Page 106 of The Catacomb King
But was that really a difference? I had been full of fear for months. Ever since my mother had gotten sick.
In fact, now that she had really died, I was less afraid, in a way, than I’d ever been before.
And I was not about to let this monster eat her dead body.
I knew what I had to do next. But first I had to get my mother and Hades and Calix out of the way.
Calix bobbed. Evidently he had originally intended to fetch my mother’s body and swim with her back to shore. But now the King was so close he almost entirely blocked Calix’s path, even if Calixcouldget through the churning water.
Meanwhile, Hades slumped at my side, unconscious. A vein feathered in the side of his neck. That meant he wasn’t dead, he wasn’t dead.
My heart swelled and deflated.
Because there was nothing I could do to save him. It was taking all my energy just to keep both of our heads above water and keep a grip on the crown.
And our minute was up.
Time for the King to feed.
If We Ever Get Out of This
On the shore, the soldiers clustered mindlessly against the water, ripe for the picking. Against the sea of emerald-green uniforms, only two figures were visible. One was the ruby-red Vizeking, leaning so far forward with anticipation he was almost in the Lake. The other was Elke, black as onyx, scuttling back and forth off to the side in panic, her little spider-legs over her mouth.
Her spider-legs.
She could climb up walls.
I looked up at the cocoons with the women in them. Cocoons made of spider-silk.
Hades had told me that no chaosgötter would ever spin silk in public. But that was just too fucking bad.
“ELKE!” I screamed. Elke startled. I pointed at the wall. I pointed at the cocoons.
Even from here, I saw her blanch.
And then swallow.
And then, with only one terrified sideways look at the Vizeking, she hopped onto the wall.
My breath caught as she began to crawl. She was amazing to watch. Calix made a noise of disgust, but I’d never seen somebody move like that. Even the workers who’d built the reservoir pipe hadn’t moved so beautifully.
I realized that I had never seen Elke as she was designed to be seen. Every time I had interacted with her, she had been doing a human thing like carrying a tray. This was the first time I had seen her in her truest form, totally unencumbered, doing what she was made to do. She looked more at home moving across that wall than she’d ever looked while filling a stupid bath.
Elke wasn’t meant to be a maidservant, I realized.Elke was made to be alady.
I decided that if we ever got out of this, I was going to order Hades to give her a different job.
But for right now, she moved like lightning. Like sliding rainwater along the cavern walls.
The Vizeking caught sight of her. I shouted at her to move faster.
But far from trying to stop her, he laughed.
My blood boiled. But he was right. Elke couldn’t do anything to the King. He was too big, and even if he wasn’t, she had worked for the Royal Family for probably her entire life. She would never be able to bring herself to hurt her King.
But I didn’t need her to.
I’d be doing that myself.
