*KAT LEVITATES HIGH INTO THE DARK SPOOKY SEASON SKY, LOOKING DOWN UPON THE CUPCAKES IN EVIL EXCITEMENT FOR THIS CHAPTER*
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"What were you just about to do to this woman?" Kalace asked, still out of my line of vision, but sounding greatly concerned.
Death gazed down at my body beneath him on the table, as if he'd forgotten I was even there. "Her?"
"Yes, her. Your talons are in her corset!"
Death's nails retracted back into his fingertips like a cat, and he released my corset, stepping back fast as if to free himself of any blame. "What does it look like we were about to do?" he countered with an arrogant smirk. "We were just playing a little rough. She's feisty, this one."
Realizing I had my moment to make a move, I got up quickly off the side of the table away from Death, brushing bits off food off me as I stood. I locked eyes with Kalace across the way. He looked vastly different than how I remembered him from Alexandru's Roman past. His once brown hair was now stark white, clasped behind his head in a low ponytail. I could see it hung bone-straight down to his hips as he turned more fully toward Death. He was paler like current Ace, although he lacked current Ace's notorious bright violet irises. His were still hazel. Human in appearance.
Ace's gaze swept over me briefly, concern knitting his brow. "Is he telling the truth? Were you playing a little rough?"
Sliding a bit of food out of my hair, I glanced over at Death, remembering how he'd totally turned psycho on me just three minutes before. His feline mismatched eyes narrowed and clung to mine. Something flashed within them in a dangerous warning.
"I mean, yes," I muttered, "technically that's the truth. To him."
Kalace gestured casually. "So, I can assume he was about to rip your throat out?"
I nodded vigorously. "It's a fair assumption, yes––"
"This is a throwaway conversation," Death's deep voice layered over mine. "She's irrelevant, and I can assure you, and whatever I was about to do with her is none of your concern." Death briefly glanced over at me and inclined his head rudely toward the door. "You're dismissed."
"No, she is not," Kalace said. "She scared out of her wits. Are you alright?"
"She's fine," Death answered for me. "She was just leaving."
"She stays," Kalace said firmly. "Until I can confirm you are no longer having an episode, I think this is best."
The two men glared at each other for a tense moment. Death side-eyed me with a nasty look, before cracking his neck to the side.
"Fine," he grated out, putting on a friendlier front. "Whatever makes you feel more at home, Kalace. I am thrilled you are here. Hardly recognized you with that long, lustrous hair. Developed a fear of shears, have we?" The taunt to his voice was evident, but Kalace did not take the bait. He remained quiet, stoically scrutinizing Death from afar. "You made the right choice to come," Death added, in lieu of Kalace not answering him.
"I had very little choice in the matter," Kalace said, his chin lifting. "I was driven from my home."
"Truly?" Death scratched his nose with a pointed gloved finger. "How terrible."
"Yes, how terrible," Kalace echoed Death's words with distain, beginning to walk around the perimeter of the room, while keeping a good distance from Death. "It was discovered almost half the nearby town aside my house had died of the most mysterious causes."
"Mysterious, you say?" Death propped his hand under his chin. "You paint the most curious picture. Might I guess the causation?"
Ace's clean-shaven jaw tightened. "I don't want to play these games––"
"Parasites in an old well," Death speculated, somewhat enthusiastic. "A new devastating crop bug wiped out all the food? Ooh, I know!" His gloved hands spread out in front of his face. "A psycho was in their midst..."
Kalace did not look amused. He stopped pacing and faced Death, his hands fisted at his sides. "They were mauled. Viciously. By wolves."
"Wolves?" Death repeated, wincing. "How...uncivilized."
"I know it was Lucifer's hellhounds, Death."
Death's scared eyebrow shot up. "That is a mighty accusation, Kalace. Especially in my own castle..." He turned somewhat over his black velvet shoulder and loosely gestured to me. "And in front of this completely and utterly irrelevant person."
"Don't you use me as a deflection," I said, feeling much more comfortable to be bold again with Kalace around. "And I am not irrelevant."
"Yet, there you are," Death said, not even looking in my direction. "Standing in irrelevancy to this entire conversation."
"As long as I am around here, you won't be nonsensically killing anyone," Ace said to Death, making his way around the edge of the room so that he stood closer to me. "Including her."
"Nonsensically," Death repeated Kalace's word with a snicker. "You're making me sound unhinged, Kalace. I always have a reason."
"Then what's your reason for her?"
"Yeah, what's your big sane reason for killing me?" I asked Death.
Death turned to the side, gracing me his famous side-eyed bitch glare. "Her ambiance."
"My ambiance?"
Death winked at me. "I said what I said, pest."
Ace made an exasperated noise and put his hands on his hips. "If you're truly this far gone, then I'm afraid I cannot be of help to you. At the very least, I need you to admit you were the one who had my entire village mauled."
Death ran his hand slowly over his face in aggravation. "Alright, fine," he grated out. "It was me. I was low on this monthly's scores, and you hadn't replied to my invitation in months. I was angry!"
"So you sent hounds to maul innocent people?"
Death crossed his muscular arms. "When you say it like that it sounds rather coldblooded."
Kalace and I gave Death a long, concerned look. Ace took a careful step closer to Death, his eyes continuing to examine him closely, like a doctor I realized. I felt myself drift into the background of their conversation like the memory was unfolding itself.
"I think you need to sit down, Death," Kalace said.
"What I need is to eat. I'm so fucking hungry all the fucking time..." Death stretched his high-collared velvet shirt away from his neck with a long talon. "You know, it's not like the mortals wouldn't have died a slow and pain death of plague, anyway. Which, by the way, they would have. I did check."
"How considerate of you," Kalace muttered sarcastically, the concern in his eyes only growing.
"You have been here seconds and already you judging my making?" Death's laugh was low and a little menacing. "And you haven't even given me a hug."
"I am told you were plagued with wrath on the night you called the hounds," Ace said.
"Helvius," Death sneered. "He couldn't keep a secret if you held a knife between his teeth."
"Helvius isn't the one who told me," Kalace explained. "It was your knights."
Death's head cocked a little, his expression indecisive between anger and confusion as he registered this.
"They seemed concerned for your well-being," Kalace continued.
"They don't give a shit about me, they're just afraid of me. And they fucking damn well should be." Death ran his fingers over the lapel of his velvet shirt, and I realized he kept touching his clothing because he was profusely sweating. It was starting to wet his black hair around his face and around his ears, making the dark strands somewhat curlier.
"You cannot hold this illusion for long lengths of time," Kalace said, his eyes now studying the area around Death. "Not when you don't have control of your other side. It's effecting your aura and making you susceptible to the curse which is bound to you."
"She speaks Latin," Death growled, apparently aware of my presence again in the room. "Our conversation is not private."
"You're still having an episode, and you're clearly off your medication. Everyone in this castle should be aware of your condition for their own safety. Disregarding life only makes you the monster you so desperately want to hide."
Death's expression went stone cold. "Who said I want to hide it?"
Kalace arched a brow. "You wrote to me because you want help, did you not? I find it hard to believe it was because of some event you mentioned. Not when I just walked in on you talking to yourself like a madman, about to slaughter an innocent life."
Death's lips curved up on one said. "We were just playacting," he said in a light-humored way.
I looked to Ace. "He said he'd 'eat my tasty flesh off my bones.'"
Death's head turned in my direction, his vertical pupils tightening to slits. "And don't you forget it," he hissed.
"Death," Kalace said, outraged. "Come stand over here away from her."
Death snarled a little. "I don't take orders from you."
"Go stand," Kalace said firmly, "over there."
Death stood there for a few stubborn seconds. He gave me another venomous look, before slowly stalking where Kalace was pointing to.
"Now apologize to her," Kalace said.
Death showed his fangs in an amused grin. "Never."
"Apologize, or else I'll leave right now, and you'll never hear from me again."
"Always with the dramatics, Kalace." Death released an aggravated sigh and rolled his neck a little as if to clear the slate. He turned his head unenthusiastically toward me. "I mildly regret my actions," he said in a rush, all but seething it out between his teeth.
"Weak," Kalace commented. "Try again. While you're at it, promise you won't kill her. Swear it on your throne."
"Yeah, swear it on your throne," I said with a big smile.
Death ground his sharp teeth together. He straightened himself and cleared his throat. "Dearest Faith, I deeply regret my actions toward you. I swear on my throne and everything I am I won't kill you." He looked over at Kalace, awaiting his approval for the phoniest apology I'd ever heard in my life.
"Not good enough," I said, answering instead of Kalace.
Death's intense stare homed in on me. "Pardon?"
"What part of what I said wasn't clear? The apology wasn't good enough. It sucked. Your voice wasn't even close to sincere, and you had unlive in your eyes."
Death slowly looked over at Kalace again, this time like he wanted to rip my head off and punt into a pit of flames, but at least he was asking for permission first.
"You heard the lady," Kalace said, appearing amused by our interaction. "It wasn't good enough. You had unlive in your eyes."
Death's mismatched eyes seared back into mine. "Accept my apology."
"No."
A muscle twitched in Death's face. He raked his gaze over my figure, his mouth twitching into a brief smile. "Accept my apology...beautiful."
"No."
Death took a step toward me. "Accept my apology, please," he grated out between his fangs.
I crossed my arms over my chest. "No. Your apology, much like your attempts to be nice, are fake, and are ass."
Death's gloved hands squeezed together as if he were imagining wringing something out, aka my neck. He spun to face Kalace. "Do you hear the way it speaks so openly to me? And with that snarky tongue!"
"Someone ought to dish it back at you," I said. "Your ego is as big as the castle you've built around you."
"It's provoking me," Death continued to rage to Kalace as the toe of his boot tapped impatiently against the floor. "Just let me put it out of its misery. One last kill, I swear."
"I'm very confused by this interaction," Ace said, his hand on his chin. "Is there some sort of established relationship between you two?"
"What the fuck gave you that gross idea?" Death growled.
I laughed uneasily. "He wishes."
"I can assure you," Death added, "there is not a single star I wished upon for a foulmouthed virgin named Faith."
My mouth fell open.
"It is quite rude to question a woman's maidenhood so forthright," Kalace came to my defense.
Death smirked. "Isn't it? Well don't worry, this virgin is not a saint by any means. She shouts jokes about my dick across an entire courtroom."
"He's just mad because I embarrassed him," I said to Kalace, who was deeply confused at this point. "He's a Prince of Darkness with all these obedient shadows, and yet he sunbathes naked. Out of his own pride and arrogance to not to have tan any lines, I'm sure."
Kalace wiped his hand over his face, appearing overwhelmed.
Death glared at me, his face twitched between ten different expressions, ending in a vicious smirk. "You are not deserving of an apology from me. The only thing you deserve is to work at a brothel. But I wonder if that's how you got here in the first place, when the rats infested your frail, ugly little mortal shell with plague, perhaps."
"Alright," Kalace said, "let's all settle down now––"
I walked to the dining table and picked up a ladle of what looked like a bowl of gravy and flung it in Death's direction. He happened to be picking a piece of lint off his velvet shirt and was sloshed from the liquid, the brown gunk splattering the lavish black material, where it would undeniable stain forever.
"There," I said, tossing the ladle back into the bowl. "A little brown to match your crappy apology."
Death's head slowly tilted up, his catlike eyes filling with shadow.
"Death..." Kalace warned, his body tensing.
"This is my favorite shirt..." Death crossed the space between us in a blur and snatched me by the corset again, lifting me easily more than a foot off the ground so that my face was inches from his. "I will eat you from the toes up, you uncouth little toad," he snarled.
A bolt of what looked like a lightning shocked Death right in the neck. His whole body spasmed as violet electric pulses danced underneath his skin. He released me instantly with a small yelp and stumbled back, but not without retribution. I realized his talon had punctured through his glove and tore through the seam of my corset. Gasping, I pressed my corset against my breast as the entire thing ripped down the center, nearly spilling my breasts out.
"You bastard!" I cried out.
Kalace moved between us and shoved Death away from me.
"Be grateful it wasn't your skin," Death said, wincing at the gash Kalace had caused in his neck as he slinked over to long dinner table to pick at desserts.
Kalace shrugged out of his jacket, his eyes trained on Death. "You are out of control," seethed to Death, before turning to me. "Here you go, my dear." He helped me into his jacket to cover my chest better. "Let's get you clear from this room. This was a great mistake on my behalf."
"Her birthing was a great mistake!" Death called out around a mouthful of pastries.
"You and I are going to have a talk!" Kalace fumed at Death, guiding me with a hand on my back from the room.
The door slammed behind us.
"Apologies for his behavior," Kalace said immediately. "It was important for me to see what may have triggered his episode. I see I will not get my answer when he is not even taking the medication I sent him..."
"What kind of medication?"
"Just an explicit list of magical sedatives that could take down a dragon and a combination of herbs to curb his episodes. I promise you he has been too stubborn to consistently use either."
"Sedatives, like to keep him asleep?"
"Well, to keep a part of him asleep, at least. Something is triggering these incidents in him and I'm trying to see if there's a root through his subconscious. Only then can I help him control his deadly sins." Kalace looked over at me, as if realizing he'd said too much, and suddenly this was all making a little more sense. "Are you his mistress, or a close friend?"
"Um, well...neither? I think."
Kalace's brow dipped in. "I hold a lot of anger toward my old friend, but I believe it's best I act maturely here and keep the rest of his problems private then. I'm sure I will see you around. Kalace, by the way."
"Faith," I said.
Kalace's head turned as a banging sound was heard from inside of the room and he released a frustrated sigh. "Well, that's my cue to leave, Faith. Good night to you."
"Good night..."
I could feel myself trembling as the door shut with a bang behind Kalace.
"What's with the jacket?"
My head turned. Leo walked out from the dark behind two stone pillars.
"Drama."
Leo's dark brows bent inward. "Drama? Did Miss Faith at least have dinner?"
"Not a single bite."
"No dinner?" Leo crossed his arms. "What is this, hell?"
A smile curved my mouth as I came closer, and he inclined his head to follow him.
"Come, I'll walk you to your room."
I walked beside Leo mostly in silence, my mind reeling over what had transpired in the dining hall. Now I knew that as composed as he looked in the court room, Death was battling with his inner demons. These "episodes" How Death had almost revealed another side of him through his "episode." And then there were his ominous words: She could be lying, or she could just forget. What was he talking about?
I felt my strong resolve slightly slipping away as I realized I would be alone again.
Leo unlocked my bedroom door from the outside.
"This room locks from the outside?"
His fingers slowed on the keys and the door clicked up. "Yes. I'm afraid have to lock it once you head inside."
"I guess Wolf was right then," I said, heading into the room.
"About what?" Leo asked.
"About being wary of the pretty cage."
I could tell Leo didn't know what to say to console me. "I'll go ask a servant will bring you a hot meal, so you get some rest on a full stomach."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
Once the door closed, I quickly disposed of Ace's jacket and rushed to the bed, dropping to my knees to retrieve my backpack.
I couldn't shake this nervous feeling in my stomach, call it a sixth sense. Something wasn't right about Death's words to me in the dining hall. How he'd recognized my power as his guard's had dragged me away in the courtroom. Maybe knew something about my power that I didn't, and maybe that's exactly what his corpse didn't want me to know.
What would be the price of trying to get that out of his past memory? Time was tiking faster than I probably thought it was. What if figuring out the purpose of why I was here was a way to get through to him faster?
I tore open Romeo's backpack and reached inside, feeling for a small paper pamphlet. Romeo's Manuel for all his gadgets he'd packed me.
Opening up the pamphlet, I traced the index and flipped through to a certain page. A tarnhelm is a magical helmet that will allow you to become invisible.
If I wanted to save Death, I needed to be careful not to disrupt this memory.
But I also needed to know the truth.
****
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