Story of Kings

Chapter 26

After moving Amelia to the cot, Kane made his way to his room, choosing to wash himself after a look in the mirror; they may have cleaned him up a bit when he had been knocked out, but it hadn't been anything thorough. He again kept his shower short, the water still freezing. A simple set of clothing had been left in his room; someone must have figured he would be needing one. He pondered if it had been before or after last night's mission, though it really didn't matter.

Examining the clothes, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself, it seems whoever picked out the clothes matched Evelyn's fashion sense, if she hadn't picked them out herself. Black hempen pants and a black, laced cotton shirt. Kane quickly donned both, threw his coat on over it and laced up his boots.

For a time, Kane was expecting someone to come get him, a messenger, or Evelyn, to go talk with the Black Underground leaders but no one came right away. He knew they wanted to talk to that girl, Amelia, as well but he didn't get why they wanted to wait to talk to them at the same time. With how long it had taken her to heal him, Kane expected that she would be out for some time as she recovered her strength.

Instead, he was left alone, or at least unbothered. When he first came to his room, he had noted someone had followed him, kept their distance but also made sure to know where he was. As far as he could tell that same person had also taken up a post some ways down the hall. Kane wasn't surprised, if anything he had expected an escort or someone tailing him from the start. How or why they had trusted him so quickly was beyond him, even if they had old Sentry documents detailing him. Perhaps it was just him, but to Kane, it just seemed too convenient that the Black Underground, a group whose security and survival lay in their secrecy and their information, would be okay with him keeping so much of his identity hidden. With Cas it had been different, they had loved each other, known each other for years. They could afford the trust between each other, but between him and the Black Underground? They didn't know each other, and that trust shouldn't exist.

But it does.

But why? Kane mauled over his thoughts, why did he trust them? Sure, they couldn't sell him out to a god-king, and he couldn't do the same, but they could each severely hurt one another. Neither knew the other's motives and what each other was planning and based on the previous night it should be clear to all how that was dangerous. Kane wanted two things; to get his wife back and to hunt down the angel or god-king responsible for the murder of his father. After that, the world could burn for all he cared, he could withstand it and could protect his wife. What did the Black Underground want, what were they after? Would they deem his wife a casualty in the end? Would they let the angel or god-king responsible for the murder of his father get away to pursue someone else they deemed a bigger target? Would they end up getting in his way if he broke from them to achieve what he wanted?

No.

How did he know? Why did he know? Kane couldn't make any sense of it, why he felt anything for anyone with the Black Underground. No, Evelyn and Ruhden, Azmal struck him a certain way too. Those three he didn't seem to think twice about, as if he had known them for an age and had only just reconnected with them.

Reconnected?

Kane shook his head, dispelling his thoughts. He just wasn't used to forming connections with people, that was all. He had spent so long only caring about one person, Cas, and even longer with no one. The simple explanation was that he just liked them and wasn't accustomed to getting to know people anymore. Kane layed down on the small bed that occupied most of his room, letting out a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. Too much was going on. Reaching down, Kane fished his bandana out of his pocket; where had it come from? Had Ruhden snagged the peacoat while he fought the angels? No, he couldn't have without the angels seeing him and he wouldn't have done that, and Kane would have noticed him anyway. Nothing was making sense anymore.