I’d followed suit.’