Everett looked up. “Qualmer. That sounds familiar. Which one was he?”
“Which one was Qualmer?” the king repeated mildly. “Hmm, let’s see. As I recall, he’s the one who kills you.”
“He—what? Hey! What’re you—” He jerked suddenly to his feet, only to chop the question short with a gurgled grunt. Then his slain body slumped to the floor right next to the edge of my vision. I was able to move my neck just enough to look into my captor’s wide, unseeing eyes as he gaped up at me with a death stare, his neck sliced open with blood pooling out and spreading toward the edge of the map.
And just like that, Everett was dead. After days—weeks—of torturing me, he died so fast. And someone else had stolen my sweet revenge, killing him first.
I moaned, not upset he was gone, but kind of worried what this meant for me now.
Was I being rescued?
I had a strange feeling I was not. Because if Qualmer was disguising himself as King Tomrick—
The door to the room opened.
“Sir, I got us the finest—”
The sound of breaking clay filled the air as the jug crashed to the ground and shattered.
“Damn,” the king announced. “You dropped the ale. I was hoping for a refreshing drink after this.”
“I—who—” Afton sounded sufficiently confused. “What’s going on? Did you just kill Master Teller?”
“Yes, but he sends his regards and wanted me to tell you what a fine assistant you made while you served him. But now you must join him in death.”
“What?! No, I—”
Scuffling, grunts, and curses followed when the king struck, attacking Afton as well. This one wasn’t a short murder, as Everett’s had been. His assistant fought back. Tables were jostled, scraping across the floor, things fell and crashed on stone cobbles, more groans and growls and obscenities followed.
Finally, the battle wound down and the survivor ripped out a long, exhausted expletive. “Son of a bitch, that was more work than I ever like to put into anything. But damn, he was a fighter.” Then he let out a short laugh. “And a bleeder. The poor, loyal sap.”
So, I guess Afton was dead now, as well.
King Tomrick has killed again.
Though, at this point, I was certain he wasn’t King Tomrick.
I tried to twist my head to see him, wondering what he planned to do with me. As if sensing my attention, he huffed out a long breath.
“Oh, Quilla,” he sighed as if he knew me personally. His boots scuffed against the floor as he walked closer. “Quilla, Quilla, Quilla. What have you gotten yourself into this time?”
Around us, all the guards who'd been positioned against the walls simply vanished as if they’d never been there, leaving me alone in the chamber with the fake king. He kneeled next to the extractor and tipped his head to the side so he could meet my gaze. My sight was a bit blurry after the repeated blows and swelling I’d received, but I was barely able to make out his features and tell that they were moving and changing. Morphing into a different face altogether.
He’d been wearing a glamour, I realized, and now he was removing it.
Once he willed his disguise away, I recognized a boy I once knew in the face of the man before me. Except he was missing an eye.
I tried to say his name, but the retractor and swollen appendage in my mouth made it impossible for me to form words. And the moaning sound I made caused painful vibrations to ring from my vocal cords through my jaw and across the wounded tongue. I gagged and winced, falling mute.
Qualmer simply smiled at my failed attempts. “Hello, cousin,” he greeted. “Been a while, hasn’t it?”
Chapter 36
Quilla
Qualmer was here.
He’d saved me. Out of all my family members, he was the very last I would’ve expected to receive any kind of help from. So why would he—
Eyes frosting with hatred, he grabbed my jaw, his fingers biting in painfully. “You almost got us all caught and killed, you know that, you stupid little cow? My children, Quilla, all of them under six years old—they could’ve been murdered by High Clifters because of this. Their death would’ve been on your hands if I hadn’t come along to clean up your damn mess.”
Ah. Well, that explained that, then. The three R Graykeys near New Gill must be his progeny. And he just wanted to protect them.
Weird. I never would’ve pictured him as the protective-parent type.
“They’re the only chance I have of possibly ever coming out of hiding someday,” he went on. “I just need to raise them to maturity, kill two to take on their powers, and keep the third alive to continue the family line and build up our Graykey numbers again so our house can return to greatness, and we can fight off all our damned oppressors once and for all.”
Oh.
Never mind.
I guess Qualmer wasn’t exactly the protective-parent type after all.
Sniffing, he looked down at the map where his name was posted above a dot, overlapping the dot with my name above it. Then he shook his head and swore. “I can’t believe the procedure worked. Dammit!”
I tried to focus on the map as well, but I couldn’t read details at the moment, although I was pretty sure his kids were being kept in the caves north of New Gill. But how could any Graykey still be hiding in the kingdom of Lowden? After the invasion of High Cliff and the Great War, the entire family there had been decimated. Anyone who was able to hide and survive after that would have to be insane to stay.
With a savage curse, Qualmer reached out and tried to grip the chunk of map that contained his name. But it refused to tear.
“Son of a bitch.” He rose. His boots shifted as if he were turning in a circle and looking around the room in search of something to help him destroy the map.
“Hey,” he muttered after a bit, his boots tromping away. “Is this my damn necklace? I lost this years ago. Did you steal my fucking pendant, Quilla? You little bitch. I’m taking this back.”
For a second, I had no idea what he was talking about. Then it occurred to me…
The amulet.
Everett must’ve taken the one I’d been wearing when I was caught and then he’d no doubt tossed it among his things after he’d stripped me bare and shaved my head with no idea how important it was. And now Qualmer assumed my amulet was the one he’d lost years ago—the one Indigo had kept all this time.
Jesus, that was right. As soon as I could speak and walk again, all I had to do was get my hands on that amulet, chant the words, and I’d be free. I could go to Melaina and Taiki and the others on Earth. I could escape.
It wasn’t like I had a reason to stay here anymore. Indigo was gone and—
Indigo.
His death struck me anew, tears welling in my eyes. I couldn’t believe he was really gone. I didn’t want to continue without him. He’d given me a new reason to live, a fresh dream. One that was sweet and beautiful. And with him not here, nothing seemed to matter.
But I didn’t want to be taken prisoner by my cousin either. I had no idea if he’d be just as cruel as Everett, but exchanging one cage for another wasn’t my idea of survival.
“I imagine you’re wondering how I can be living in Lowden right now and haven’t gotten caught yet, aren’t you?” Qualmer asked conversationally, his voice moving across the room as he picked through Everett’s things and pocketed whatever he found interesting.