The Midnight Watch

Chapter 36

So, um, I've just realised that I never posted this chapter. Don't why how it got forgotten but, well, it did. Why didn't you guys say anything lol? The story didn't make much sense without it. Oh well. Enjoy xD

Evarlin was eerily still. I didn't know if that was because Rhys was leading us a merry dance, or because everyone was occupied with the distraction we had created. See, right at that moment, Isaiah and the Shadowcats were laying siege to Holyhead's bridges.

If such a direct threat to his own safety couldn't get Wyatt Rochester calling out the guard, I didn't know what could. And which defenders would he want? The Rochester guards, of course. The ones whose loyalty could be counted on. The ones who would kill Kai on sight.

And — by happy reckoning — that left the fortress full of our guards. The Team Kai guards. So, in theory, persuading them to switch sides should be easy peasy.

But when had anything ever been easy peasy for us?

Rhys stopped abruptly and my train of thought ground to a halt. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, and its tempo was as excitable and jumpy as a pup's. The chance of being caught, the danger we were in, didn't suit me, I decided.

There wasn't anything wrong, though. He had just caught a glimpse of the courtyard through a window, seen something unexpected.

I looked too. Normally, the courtyard was strikingly green. Today the grass was hardly visible at all, because the entire guard was turned out, arranged in haphazard groups in their full uniforms. Some were standing, some were sitting, but not a single person was moving.

I could still remember my first few minutes in Evarlin, how I had been so astonished that such a large place with so few people could look so full. Full of life and noise. Today it was full to bursting, and all I saw was emptiness.

Kai stood up a little straighter. We had done our jobs: now it was his turn. And — I had to admit — he had an impossible task. Hard enough convincing a hundred shifters to follow you, let alone at the age of seventeen. Who in their right mind would want to be led by a teenager? Werewolves, apparently.

"What're you going to do?" Rhys asked.

Kai just shrugged. "Make a speech, I guess. You're the regent, so you'll be expected to say a few words."

His mouth twisted. "I never agreed to that."

Nate and I exchanged a glance. Now? Really? They couldn't have picked a worse time to have this discussion, when we so desperately need to show unity. I raised an eyebrow, but he shook his head ever so slightly. Your friend, that expression said, your problem. And then he fixed his eyes on the ceiling, indifferent as could be, and ignored all three of us.

"I'll turn eighteen in a month," Kai pointed out in exasperation. "Four weeks — that's not so long."

"Not long," he muttered furiously. "Not long. You got any idea what kind of shit could happen to my family in a month? No. Ain't happening."

"They can stay here too!"

"What, and you'll fight all seven packs for us?"

The argument had taken on a dangerous tone, and here was a terrible place for a fistfight. Impulsively, I caught Kai's hand and squeezed before he opened his mouth. "How about we discuss this later, yeah?"

His eyes snapped towards me, and I could've sworn — just for a second — scarcely noticeable — maybe — there was just a speck of something which he shouldn't really have been feeling anymore.

I winced and released his hand as if I'd been burned. Nate suddenly started paying attention to us again, but for all the wrong reasons. Oh, Goddess. What a mess.

Kai scrubbed his face and swore under his breath. "She's right. We can sort this out later. In the meantime, you don't have to say anything at all, not even your name. Let them wonder."

His cousin tipped his head. "Better. But I don't reckon you need to say anything either."

I didn't see how Kai could go out there and not make a speech and just expect everyone to listen to him. But he must have understood, because he nodded after a moment's thought and then the four of us were suddenly moving again.

Straight towards the courtyard.

My breathing sped up. I closed my hand around my knife hilt, only to release it a second later. Couldn't look defensive, couldn't look scared. It was the only way to pull this off. So all I could was stifle my thundering heartbeat and try to pretend I wasn't as nervous as a turkey at Christmas.

We passed through a pair of double doors and into blinding sunlight, walking not in proper formation, but rather as a group with Kai leading. I had to squint against the sudden light, but there was no mistaking the field of guards. Rows of black and silver uniform, still as death.

And then they noticed us. It started off with a single woman, turning and gaping, which set off the people around her, and it spread like a ripple across the courtyard until every single guard was staring at us.

I could feel tension knotting my shoulders, but I forced myself to keep walking, to keep following Kai, to ignore all of them. Even when people started moving — shuffling in place here, shouldering their way closer there.

I was so busy ignoring everything that I didn't notice where we were going until we were already there. Kai had stopped before a man—and not just any man. He'd picked out the Instructor, of all people. The guy who had put us through hell and back in the name of 'training.'

And then it hit me — he'd put everyone here through hell and back. I was scared of him, yeah, but so was everyone. Oh, Kai was clever. There's nothing worse than self-promotion, and not much better than celebrity endorsement.

The Instructor hid his surprise better than most. He looked mildly inconvenienced, nothing more, when faced with the rightful heir to the throne, whose claim he had chosen to forget for his own sake.

Kai gave a half bow and stood to attention. "Patrol eighty-nine, reporting for duty, sir."

Tears pricked my eyes, but they didn't fall. Instead, I found myself smiling in a way that was somehow happy and nostalgic at the same time.

The Instructor nodded gravely. He accepted the nudge, understood what was expected of him. "No, Kaeden, I think not. Your duty lies elsewhere now."

Someone nudged my arm. I looked around to see a familiar smirking face. Zara. And the rest of her patrol not far behind her. They ringed us, a second layer of defence and an honour guard.

"Does anyone here dispute Kaeden's claim?" the Instructor asked. Not a single reply, not even a murmur. Again, this time in a bellow, "Do any of you dispute his claim?"

Silence answered him. Those who disagreed — and I didn't doubt that there were several within these walls — wouldn't dare speak up now and risk a lynch mob. No, I was sure they would simply work against us quietly. Which was an awful lot harder to counter, of course.

"Then your duty is done," the Instructor told him.

"Your duty is done," the guard echoed, me included.

We all stood to attention too, all waited

But no one knelt. Not a single soul. And I knew exactly how much that would mean to Kai and I couldn't help smiling even wider. We had chosen one of our own, not an up-jumped 'noble.'

The Instructor threw an arm around Kai's shoulders even as I thought that, and shouted, "Long live the King."

And, "Long live the King," the guard echoed, me included.

It was that simple.