Page 94 of The Catacomb King
“You weren’t supposed to negotiate with the Vizeking!” I hissed. “The Vizeking sucks! You were supposed to negotiate with —”
“I can’t get to the King,” said Calix. “No one can get to the King.”Not yet, were the unspoken words.
“Not the King, stupid. The Prince.”
The Vizeking laughed.
“The Prince?” Calix said disbelievingly. “It looks like you’ve done enough negotiating with the Prince for both of us.”
My blood boiled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think you know very well.”
“I can do what I want,” I said, as if I had done anything at all. “Meanwhile, you came to rescue me in exchange for what? How many jewels are you extracting for the Body? How many people did you kill?”
“How manypeopledid I kill?” Calix repeated, clearly unable to believe his ears. “You think they’re people? They’re monsters! The Body doesn’t care about the money, Persephone.” Now it was my turn to laugh. “What they want is the same as what you and I want. To eradicate this evil. And we will. We’ll take out the little bugs first. We already wiped out vast numbers of them when we saved you.”
“They’re not bugs.” I couldn’t believe I was hearing this. HadIcaused this massacre by staying in the underworld to help the chaosgötten with their reservoir, instead of trying harder to escape to Calix?
My guilt was a knife. Everyone in the Lake cavern, everyone Calix had killed, had been a worker who’d followed me from the reservoir. Because they’d believed in me. Because they’d been protesting my execution.
How many of them had Calix and his War Police murdered?
“The little bugs first,” Calix was repeating, fervently. “Then the Royal Family.” My breath caught. “And then, finally, whatever creature they call the Monarch of the Void. The thing they think is the god Chaos.”
“Stop. All this killing was never what I wanted, Calix. I just wanted water. I wanted life. Not death.”
“We’ll get the water,” he said earnestly. “Once we have access to the mountain. That’s what gave me the idea, you know.” His eyes shone. “The Body had already set me to conquer the underworld…”
“You’re joking. You’re telling me that’s your fucking capstone project? Awar?”
“…but it was you, pointing to the mountain, who gave me the idea of how to do it.” Calix hesitated. He glanced sideways, behind him, at the Vizeking. He cleared his throat to lower his voice. He moved a hair closer to me.
I said loudly, “Step off.”
“You can help me,” Calix whispered. I backed up an inch. My heel touched my mother’s carpeted corpse. “You’ve spent three days down here. You have a greater understanding of these creatures than any other human alive. You can help all of us, Persephone.”
“Not all of us. Just all ofyou. Monarch’s balls, you’re an idiot.” I pushed him aside. I turned and bent to gather up my mother, miserably aware of my thighs and ass pointed toward Calix. A week ago, I would never have been so bold. Now, if he touched me, I would slap him. I hoisted my mother over my shoulders. “I don’t want any of what you’re describing. But I am going to get what I do want. And I’m going to get it my own fucking self. So I’ll tell you one more time, Calix: Step. Off.”
Calix’s lips were parted, his eyes unmoving. He stepped backward.
An instant later, his expression flickered. He hadn’t meant to obey me.
I’d simply scared the shit out of him.
I laughed. Before he could change his mind, I walked around him, back into the catacomb. I was almost gone when the Vizeking said, “Hold on. What are you doing, exactly?”
“I’m giving you —”
Then I stopped.
I’m giving you your precious sacrifice, I had been going to say, snidely.
But…
But the Vizeking hadn’t really wanted me sacrificed, had he? He hadn’t wanted me fed to the Monarch. He hadn’t wantedanyonefed to the Monarch. He hadn’t even had a tribute kidnapped on time. He’d practically lost his mind when Hades had kidnapped me. And he’d negotiated with Calix, apparently, to ensure that I’d be rescued at the last minute.
In fact, it seemed he would do anything to make sure therewasn’ta sacrifice.
