January Black

Chapter 1 - Part 2

Faces wearing glittered and feathered masks turned toward the open doors. Iris froze in place, momentarily halted by the scorn she saw in their eyes. She broke free of her stupor and darted into the middle of them, ignoring the startled gasps of the women and angry demands for security to arrest her.

She wondered, as the Regents did, where the palace police were, but she didn’t dare stop to look around. It hurt to breathe but desperation pushed her onward, chasing questions toward a destination that seemed horribly far away.

Had Matty slept at all? Or did he just wait until she drifted off to slip out of the room? Could he really have made love to her with his decision made? Did it hurt to walk away? Why was he doing this?

Wasn’t I enough?

Iris stumbled at the corner of the north wing’s main corridor. Two police agents closed in on her. She heard them coming, felt their boots stomping through her veins. Defiance pushed her forward.

A waist-high gate of solid hardwood blocked the private corridor to the Steer Residence, and a Kitsune guarded it night and day. If she would be caught, it would be here, but the universe saw fit to cut her some slack. Conrad Marlo, the guard on duty, lunged for her as she hurdled over the gate. He missed.

Her victory was short-lived. Conrad threw open the lock, allowing the agents chasing her to run straight through. Iris’s hope of catching Matty faded with every footfall, bled out with her sweat and tears. She knew that she had been too late before she darted from the only bed they might ever share, but still she prayed.

Please, Matty, don’t open that door. Don’t open that door.

Iris came upon the corridor where she hoped Matty would be struggling with his decision to enter the palace’s forbidden garden. Biting back tears, she turned left.

Sunset glowed through an open doorway. The smell of jasmine and moist earth kicked her in the stomach.

Oh, God, he opened it.

Iris stumbled.

She fell.

Her hands and knees stung as they landed on the floor. The agents caught up to her, passed her, and kept walking. They drew their weapons. At that moment, she realized her mistake.

With her chest heaving, lungs burning, she croaked between gasps, “No!”

The police hadn’t known Matty was there. Conrad either hadn’t noticed or had pretended not to, but in Iris’s experiences, the Kitsune noticed everything. He might have gotten away with opening the door if she hadn’t shot through the palace like a bullet in the King’s direction.

Iris remembered sitting on Matty’s bed that afternoon. He knelt at her feet with his hands behind her knees and gazed up at her with his pale green eyes. His lips, like rose petals on his fair skin, turned up at one corner. He pleaded, “Have faith in me.”

She had meant to stop him, to save him from himself. Instead, she led the police agents right to him.