The Tangled Tree Read online

  Oh no! My nerves were firing off the warning to run but I was too stunned to do anything but watch them all between my parted fingers.

  ‘What?’ Elijah asked, turning grey now- and slowly turning to glower at me. ‘You-’

  ‘That wasn’t it!’ Kohén snapped. ‘I thought she’d already given herself to him prior to that, and I knew if she was found out, she’d be accused of cheating on me and Banished! I wasn’t ready to lose her- to the street or to the other side of the fence- so I made a point of taking her while witnesses were present so they could attest to the fact that they’d seen me doing it, not Kohl! It was for her protection, or so I thought!’

  ‘You idiot child!’ Elijah stomped over to us and thrust a hand out at me. ‘You stained your soul by lying for a girl that had been lying to you and toying with your brother’s emotions as well? I knew you were in over your head as far as your feelings for her were concerned but-’

  ‘No!’ Kohén shook his head. ‘No, I only did that because when she thought I was Kohl- she ended things between them completely and apologised…’ I squeezed my eyes shut as Kohén bumbled his way through the entire sordid story, admitting his guilt but defending my honour, while Constance crept up behind me and laced her ice-cold fingers through my clammy ones. ‘But the moment we... I… I realised she was still pure and I… I have been trying to make things right with her since, all right?’ He collapsed onto the stone work beside me and took my other hand, kissing it while staring at his father defiantly. ‘She was a virgin that had every intention of remaining faithful to me when I had her, father, and I refuse to allow those facts to be called into question! I also refuse to apologise to any of you for how it all came to pass-’ he kissed my hand and then squeezed it tightly, ‘-when it is only Larkin’s forgiveness that I desire, and hers alone! I tricked her into the act of love in order to win her love and save her life- but I shouldn’t have. I didn’t have to- she’d already made up her mind to be faithful to me, before I forced her to change it!’

  ‘Bullshit!’ Kohl broke out, and I cringed to think that he was going to throw me to the wolves for no reason, but it was Kohén he attacked. ‘You don’t want her forgiveness, you want her submission and surrender! You want to force me out of her head and you’re trying to make that happen by locking her up in here and dousing her with alcohol, because you know if given an hour of open air and sobriety, she’ll realise how poorly you’ve always treated her and how you’ve ruined her life and throw herself over that bloody fence anyway!’

  I looked to Constance, hoping that she’d be able to offer me or them some sort of guidance before their powers started bouncing off the walls again, but she was staring down at the floor looking only conflicted. I couldn’t help but wonder who she wanted to believe more, and was fairly certain that that was a question she was trying to answer for herself.

  Kohén jumped to his feet again. ‘You know that’s not why I keep her in here! There are other factors, remember? Will you ruin her life more in a fit of jealous anger now, Brutus, or can you just shut the fuck up already?’

  ‘Brutus?’ Elijah snapped, whirling on Kohl. ‘You’ve read that infernal book too?’

  ‘No father,’ Kohén said while making a gruesome face, and the fact that he was being honest was clear. ‘I have simply heard numerous references to it in other books that I have read- and Kohl’s ball gown brought them all to mind.’

  ‘Fuck you,’ Kohl said scornfully. ‘What would your native American name be? Cries-when-he-cums? Kicking-whores? Feather-for-dick?’

  ‘Better than yours, Loses-The-Girl! or is it: ‘Wind-in-his-skirt?’ Kohén smarted back, and the two boys went at each other but Constance moved between them swiftly, releasing my hand and leaving it lonely.

  ‘Stop it! And tell me, where is that book?’ Constance finally looked to me. ‘Larkin, is this the secret you mentioned having to keep from me? Is that Bible all that is at stake? But no…’ she frowned, pushing the boys away from one another. ‘Kohén just said that there’s something else-’

  Oh God...

  Kohén looked at me. ‘You told her? How? When?’

  ‘After she struck me! That is when I found my voice again, okay? Only I told her that she needed to stay out of matters because she could only make them worse!’ I didn’t know if he’d believe that or not, but he looked somewhat assured so I plunged on: ‘I asked her to encourage Kohl to find happiness and to not antagonise you or anyone else on the matter because she didn’t understand how badly things could go wrong for us, and wouldn’t have to if she just let things be!’ I turned to Constance. ‘And no that is not all that is at stake but my lips are sealed on the rest, and no, I have no idea where the Bible is. All that I know is that Kohén promised that if Kohl played along this week, he’d give the book back to him as soon as he boarded the ship to Pacifica so that he could dispose of it himself. It was a peace offering- blackmail that went both ways.’

  ‘Where is it then?’ Elijah demanded of Kohén, holding out his hand. ‘We must burn it, immediately!’

  ‘You’d cover for them?’ Constance asked, shocked but eager.

  ‘You wouldn’t?’ Elijah demanded. ‘Have you not seen the state of things out there woman? Our boys will be flogged for the lies and secrets they’ve allowed to fester behind these closed doors, but I won’t have Karol’s birthday or Eden’s name ruined by their shenanigans even more than they already have been! God probably wouldn’t approve of it, but he wouldn’t want poor Karol ruined by any of this either, would he?’

  ‘I agree,’ Constance said quietly, nodding and squeezing his shoulder. ‘I don’t like it, but I agree. Karol is an innocent in all of this and I won’t see him suffer.’

  Kohl snorted but Kohén diverted attention from him by saying quickly: ‘You don’t have to destroy the Bible- I already have.’

  Kohl laughed bitterly. ‘You wouldn’t have destroyed that- you’ve just hidden it away so you can hold it against me forever!’

  ‘Actually no, though fuck you for believing that wasn’t my right!’ Kohén looked back to his father. ‘Larkin told me that she loved me last night and that made me realise that I didn’t need to fear Kohl stealing her heart anymore... so before I came to see you to barter my way out of the date with Amelia-Rose, I burned it and any hold that I had over him, but neglected to mention it, just to be safe.’ He turned to Kohl again, as I felt something inside me unravel- something good this time. ‘I burned it so I’d never be tempted to use it against you again, because I knew that it wasn’t godly to hold onto it so… and this is how you repay me?’ He shook his head, eyes slitting. ‘I hate you. Just thought I’d say that now in case that fact wasn’t already plain.’

  ‘Oh, it’s plain…’ Kohl said, but with less fire in his own blue eyes and understandably so. If Kohén truly had burned that book, then he’d earned some of the feathers in his headdress- that was for certain. It made me feel better about him but worse for poor Kohl, who looked only like a young man could look after losing a love, a brother and a best friend all in one week.

  ‘You really burned it?’ I asked, and Kohén nodded, touching my braid.

  ‘The ashes are in the fireplace in my room- my attempt to earn a halo like the one that you are currently sporting.’ He turned to his father again while I pressed my hand to my heart and sobbed. For once, I’d been a good influence on someone here! ‘If you go in there, you’ll find a corner of a page intact to prove it.’

  ‘I don’t care to see it,’ Elijah said rubbing his forehead. ‘I always thought the hysteria over that thing was a little overwrought, but the only three people in this palace that have touched it have apparently acted with nought but darkness since doing so, and I will not lump my own soul into those ashes.’ Elijah motioned to me to stand up and I did. ‘And speaking of souls… Larkin of Eden…’ he cocked his head and stepped closer to me, eyes drilling into mine and I shivered: This was it! The moment I had been dreading for years! Had Satan’s warning concerned Eli
jah’s punishment? Would he do something to inspire me to take my own life now?

  Keep calm and breathe! He knows about the affair now, but he knows the truth to it too which is a blessing!

  ‘You have caused a lot of chaos in here- do you deny that? Writing letters to your master’s brother was out of line, as was accepting that bible- and conspiring to sleep with the wrong brother just so you’d have the chance to run…’ he sighed. ‘There really is no end to the list of rules that you have broken, is there?’

  ‘No, your majesty,’ I said, my voice breaking, ‘and I also know that the rules that your son’s have broken were because of me too, so if it’s all right…’ I glanced from Kohén, then Kohl, then back to the king, deciding that I was sick of crying to Satan for help, and so I would do whatever it took to get into Heaven. And if this truly was my last night on earth, then I was running out of time to atone for my sins and forgive myself- to reverse the damage that I had done to the two boys, whose only sin had been to love someone that did not deserve it. ‘Punish me for what they have done wrong too, please?’

  I didn’t think it was possible to silence four Barachiel’s at once, but my request was met at first by only that, stunned silence.

  ‘What?’ Kohén whispered after a moment’s pause, coming up to my side and trying to twist me to face him.

  ‘Like hell!’ Kohl exclaimed, earning a look of recrimination from his father once more.

  ‘Larkin!’ Constance hissed. ‘No, you-’

  ‘You are the one that first brought it to my attention that I am a horrible influence on your angelic sons, and I hate myself for it every day. So please…’ I pressed my hands together in prayer, begging Elijah to do me this one good turn. ‘Please- if they are to be whipped, assign their lashes to me as you threatened to do yesterday. I’ll take every one, and gladly and pray that each sting absolves a little piece of me.’

  ‘No, don’t accept that, father!’ Kohl rushed forward.

  ‘No, I’ll take them!’ Kohén cried, tugging on his father’s arm. ‘Don’t hurt her- I can’t bear it! I’ve already hurt her more than I can stand!’

  ‘Shut up, both of you! You think I’d whip a girl when the entire country is watching me to see that she’s being treated well? No. Well, not yet.’ Elijah turned back to me. ‘Go put your dress on Larkin and dry your eyes. You want to atone for your sins? Then you’ll do it now by marching yourself into that ballroom and acting as madly in love with my son as you claim to be!’ He raised an eyebrow and drawled. ‘Just one of them though, all right? Preferably Kohén.’

  ‘Father!’ Kohén exclaimed as I blushed beet-red, but Elijah rolled his eyes.

  ‘Please,’ Elijah lifted his hat off his head and wiped sweat off his brow, looking at me and shaking his head. ‘If I don’t laugh about it somehow, I’ll cry.’

  I pressed my hand to my chest, astounded that the king was being so… gracious. Sure he had a lot to gain from presenting me to the palace alive and well, but he could have done that by whipping me and then having me healed too, but he was choosing kindness- kindness with a hint of sarcasm. ‘That’s it?’

  ‘Until you piss me off again, yes so I wouldn’t look so relieved- you have quite a habit of pissing me off!’ Elijah turned around, picked up the box, dragged a golden gown out of it and threw it at my feet. A smaller, thinner package with an envelope pinned to the front of it fall to the misty floor too, but my eyes were fixed on Constance as she rushed to collect the dress, looking relieved. ‘Go on- put it on… you’re not helping matters dressed as you are, as Kohl had already demonstrated…’ He ignored the dirty look that he earned from both twins and went on, motioning for me to cooperate with his spouse. ‘If you perform as well as you need to tonight- as you’ve been trained to do at the expense of my purse and my patience- I will pretend that none of this has ever happened.’ Constance immediately dropped to help guide my feet into the dress and I rested my weight on her shoulder as I lifted one foot, too stunned to do anything but comply. ‘But if you do not convince the world that you are the luckiest Companion in the world, then all three of you will be whipped after-’ he pointed to Kohl, ‘including you. I swear kid, I understand the temptation of course... you are a Barachiel and she is rather enchanting… but if you so much as look sideways at her while on Amelia-Rose’s arm tonight know that she will suffer twice as much as you will, got it?’

  Kohl nodded, keeping his eyes off me and on the king. ‘Yes father,’ he said. ‘I’ll be the perfect son as always- the one you’re so very proud of.’

  ‘Don’t get sarcastic on me kid,’ Elijah growled. ‘I’ve already hit my tolerance level for disrespect and ingratitude as far as the three of you are concerned! One more incident- one more filthy look or cursed word- and you’ll all regret it!’

  ‘Oh my gosh…’ Constance’s hands were white-knuckled and shaking as she drew the dress up my mid-section, but she looked up at me with those ice-blue eyes. ‘Larkin this is gorgeous… did you order it in advance?’

  ‘I’ve never seen it before,’ I said, confused as she walked around me to smooth the bodice into place and then zip up the back. It fit me perfectly and was truly a work of art, because the entire bodice hugged the curves that my corset had provided me with (I’d thought it odd that I’d been measured after putting my underwear on!) and had been embellished with golden feathers! Not fluffy ones that gave me that duckling/ swan look, but smooth ones that appeared to have been hand-cut from glittery satin, and them glued to the structure of the gown beneath in layers! They lay like scales- flat and shimmering and in crazy patterns that were only obviously when you looked up close, but appeared as one smooth layer of fabric when I softened the focus of my eyes.

  Most of the feathers were fake, but a few real ones had been added to the low-cut sweetheart neckline so that their fluffy tendrils moved like whispered breath had stirred them, and the skirt that Constance pulled up my pantyhose next has been made of the thinnest, softest golden fabric that I had ever touched! It was translucent like chiffon, but felt as soft as rose petals and had the consistency of tissue, and despite the fact that I could tell that at least six layers had been used to make the skirt appear opaque, there was barely any thickness to the fabric at all and the feint breeze stirring the skirts made them shimmer and dance. I shifted my weight when Constance tried to un-snag a part of the skirt from the clasp of my shoe, and a slit appeared in the skirt, revealing my opposite leg almost all the way to my upper thigh.

  ‘Extraordinary…’ Elijah said, then looked at me and shook his head, smiling ruefully. ‘My sons were all done for the moment you were walked through our gates, weren’t they, little Lark?’

  I blushed while Constance peeled up the bottom of the corset in order to slip the band of the skirt beneath. I couldn’t work out if it was the most scandalous dress I’d ever seen or the most demure, but one look at Kohén’s face confirmed that it was certainly the most beautiful. ‘Kohén…’ I desperately needed another sip of water. ‘Did you order this?’

  Kohén raised an eyebrow. ‘You would have worn it every day of your life if I had known of its existence.’ He took my hand and stepped back from me, shaking his head. ‘Are you a swan again?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Constance reached over, picked up the second bundle, read the note that had been pinned to the front of it- and then handed it to me. ‘Look.’

  ‘Pull the bow?’ I recited, confused, and then saw that there was a golden bow wrapped around the second bundle. Kohl took the other item from her, shot me a look and then stepped three paces back from us before pulling on the bow.

  ‘What are you-’

  ‘If it’s a bomb or something, it’s best that the irrelevant brother opens it, yes?’ he smiled grimly at me, and my heart broke for him.

  ‘Kohl…’ Constance said, moving to walk over to him, but he held up a hand and pulled the bow and we all flinched and gasped as the package exploded- not in smoke and fire, but into a pair of long, elegant gold
en wings.

  I pressed my fingertips to my lips, moved because they were stunning- heartsick because I did not deserve to wear them.

  Someone had made me into an angel- someone who clearly didn’t know me at all.

  21.

  ‘Well!’ Kohl shook his head and then walked over to me, motioning for me to turn around while he held open the shimmery feathered wings. ‘How’s that, hmm? She’s accused of being the darkness tainting us all, and yet someone clearly thinks of her as the only angel.’

  ‘You’re not pinning angel wings to my… angel.’ Kohén snatched the feathers from Kohl who raised his hands in surrender and then I felt his fingers tickling the lower half of my back. ‘They attach here…’ he said, and I felt a click as a button snapped shut, and then the press of his lips to my cheek- a kiss that I was sure was supposed to get more of a reaction out of Kohl than me, for I could feel his heated gaze scorching a trail over my shoulder and into his brother’s face across from me. ‘And you truly are an angel, my love. Never have you looked so glorious- and never have I felt so blessed to have you in my life.’

  But I was barely listening to him, I was staring down at the dress and reflecting upon what Elijah had said- about me having done all of his sons in. He’d only been thinking of the twins of course, but there was a third Barachiel that had been corrupted by his desire for me, and hadn’t that same Barachiel asked Lindy to design me a dress for her ball? I’d asked her to sew me a duck costume and hadn’t thought about it since but now, my toes and fingertips were beginning to feel, well, numb, and it was a numbness that was spreading through me. I looked up at Kohl, frowning. ‘Who gave this to you? Didn’t you say that they had a message?’

  Kohl looked confused for a moment, but then a light came on behind his navy eyes and he nodded. ‘I don’t know who it was- there are a whole bunch of servants running around the palace. But I believe I saw her at the last ball we attended- a pretty dark-haired girl.’