The Tangled Tree

by S. K Munt

  ‘Don’t talk to me about saving me! It is the least of my concerns!’ I was thrown to learn that there was someone else pulling strings on the palace’s Nephilim employees, and had no time to stand there and debate right and wrong. ‘Tell me who you have been taking your orders from, and why! Because if you intended to let me go free, it certainly isn’t just Prince Kohén that you’ve been answering to, is it?’ I wanted to bolt for it, but I knew I could not until I knew where it was that I ought to be going and where I needed to avoid going, so I took a moment to compose myself while I wrung as much water out of my multi-layered sheath skirt as I could. It was almost completely transparent now, and I wanted to rip if off and be free of its sudden weight, but I was only wearing my corset and panties beneath it so I didn’t dare. I hated the fact that I was half-dressed, but the corset wasn’t that much more revealing than the golden bodice had been so I made sure that I was tucked inside it as decently as possible and then decided not to care about what anyone thought.

  ‘No. It wasn’t just from Prince Kohén, and I suspect that I may never take orders from him again, by the looks of that place!’ T’are stepped back up to the door of the harem and looked inside. ‘What’s going on in there? What happened to you?’

  ‘The princes and I had a rather heated argument!’ I spat, earning a smirk from him. ‘One that I won, and must now disassociate myself from so tell me, what’s going on out here?’ I looked around the empty hall, puzzled by how normal everything seemed, only feet from where I had just created Hell on earth. I could see in the reflected glass of the front wall that there were hundreds of people in the throne room beside us, glittering in their costumes and chattering loud enough to be considered overwhelming. None of them would be able to see me on the other side of the wall given how dim this alcove was compared to the foyer, but with so many milling about, I knew it was only a matter of time before one of them peeked around the corner. Why weren’t they in the ballroom where they belonged? ‘Elijah was supposed to be back at eight on the dot with Karol-’

  ‘The guests have been told to wait in the throne room until the threat has passed,’ T’are said quickly. ‘And I have been told to stand guard here- as per usual. First by Kohén then, the king.’

  ‘What threat?’ I asked, craning my neck to see if I could spot Ora, or Lindy. ‘The Banished? I thought they’d been subdued already!’

  ‘I don’t think they’ll ever be completely subdued, Miss Whittaker, not until they’re satisfied.’ He pointed down into the seldomly-used corridor behind us that led into the wing of servant’s quarters beneath the Monarch’s suite. ‘The king came back a few minutes ago, found the doors barred and then dashed off in search of another way in. But then Amelia-Rose intercepted him and informed him that the Banished and the Sequestered started attacking the fence again and he has been out there since, trying to scare them off with repeated cracks of lightning while herding bands of my Nephilim associates and his guards together so that they could get the guests out of harm’s way while barricading the castle.’

  ‘Sequestered?’ I spluttered. ‘Who are The Sequestered?’

  ‘They’re the Banished, as far as the nobility are concerned,’ T’are said, and his eyes darkened with anger. ‘But they are something else entirely- and it is them that you must find your way to now!’

  ‘What?’ I demanded. ‘No! I do not know them, and I cannot waste time getting to know them! This place owes me a debt or two and I must see them repaid!’

  ‘I don’t know exactly where they are-’

  ‘But they’re not upstairs?’ I asked, pointing to the monarch’s suite, knowing that I needed to find that pardon before I left, but that I could go for my contract- all of the third-born contracts- before I had to look for the king if the opportunity arose.

  T’are frowned. ‘I haven’t seen anyone come past here for quite some time, but there’s another entrance so either or both could be...’ He pointed back towards the ball room. ‘But as far as I know, Karol is in the ante-chamber off the ball room, recovering from the healing he had to perform, waiting for Kohén to fetch and present him while probably completely oblivious to all that is going on out here, and his highness is out on the lawn with both Sheps, Amelia-Rose and Prime-Minister Hartley, trying to get things under control.’ He stepped forward, looking me over. ‘Miss Whittaker… what was Prince Kohén wearing tonight?’

  ‘Not what you thought he was wearing,’ I said quickly, giving him a pointed look that made him grimace. He opened his mouth to start apologising but I held up my hands. ‘Never mind all of that, what happened, happened and now we all must live with that- or die trying.’ I pressed my hand to my forehead and looked down as I thought things through, before looking up at him again, curious. ‘Irregardless of the fact that the royal family is not home, I still need to call on them and fetch something that they have of mine…’ I cocked my head. ‘Are you attracted to women?’

  His pale brows pulled together. ‘Excuse me?’

  I motioned to myself. ‘If I needed to flirt my way into the crowned prince’s office-’

  ‘It would work on any red-blooded man with a key, Miss Whittaker,’ T’are said quickly, smiling and blushing a little. ‘But I do not have one, so it would be a pointless waste of your time. Like this one- it has bars running through it, so it’s practically impenetrable without that key, even for me.’

  ‘Define practically impenetrable?’

  Another quick grin. ‘Got an axe handy? Perhaps a battering ram?’ He nodded towards the throne room. ‘The power to make us invisible and silent so the entire bloody city doesn’t come in here to see what the racket’s all about while we use them?’

  ‘Shit. No, I don’t…’ I looked upstairs again, wondering if I should just cut my losses and get the hell out of there. Who needed a piece of paper saying that I was legally free, if I was physically free already?

  But I did need it- seeing that contract torn up was all I’d dreamed of since I’d turned thirteen and had learned what was to become of me due to it, and it was the only dream that I’d ever had that was still salvageable. Besides it wasn’t just my contract I wanted to tear in half- but the other fourteen that were due to be released that night and probably would not be now, thanks to all of the mayhem I’d caused. My brand would limit me forever no matter what I did or where I went, but those contracts, I knew, could be broken by being lost or destroyed, and I intended to make that happen now no matter what it took, especially seeing as how I no longer had to worry about the consequences I’d have to face after for it.

  ‘Where’s the other entrance?’ I asked, trying to remember if I’d seen a fire escape or anything upstairs leading down into the laundry rooms below. I knew I should just run back into the harem and slip one of the other’s rings off, but the idea of going back in there… no. No I could not. I did not want to see what had become of them, and could not risk that Kohén or Kohl was still alive in there and looking for payback. ‘Maybe I-’

  ‘No! Miss Whittaker I’m sorry but if all you’ve said is true then you need to stop worrying about getting upstairs, and start worrying about getting over that fence!’ T’are grasped me by the shoulders and rotated me so that I was facing into the deepest corner of the corridor where the servant’s passage was. ‘Get onto the lawn and run for it! Look for Chérrine or-’ a massive crack exploded from behind him, and both he and I whirled to see a beam of lit timber fall through the roof of the harem and crash into the fog, smoke and darkness shrouding the floor, not far from where I’d left Kohl spluttering in a puddle of his own making. People in the room next to us began to scream, and when I heard one from within the harem- a female one- my heart faltered.

  ‘Oh! That was Constance! If she’s not dead I have to get back in there-’

  ‘You won’t be going in there ever again, my lady!’ T’are shoved me roughly back and I smashed into the bust of Miguel Barachiel, knocking it onto the floor. He bowed. ‘I mean no disrespect, but I have orders to g
uard you with my life and I will honour them!’

  ‘I can’t leave her to die!’ I said, wincing at the split, marble head and wondering how expensive that had been. Damaging it had probably been more costly to my soul but as my feathers demonstrated, I was already in a grievous amount of debt as far as that was concerned anyway, and was running out of time to fix any of it.

  ‘Why not? She’s left you here to rot all these years!’

  ‘No!’ I surged forward again. ‘No she is GOD! She is Nephilim too, T’are, and she has been trying to help me! I left her with them, believing her dead at Kohl’s hands, but if there is a chance that she can be-’ I shrieked and ducked when a buzzing black cloud swarmed towards us, pulling T’are down too.

  ‘Oh my God!’ T’are crouched but craned his neck watching the cloud of insects swarm above us, wings clicking, stingers vibrating. ‘Is that her doing?! The duchess is truly a Nephilim?’

  ‘Yes! The locusts were too! But she is light, T’are! The plagues were her way of punishing Elijah for his treatment of- oh!’ I spat and tuned my face as I copped a wasp in the forehead but it hadn’t stung me, merely collided with me. T’are’s energy swirled up as he gaped at the spectacle, and as though they’d hit an invisible wall, hundreds of insects- locusts, bees, wasps, mosquitoes and even dragonflies turned into dust that rained down upon us. I shrieked again as did he and scurried back under the little alcove that I’d sought solace in before, but the majority of the swarm had already cleared us and were arcing around the stairwell towards the throne room, and the last were still in sight when the screaming increased again. T’are and I looked at each other, panting and panicking, both knowing that pandemonium was about to break out!

  ‘I’ll go pull the duchess free if I am able! If you swear that she is good!’ T’are began to pull me to my feet, wincing when he saw my brand. ‘And then, I will meet you outside!’

  ‘She is!’ I swore, shaking the powder off and watching the remnants of the duchess’s magic sparkle across the floor, like the gold in sand. ‘Please T’are, even if she has perished, I beg you to bring her body out with you! Do not pause to assist Kohén or Kohl- they will not be able to stop you with your power, and are far too weak from the stings of the wasps to fight you with any human strength either!’ I glanced into the harem, feeling a smidgen of my humanity creeping back in to think of Kohén burning alive in a golden cage. I sobbed. ‘That is… that is if they are not dead already!’

  ‘I’ll go!’ T’are did not turn to farewell me. ‘But you must too! Run, Larkin! So much depends on you getting free of this place! Run and I will follow!’

  ‘Fine!’ I cried, even as my gaze flitted from the marble stand that Miguel’s head had been on, to the innocuous-looking double doors above. If it was a battering ram I needed, then problem solved! ‘But do not take orders from Kohl if he has recovered!’ I called after his retreating figure, praying that he would survive this awful errand. ‘He may be the true firstborn twin, but he committed regicide this night and-’

  ‘What?!’

  ‘Oh my God!’

  I whirled and then retreated to see that Elijah and Amelia-Rose had entered through the servant passage while my back had been turned, and were now staring at me with astonishment. Well, Amelia-Rose was staring at me with astonishment- Elijah was falling to his knees, clutching at his heart. I looked after T’are, but he was already halfway along the corridor and being absorbed by the flickering shadows and I would not call him back if that meant that Constance would die. Surely I could handle these two alone?

  ‘Kohl killed Constance?’ The king looked grey and suddenly decades older as his face spasmed in anguish. ‘No Larkin, no! Why?’

  ‘Oh my goodness…’ Amelia-Rose looked sick. ‘You dressed as Satan? That’s the most inappropriate costume I’ve ever seen! And Satan had black ringlets, not golden ones! How stupid are you? It was just an excuse to wear bloody tears and get around in lingerie wasn’t it, you twisted little shrew?’ She crossed her palms over her chest and lowered her head. ‘Oh lord, please have mercy on this poor, damned girl…’

  My mouth popped open. She thought I’d made myself look this way for ATTENTION? I scanned her, frowning to see that she’s dressed as a man or rather, in a tight-fitting costume that resembled a suit of armour, but with a stretchy fabric embellished by sparkling steel. She had a sword in one hand, and her long burgundy hair swept up into a harsh bun and only natural-coloured make up with a gleaming chrome eye mask. As Arial had mentioned earlier, she’d dressed in a way that suggested that she had not attempted to come off as attractive- not in the traditional sense anyway- and yet the costume was plastered to her every curve, showing how muscular her figure was, how wide her hips were and how prominent the gap between her thighs was. Child-bearing hips, that’s what men called them, and the way she walked made it clear that she knew it. ‘Who are you supposed to be?’ I snarled. ‘Joan Of Arc?’

  Amelia-Rose’s grey eyes flashed like thunderheads behind that mask. ‘Yes, actually. A saint… as opposed to a sinner. An ensemble I’m sure, that you would not be able to pull off.’

  ‘And one that none of the princes would be inspired to pull off you either,’ I shook my head, smiling cruelly as he features hardened. ‘Oh Amelia-Rose… how inept a predator you are! One cannot hunt royals with a sword- not in Eden anyway. The Barachiel men like their women submissive in skirts and screaming for mercy- not telling them what to do.’

  ‘Larkin!’ Elijah scrambled forward, tugging on my skirts as tears ran out of his eyes. ‘Tell me what happened to Constance?’

  I felt a flash of heat and kicked at his hands, snarling. ‘She would not brand me! She was buying time for me to make my escape! When Kohén insisted on following through with your orders, he refused to let me escape with Kohl and so she branded him and screamed the truth- that he is not the next in line! That you lied about the order that they had arrived to the world in!’ Elijah pressed his hands to his forehead and gaped at me from beneath him, cringing at every sentence I uttered as though each were a physical blow. ‘She branded Kohén as a whore right over the heart and said that she’d find a way to make you release me because you no longer had a claim on me, and that Kohl would not inherit me, because new virgins would have to be groomed for his delayed gratification- an entitlement she was certain he would refuse, seeing how good and kind Kohl was!’ My voice cracked. ‘But Kohl threw her against a wall, shattered her bones, stole the brand from her hand and branded ME in her stead! He turned on me, then tried to convince Kohén to keep all that she had confessed a secret! Said that he would go on pretending to be the third-born, if only Kohén would agree to move to Pacifica with him and forge a home together there where they could share me behind closed doors! That way- they would both get what they deserved and desired, you see? And your respect!’

  ‘No!’ Elijah shook his head as Amelia-Rose gasped behind him. ‘No!’

  ‘Yes!’ I kicked at him again as he reached for me a second time, feeling my hatred mounting all over again. How dare he gasp and cry, over consequences that he had brought to pass? ‘He barricaded the door and made Kohén drag the duchess’s body into my room, so that they could shake on their deal by taking me together before you could come in! But you’d all forgotten about my allergy to gold, hadn’t you? And so the brand was poisoning me as they conspired to rape me! I almost died as they tore at my gown, but apparently neither Constance or I are that easy to subdue, because we both fought back! Kohén tried to protest that he’d been deceiving Kohl and was just waited for the moment to kill him, but she released a plague of wasps upon them-’

  ‘What?’ Amelia-Rose ripped the mask of her head. ‘How?!’

  ‘No! Not Constance-’

  ‘Yes! It was always her and her plagues, Elijah! You ate away at her soul a little every day, so she did the same to your kingdom! Then, she attempted to destroy your evil sons when she overheard what they were planning to do with me, but Kohl drew a knife and stabbed her in t
he back and now they are all dying! And you- you should be in there dying with them!’ I shook my head, disgusted as he began to cry. ‘But I will not kill you and make Karol a king. I will not kill you and let you out of the guilt that must consume you this night!’ I knelt before him. ‘Give me that pardon for my friends now, Elijah and let me pass, or know that I will scream what has happened in here and to Martya-’

  ‘I’ve already given it to them!’ Elijah was sobbing as he tried to sit up on his haunches. He ripped his hat off his head and then stuffed his hands into his pockets, pulling out the lining so that I could see that they were empty except for a handkerchief and Karol’s folded letter to me as his gaze shifted from my face to my wings and back again apprehensively. I knew that he understood that they were not fake, because unlike Amelia-Rose, he had seen the golden costume ones before and unlike Amelia-Rose, he had learned not to underestimate my potential a long time ago, so I smirked at him as I swiped Karol’s letter and shoved it into my corset. I was gladdened to see that fear in his eyes again, but hesitant to believe that he had finally done one thing right by me so I stared hard back at him to see if he would crumble further. ‘It’s true!’ he insisted, sniffling, and it pleased me to finally see him loose tears and break a cardinal rule. ‘I saw them waiting out here, the guard can attest to that-’

  ‘What are you two talking about?’ Amelia-Rose demanded. ‘What pardon? What friends? Your highness, don’t tell me that you’ve struck some kind of bargain with this sinner? You are supposed to be a man of God!’

  ‘You are supposed to be cowering in the throne room with the rest of the useless, greedy, social-climbing young ladies here, not riding me child!’ Elijah barked at her in a vitriolic voice, and she recoiled. ‘Every time I turn around, there you are trying to tell me how to run my kingdom and I have been tolerant as I can be because I respect your father, but I have lost respect for him over these past few days after seeing the wretched pain in the ass that he’s raised and will abide your nagging not a moment longer!’