Corrupt

Chapter 10

There is a pause.

A very long pause.

"What?" Daeva says eventually.

"I said, what are we going to do?" I repeat. 

Daeva blinks. We stare at each other, like two circling lions, trying desperately to work each other out. Well, one lion, and a housecat. A fluffy one. 

They stare at me for a few more seconds, and then laugh brashly. 

"Is it that easy to convince you? Damn, I can see why Nikolas likes you."

"Hey! I can still... Ignore you." The words come out as more of a question than a statement. 

"Well, that'd be very rude, wouldn't it, sweetheart?"

I pointedly ignore them.

"So? What are we going to do?"

"We need to take him down."

"We need to get the truth out," I interject calmly. "About Nikolas. If he really is an evil liar, Carcaseau will turn against him. Vaskuoyae will turn against him. And then..."

"And what about you?" Daeva says coolly.

"Me?"

"Would you turn against him?"

"I... I suppose I already have."

All of a sudden, my head is in my hands, tears dripping down my cheeks, sobs shaking my body.

I've betrayed Nikolas. The King. 

I'm a traitor.

I shudder violently, unable to muffle my cries, wishing crazedly that I wasn't here, in this underground room, not with Daeva Korren. Wishing I could just go back to the way it was before, only a day ago, when everything was perfect. 

Before I realised that perfection was a lie.

Only a day ago, I was the King's most loyal maid, forever by his side, working tirelessly to fulfil his every need. And now...

A hand rests on my trembling shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Daeva! You're lying to me, and the King is innocent - or he's been lying to everyone. I'm not exactly coping well with that!"

"Hey. Hey." 

Pushing my dusty hair out my eyes, I look through the haze of tears to find Daeva's concerned eyes meeting mine. That only makes me feel worse. In their eyes I see his - I can hear his voice, the disappointment, the anger.

"He'll burn me," I whisper, the thought slamming into my mind. "He'll burn me, and I'll deserve it." 

"I won't let that happen, Lynette Answatch."

"You can't stop him."

"He's my brother. I'm just as powerful as he is." 

I can't stop myself crying. I wish Drea was here. Drea. I imagine her familiar arms wrapping around me and bury my face in my hands. I don't want Daeva to see this. 

But now all I can think of is the girls. I want to plait Hetty's messy hair again, to joke around with Eloise, to see Drea. 

"Did you kill anyone?" I murmur, unable to stop my voice wavering.

"What?" 

"Did you kill anyone? At the castle?" 

"No." They say, a little too quickly. "I don't want people to be killed, Lynette. Not innocent people. But Nikolas..." 

"I don't want anybody to be hurt," I whisper. "I don't want anyone to die. Not even him."

"But-"

"Not even him," I repeat. 

Daeva falls silent. I breathe as deeply as I can, forcing air into my lungs, wiping the tears from my stinging eyes. I must look a state, but there's nothing else I can do. 

"Lynette, I need you to listen to me for a moment, okay?" 

I nod. 

"I need you to listen to me. I need you to think of Nikolas as a liar, even if you don't believe it yet. Okay?"

I nod again.

"We - the good people - need to get to him somehow. We need to know what he's doing. We need to know what to expect. If we keep losing people at this rate... It won't end well. We need somebody close to him. A spy, if you will. Someone within Carcaseau's walls."

Their words echo through the chamber, through my own head. Yet it is a moment before the meaning appears.

"No. I can't." 

"Darling-"

"Don't call me that! I can't do it, Daeva." 

"You don't-"

"No! I don't understand! Everything's been a lie, all along! I don't know who I can trust anymore! I don't even know if my friends are alive!"

"I'm sorry."

I wish I didn't trust them quite so much. That would make this easier.

"Daeva, I know there must be something in what you're saying. Maybe not everything Nikolas says is true. But I can't just go back to the castle and be a spy. I can't."

"My people are dying. Every day. They're being slaughtered by him. Didn't you see the boys out there? They're butchering us. Please, Lynette. I know you don't trust me. I wouldn't trust me either, okay? But I don't have any other option. I need - we need - you." 

Giving me time to move away, they gently place a gloved hand on my knee. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. 

I don't want to be a spy. 

I don't want anybody to die. 

I don't want them to be right about the King. 

I don't want myself to be wrong. 

"What would you do? I tell you he's planning an attack, and then what?" 

"I move us out of the area. And then I work out what to do next." 

"You wouldn't fight back?" 

"I don't want to kill them. His armies are not the problem. It's Nikolas."

Beautiful, perfect Nikolas.

Lying, murdering Nikolas.

Which is the truth?

Daeva sighs huskily, removing their hand. Part of me wishes they hadn't. 

"Alright, sunshine. Here's my best deal. The way he'll frame it, you've been kidnapped."

"And how would you frame it? I have been kidnapped."

"Hopefully, it's more of a job interview. My point is, the evil Daeva Korren wouldn't just give you back. That'd make everyone suspicious. So you'll just have to put up with me for a few days. I'll teach you some stuff about living around here. Whatever you want. I'll take care of you. You can meet the others. Then, in a few days, you make your decision. Okay?"

Nothing sounds worse. Living out here, in these streets, with no contact to Carcaseau. With Daeva Korren, who I'm still not convinced isn't a murderer.

"Do I have a choice?" 

The silence says it all. 

"Promise I get to go home?" 

"It's a deal, sunshine." 

I place my dirty hand in theirs, the scuffed leather cool in my palm. 

We shake. 

That damned grin spreads across their face. 

And I realise: I've just made a deal with someone who, a day ago, was my worst enemy.