The Tangled Tree Read online

  A murder in Eden? That did sound shocking, even though I knew that it wasn’t the first that had been committed there that week. ‘Mmm…well, let’s see that they don’t succeed with you, okay?’ I said, creeping forward more and motioning for her to stay back while I scoped out the immediate vicinity. The entrance to the harem lay beneath the shadow of the stairs and under the entrance of the monarch’s wing on the upper level, so in order to see my door, I would have to get out onto the staircase and look down, behind me and slightly to the left. I assumed that my guard would still be standing there, but what if he wasn’t? How was I going to get in?

  You don’t… my sub-conscious whispered in my ear. You run now, while there’s a chance that your disappearance could be mistaken as a kidnapping!

  The idea was so tempting that I swear my mouth watered, but when I leaned over the railing, I saw Miguel Barachiel’s marble stand- without a head on it, because the head itself had been jammed into the door of the harem, keeping it ajar. Beside it, the security guard was staring up at me and waving his arms madly.

  ‘Now Miss Whittaker!’ he whispered. ‘This is your only chance!’ He pointed across the room. ‘One’s just gone that way! Hurry!’

  I followed his gesturing hand with my eyes just in time to see someone filthy looking vanish behind the wall that cut off my view of the throne room and grand foyer beside us. I nodded, turned back to Constance and waved my hand and she took it so together, we ran down the stairs. I was halfway down when the security guard gasped and exclaimed: ‘Duchess!’ he dropped into a low bow. ‘I did not see you there!’ he looked to me and something strange crossed his face- was it an apologetic expression? And then he stepped aside from the door and waved me his way. ‘Come miss- Prince Kohén asked me to leave the door open for you and close it after, and I suppose I will see the duchess across to the ballroom once that is done!’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous, T’are!’ Constance picked up the hems of her long silk pants and ran faster, overtaking me as her dressing gown flapped behind her- and I thought how strange it was that I had not known my keeper’s name until now. I remembered seeing him around the castle over the years, but King Elijah’s guards had always been silent and stoic- never doing anything that would draw attention to themselves, and I suppose T’are had become like one of the many pillars in the hall to me by now- part of Eden’s structure that you were distracted from noticing due to all of the more ornamental parts surrounding it. He had an impressive frame though, and his eyes were a rare shade that were warm despite their pale blue hue, and I hoped that Constance hadn’t heard him address me as ‘Miss Whittaker’ because that was a big no-no; I’d surrendered my surname when I’d surrendered my uterus, and was Larkin of Eden now- not of the Whittaker family. ‘It is too chaotic to try and cross the grand hall now!’ the duchess went on. ‘I will hide in the harem with Larkin until the crisis has been averted!

  ‘No!’ T’are’s eyes bugged. ‘I cannot-’ another scream sounded- this one much closer, and suddenly Cherry came flying around the corner, holding onto the hands of a man that had both fists wrapped around her pale pink ponytail, and was attempting to drag her backwards with it. Knowing that I owed her more than one, I forgot about the notion of hiding inside the castle- and went about protecting it instead.

  12.

  T’are launched into action as I did, except he didn’t scream like a girl the way that I did, and he didn’t bother to pause to search for a weapon because he had the kind of body mass that made him one by default- a luxury that I did not share. There still weren’t any obvious weapons lying around, but the torches that kept parts of the castle illuminated at night were still alight, and because one was set into the curve of the stone wall to my right, I plucked it out of its sconce automatically and then jumped down the last three steps bellowing to Cherry to look out and arriving on the marble floor just as she lurched past the bottom step.

  Please let them have trained me well for something other than the tasks I’ve been performing for Kohén’s benefit lately! I thought as I fell into the fray. The man wrestling Cherry was very tall but very skinny, and the pink-haired Nephilim was incredibly petite, so it was easy for me to duck between the two bodies and press the flaming torch into the man’s stomach while I forced her away from me with the way I bent forward. My body went into a kind of shock then, but I liked it. It already felt like it had been far too long since I had last used my muscles for anything other than Kohén’s pleasure!

  But my physical euphoria was short-lived, because the man grunted and jerked down on Cherry then, stabbing one of his elbows down and into my cheekbone hard enough to make my eyes water in reflex. I grasped and almost dropped the torch, but locked my knees and shoved the flame forward instead, holding my ground as he attempted to hold his. All Nephilim were precious and in need of protection, but none as much as the healers were in my opinion!

  ‘Miss Whittaker, be careful!’ I heard T’are exclaim as the Duchess cried: ‘Mind your lovely hair with that torch!’ but I’d already committed to this course of action so I had to see it through while T’are focused on wrestling Cherry out of the man’s grasp. The Banished man’s shirt had been filthy and torn, worn underneath an open jacket that was much too small for him, and both articles of clothing caught alight at once, making him cry out sharply. He looked down at me briefly as he cursed me out, and I grew dizzy from the way his clothing and breath reeked, but fortunately the shock of being on fire dominated his focus, causing him to relinquish his grip on Cherry’s hair as he smacked at the flames that were licking their way up his front.

  ‘Damn yah gal!’ the man garbled in a thick accent that I did not recognise before he pulled his fist back to slug me. ‘Why, I ought-’ I slammed the torch up into the underside of his beard and he made a strangled sound that was drowned out by the whump of his whiskers catching on fire and making an acrid stink.

  ‘Oh!’ I cried, surprising myself when the urge to apologise overcame me. I hadn’t been trying to kill him, but he must have been covered in kerosene already, because he became a human torch in a matter of seconds.

  Oh boy, I’m glad Kohl isn’t here to see me setting fire to the people he’s trying to champion! I thought as I came to a halt at the edge of the shadows, knowing that it would be best if I didn’t draw attention my way by making myself visible from the back of the foyer that the outlaws were all evidently passing through. Though his powers would come in handy right now to put this fire out...

  I heard the duchess scream as the burning man gave up on trying to slap his flames out and charged me instead, but I glanced back at her in time to see Cherry stumble to her feet, snag the duchess’s sleeve and drag her back behind the cover of the stairwell, while T’are leapt forward and knocked the burning man to the ground by tackling the frayed cuffs of his dirty pants.

  ‘Put him out!’ I cried, ‘the king will want him alive!’ They both went down hard but T’are rolled clear of him and then reached over to roll the man over- again and again until the flames clinging to him began to wither away, making me slump in relief. I wouldn’t have a murder on my conscience this day, thanks to T’are’s quick-thinking. But we were still in the middle of quite the imbroglio, so I twisted back and jerked my head towards Cherry.

  ‘Get the duchess into the ballroom Cherry!’ I cried, thrusting the torch out to indicate towards the corner, making faint shadows flicker and dance around me. ‘Now! They’re after Nephilim and nobility, and that makes you two more in danger from them than any of us are!

  ‘What if someone crosses our path?’ Cherry asked, inching forward with the duchess. ‘I don’t know if I am strong enough to defend her- I’ve already had to heal one person with a bad laceration on my way down from my room! If the duchess gets hurt-’

  ‘I’ll see you as far across as I can then!’ I cried, flipping my hair back over my shoulder and then holding my torch out to the side. ‘But move quickly! I am supposed to be locked up in the harem, not frolicking abo
ut in the halls!’

  ‘Miss Whittaker you cannot do that!’ T’are bellowed, and I shot him a look.

  ‘It is only Larkin, not Miss Whittaker, and I got an incredible score on my PCE!’ I snapped. ‘I’ll bet I can do it more quickly than even you could, muscles! And if you think you’ll get in trouble for letting me out of my labyrinth, imagine what hot water you’ll land in if the duchess gets slain because you wouldn’t allow a whore to defend her!’ I turned back to Cherry. ‘Go- NOW!’

  ‘Oh! What happened to your face?’ Cherry darted forward and touched her warm fingers to my cheek. ‘And when did you get your voice back?’

  My stomach flipped as I touched my eye. ‘I didn’t know I had a voice until I screamed out to you,’ I lied, averting my eyes. ‘And the man elbowed me in the face when I was fighting him off- I’ll be fine.’

  Cherry’s eyebrows drew together. ‘Elbowed you- with an open hand that has caused you to develop welts in the shape of fingers… and a cut where a piece of sharp jewellery has pierced your skin?’

  ‘What?’ It took me a moment to remember how I had gotten such an injury, but I stupidly looked at Constance as she sucked in a breath- and then all three of us looked down at her hand- and the large canary-yellow stone that had been encrusted into her ring. ‘Oh… I…’

  ‘Walked into a door?’ Cherry drawled, releasing the duchess and cupping my face, slanting it to the light. ‘Not surprising- how can one avoid walking into doors when they are all locked around you?’

  ‘Oh God… Larkin…’ the duchess pressed her fingers together as though she were saying a prayer and then touched them to her lips. ‘I didn’t realise I’d slapped you so hard! Oh, darling I’m-’

  ‘Darling?’ Cherry demanded, and I was taken aback by how venomous she was allowing her tone to be in front of her boss. ‘You hit her one moment and call her darling the next? How alike the members of this family have become! And to think of how I once cursed your husband for doing the same to you!’

  Tears sprang into Constance’s eyes. ‘He didn’t hit me, well, not-’

  ‘I’m sorry, after your spouse electrocuted you during your pregnancy!’ Cherry spat. ‘There! Did that sound better? It didn’t taste any better! And it didn’t make my task of healing you any easier, did it?’

  My jaw dropped. ‘Whoa! You were her healer? When she was pregnant, I mean? You look younger than she is by half!’

  ‘Because as a healer, I have the ability to reverse the damage inflicted upon my seventy year old features by time- but not the power to erase the damage that has been done to me in here-’ she pressed her finger to her temple, ‘-in my mind, by all that I have seen! Yes, I was the one that came to her aid after her spouse hurt her!’ Cherry stepped back from us and held up her hand. ‘But not anymore!’ She turned to the duchess. ‘I should have walked then when I saw Nephilim doing such wicked things to someone he’d promised to marry, but like a fool, I stayed- believing that the incident was an isolated one! But seventeen years have passed and not only has he not honoured his promise to marry you and give us a queen at last, but I see that violence is spreading through this family like an infection, and I won’t help cover it up anymore- so I quit! Get across the damned room yourself! And Larkin…’ Cherry turned back to me as the duchess sobbed, her pale pink eyes flashing as she lifted up the chain she was holding, showing me the charm on it- a large, three-dimensional set of wings with steel feathers- a skeleton key to the doors! ‘If you truly want out of this place as badly as I believe you do, then you should follow me! This ring won’t get us anywhere beyond the harem door inside the castle- but it can get us both out the front gate if we move quickly!’

  I gasped and shrank back. ‘Are you crazy?’ I squeaked, although I glanced longingly towards the front doors and out to the courtyard, which I hadn’t stepped foot in for days and had always loved so. ‘I can’t do that!’

  ‘Why, Larkin? Because you want to stay here so badly?’ Cherry demanded, advancing on me, and I was shocked to see that although T’are was holding the man he’d captured down with one foot, he was watching our exchange silently and intently, but without making a move to break it up as he certainly should have. ‘Tell me! Tell us all why you can’t leave!’ she pushed me gently. ‘ADMIT THAT YOU ARE A PRISONER HERE! Admit that Kohén raped you! He raped you in the name of love, just like Elijah beat Constance for it, and the only reason why you aren’t screaming it as I am, is because he has something on you that will end your life if you attempt to live it without him!’

  I almost fell over, and Constance actually swooned back against the door. ‘Don’t scream out such things!’ I said quickly, looking around anxiously, seeing that the people that had been racing about and screaming before had started to slow down and look our way. ‘They’re not true, and if anyone overhears-’

  ‘Lies!’ Cherry shouted. ‘You are too strong to have succumbed to temptation! You-’

  ‘That is her!’ someone else cried out then, and my heart sank- not just to know that someone had overheard our exchange, but because Cherry’s claim that I was too strong to falter in the face of temptation was utterly untrue, and I was devastated to realise that someone could think so highly- of someone as low as I had proved to be. ‘It’s Liberty! And she’s been beaten!’

  Liberty…? I swivelled to my left and was stunned to see three people come to a halt at the corner of the wall and gape at me- me and the torch that I was holding away from my body. Liberty? I thought again, rather dumbly, then looked down at the torch in my hand and snorted gently. Oh that’s cute...

  ‘Raped... and then beaten by the duchess!’ someone else cried, and my knees went weak as my body flushed with radiant heat that made me gasp. These people were as dirty and dishevelled as the others that I had already seen had been, but they did not have weapons in their hands or ferocity in their eyes- all they did was stare at me the way the Arcadians had initially gaped at my statue: shocked to find themselves in the vicinity of it. ‘Grab her!’ a young woman began to scurry forward. ‘Let’s get her out of here before-’

  ‘You leave her alone!’ Constance raced in front of me, yanking the torch out of my hands, splattering kerosene everywhere and thrusting it at the people closing in on me while I stood there, thunderstruck to see that my fingertips had caught alight so quickly- my fingertips and the hem of my dress. I moaned, balled my fist and then snuffed out the flames with them, thinking that Constance wasn’t nearly as graceful with something that was on fire as she was with her salad fork. Oh well, at least I hadn’t been ablaze long enough for it to hurt- either that or I was in shock. ‘Get out of my palace, now!’

  A hand grabbed my forearm. ‘Don’t cower behind the crown, Lark!’ Cherry whispered, tugging me her way. ‘Run from it! I know a place where we could go- a place where you’d never have to fear them finding you, once we take care of that tracking device! A place where you belong!’

  ‘Tracking device?’ I repeated dumbly, wrestling my arm from hers and backing away from her. I didn’t want to get too close to the people that clearly wanted to abduct me, so I headed further away from the corner, looking from side to side, wondering who would make a grab for me first: T’are... or the strangers? ‘What tracking device? What place? You have read so much into everything I have said, and yet I cannot decipher a word coming out of your mouth!’

  ‘Come with me now and I will explain it all and-’

  ‘Larkin!’ a male voice cried, and I looked up in time to see Karol racing across the massive foyer, wearing only a sleeveless, fitted shirt and the track pants that all of the royals wore when working out. He was sweaty and wild eyed and his long hair was all tangled, and it occurred to me that I’d never seen anyone look so handsome- or so terrifying as he flew across that room. In complete reflex I screamed and sealed my fate by turning on my heel and not running but sprinting towards the harem door with my heart in my throat.

  ‘Close it behind me!’ I shrieked to T’are as I leapt over the prone,
singed man on the floor. ‘Close it behind me and then get Constance out of here!’

  He can’t get me now! If he does, while everything is so chaotic, who knows how long I’d have to fend him off for before Kohén manages to intervene?

  I heard several voices call out my name or just cry out in frustration but I was so determined to get away from Karol that I made excellent time getting across that corridor, and once I’d slid inside my own prison again, I twisted, ducked and then gave Miguel Barachiel’s head a mighty shove, sending it rolling across the corridor behind me- praying that Karol would trip over it and smash his perfect face. The door clicked shut and then the lock inside it clunked a second later, and because this door wasn’t as thick and sound-proofed as my own was, I was able to hear what was being yelled on the other side: Karol was demanding that T’are catch the door before it could close and deadbolt, Constance was screaming for someone to apprehend Cherry, and the others simply screaming. I pushed up off the floor and flew back to my room, sobbing after I’d rattled it only to discover that it was still locked. Imagining Karol busting down the harem door behind him, I raced on, trying handles and calling out to Resonah and Rosina to let me in, but they were either elsewhere or still fast asleep because no one came to my aid.

  Crying openly now, shaking to think of how close that call had been and hearing the words ‘tracking device’ replaying over and over inside my head, I staggered past the first wing of rooms, through the foggy pool area where Kelia had met her end and towards the very rear of the harem, knowing that it was pointless to go over to the rooms that we used for grooming purposes because the beauticians didn’t come in to work until eight most mornings and it wasn’t yet six.