Downworld

Chapter 25

I was in the middle of a meeting when I got the call. It was Kip, telling me that the Red King was dying and Malik wanted me home. I swore, causing the room full of business people in their overstuffed suits to look at me in various stages of shock. None of them said anything, of course. Even though I rarely took on official positions in these companies, they all knew I was the one they had to impress if they wanted to keep their directorships and their paychecks.

'You have ten minutes,' I said, 'make it good.'

They did. I approved of their expansion. They shook my hand as if they didn't resent the intrusion of a nobody like me into their boardrooms and their business. Which they one hundred percent did. Then I left and drove like a madman back to Gateway.

When I arrived, Kip glared and accompanied me down. He was no doubt thinking that now would be the time to snatch me to use as blackmail to keep Malik from contending for the Glen.

There was no one out and about in the Glen. Everyone had heard the news and had gone to ground, anticipating that war would follow the Red King's death. It was eerie quiet, but with the added bonus that we'd see any enemies coming.

They didn't come and we arrived at the castle to be engulfed in a crowd of servants loyal to the Red King and Malik. They took me to the Red King's private rooms, where he was lying in bed with Malik was at his side.

He looked like a wrinkly, wasted old man. If he were human, I'd say he'd aged sixty years over night. But he wasn't human, he was a freak and this is how we freaks died. Young and healthy for so long -- and the Red King had been so for nearly five hundred years -- then suddenly weakened and dying. It was never long, once the time came. A few days at most. And in the Red King's case, I guessed he'd have less time than normal.

I hugged Malik, then he resumed his position beside his father, looking so much younger than even when I'd first met him.

'Jay. Remember what we talked about?' Daud said to me.

'I remember.'

Malik looked between us. 'What?'

We both ignored him, which was not nice, but better than the argument that we'd have to have if we explained things to him. He'd hate himself if he spent the last moments of his father's life arguing with the old man.

'I'll give you guys some time alone,' I said, retreating from the room under Malik's confused stare.

I stood in the hall way a while, thinking and looking like an asshole to those of Malik's and Daud's household who were milling around and trying not to panic. They wanted me to do something, or rather they wanted someone to do something and by virtue of my position and history, they thought I was the perfect person.

Isamu eventually found me there. 'What are you going to do?' he asked.

I didn't answer, but that did prompt me to actually do something. 'Hey Kip,' I called to the guardian, who'd been lurking around me in his state of perpetual disappointment, 'come with me for a minute.'

He did, following me as I left the Red King's section of the castle. Isamu came as well, and I wasn't about to tell him to stay. If it didn't go well, I wanted Isamu and his serious necromantic skills on my side. It was a little morbid, sure, but with someone like Isamu, dead enemy meant a new recruit.

Though I did wonder what they thought when they followed me to the Smoke Princess' rooms, and why neither of them said anything. If I were them, I probably would have stopped me, or at least made a snarky, disapproving comment.

One of Afra's guardians let us in and took us to a sitting room where Afra reclined on a couch with her two sons. Each of them had about half their households with them. That was three royals, and way too many guardians to think about fighting. She seemed relaxed, but she wouldn't have had so many people around her if she wasn't anxious.

'Jay, what a pleasant surprise,' she said, that predatory gleam in her eyes, 'come sit by me.'

I waved at Isamu and Kip to tell them to stay by the door. Isamu's shoulders stiffened, but he stayed as I went to sit at the Smoke Princess' side. Very close to her side, I might add. She was trying so hard to convince everyone of her superiority that she was willing to allow me so close, within striking distance, as it were.

'I've come to tell you that the Red King is dying,' I said, addressing her only. Her sons would find this offensive, but they weren't my concern. Afra had her brood wrapped around her little finger, they'd do whatever she said, so I only needed to convince her.

'I guessed from all the commotion. Nice of you to come tell me yourself. Are you here to ask for mercy for your beloved?'

'You know I'm not.'

She cocked her head. 'Then why are you here?'

I didn't answer. Just sat there silent. Silence has a way of making people uncomfortable, I've found, and anticipation can work better than an outright threat.

'Are you here to kill me, Jay?' She asked it lightly, as it she didn't believe I could.

'I'm not. Not if you don't do anything.'

'Ha. I've been waiting my whole life for this, you know. We all thought the Red King would never have children, and when Malik was born a jinni, we thought he'd be a retainer, or guardian at best.'

'I'm sorry to hear that.'

She leaned back and considered me. 'You're too good at this, Jay. Responsible for the deaths of two nobles already, and now my sweet, little cousin has sent you to deal with me.'

'Not Malik. The Red King.'

She barked a laugh. 'I don't even have a chance, do I? You've already arranged for Daud's household to swear to him, haven't you?'

I said nothing.

'And if I try, you'll drain me dry like you did the Snake Lord. And my sons as well.'

I suspected she liked reminding me about him. She thought my mercy in not killing him meant something. She didn't know I hadn't cared about anything that had happened that night outside of the safety of Tinder and her family, and their allegiance to Malik.

'Yes.'

'Fine. I withdraw my claim. I will not fight the Red Prince for the Glen. I swear it on the lives of my sons.'

'Thank you.'

She snorted. 'For someone who hates downworld politics, you're too good at it.'

'You can't fix a problem by ignoring it. Perhaps you should consider the Swamp. It hasn't been stable there since the Black Bear's demise. A royal might just be able to keep those nobles in line. If you'd like, myself and some of the others who came from there could show you its secret paths.'

'Tch. That's your peace offering? The Swamp?'

Now she was hamming it up. The only difference between the Swamp and the Glen was prestige, and the fact that she wouldn't be able to call herself a Gateway Queen, only a Territory Lord. I was offering to involve myself in a war in which I had no stakes for her, that was a serious thing that didn't happen often in the down.

Still, I thought it wouldn't hurt to sweeten the deal a little, so she didn't decide to stab me in the back. 'That, and the fact that it's likely one of your children, or grandchildren, will succeed after Malik.'

'You don't know that. He could get sick of you and take a woman. Since fate has such a grand sense of humor, I'm sure he'd have a royal child, even if the woman wasn't herself.'

I raised an eyebrow. 'That is a long series of unlikely events. In any case, think about it.'

I got up to leave, but before I was at the door, she added. 'I accept your offer.'

I turned and bowed to her, not betraying my relief. I hadn't wanted there to be open war between her and Malik. Though Afra was smart enough, she had to know that I wouldn't have let her win.