Downworld

Chapter 26

Outside in the hall, once we were away from listening ears, Kip grunted in what might have been the closest thing to a 'good job' he was able to muster in my presence. 'Get back to Malik,' he added, before turning down a corridor and disappearing. There were lots of hidey holes in the castle were one could spy on its various residents and guests, so I figured he was going to find one of these to make sure Afra's words to me were her final words on the matter.

'Do you really think you could have killed her?' Isamu asked as we made our way back.

I shrugged. 'Don't know. The important thing is that she believed I could.'

'There were a lot her household in that room.'

I didn't say anything, what was there to say? That I was a psycho and the thought of killing a bunch of people didn't actually bother me? Yeah, not a conversation I wanted to be having. And I thought I could have gotten to at least Afra, and if I'd gotten to her, that would give me the boost I needed to get to her sons, and then Malik's main competition would have been dead, whether I'd lived or not. Though dying would have put a damper on my other plans.

Isamu didn't ask any more questions about that. Perhaps he really didn't want to know what went on in my head, and I couldn't blame him. He did, however, ask a question I'd suspected had been on his mind for some time. 'What are you doing, Jay?'

'You didn't think this ended with the Black Bear, did you?' I said. Because why not? I had to say it sometime and if anyone was as close to being as angry as I was at downworld, it was Isamu.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. 'What exactly is this?'

I glanced around, but most everyone else was camped out near their royals. 'Downworld.' I'd never admitted that out loud before. And I guessed I probably shouldn't have, given the shock on Isamu's face.

'You're not serious, are you?'

'I really am.'

'Does the Red King know? Fuck. Does Malik know?'

I shrugged. What Malik did and didn't know was a question I couldn't answer. He definitely knew I was up something.

'Jay, what happened to us might still have happened to us above.' He suddenly found his shoes very interesting. 'Only he probably wouldn't be dead.'

'Maybe. But at least we'd be free. We'd be able to choose what we do with ourselves, rather than begging the lords for our lives. I thought you'd understand.'

He chewed his lip. 'I do... I just....'

'You're scared.'

'I'm not!' he insisted, indignant.

'It's okay. It's not like I'm planning on burning this place to the ground. I'm just going to make it easier for our kind to choose to live above. I'm hoping things will just snowball from there.'

He sighed in relief. 'Fuck. For a minute there, I thought you were going start a war, or something.'

'We fight wars all the time, what good has it ever done? No, what I'm planning is a revolution, but one that's quiet and slow. That way, by the time anyone notices, there won't be any going back.'

Isamu was quiet for a while as we walked. 'Do you even love Malik, or are you just using him?'

I tripped on nothing, because those words were a knife in the back. I might have been an asshole, but he didn't really think I was that much of a dick, right? 'Of course I love him. If it makes you feel better, I feel guilty about it.'

'Then why not tell?'

'Frankly, I think he knows. I just think he's chosen to ignore it.'

'You know he doesn't want to be king of the Glen?'

'I know, but someone has to be.' And if that someone wasn't Malik, I wouldn't have the money and influence I needed, and his life expectancy would be cut down severely. So it had to be Malik.

We'd arrived back at the crowded halls around the Red King's room. As soon as we were, Tinder appeared from nowhere and pounced. 'Where have you been?'

I rolled my eyes at her. 'I'm going to sit with them.' To Isamu, I added, 'you okay?'

He shrugged, and slunk away himself.

Tinder glared at my back as I went. She -- trying to rival Kip in the disappointed in me contest, I suppose -- didn't approve much of the way I lived my life. She thought I spent too much time above. She thought now that I was "better", I shouldn't have needed to escape. She thought maybe I should get a proper job, guarding or building or whatever so long as it was in the down. She didn't understand anything.