Book of Kinsey: Dark Fate (The Dark Fate Chronicles 2) (17 page)

“I’ve got an idea ta help the prince, but it has ta be just ’im and me.”

Horus snickered from behind Jocelyn and said something under his breath to Neal, who quickly cupped a hand over his mouth to smother his added laughter. Eyes alight, she turned on the pair and glared at them.

Horus swept his hands up in surrender. “Meant nuttin’ by it,” he said, but his eyes still sparkled with mirth.

She continued to stare at him, cheeks flaming in anger and embarrassment.
I should punch him just on principle,
she thought. She took a step in his direction, but Sargon cleared his throat and brought her attention back to the purpose at hand.

“And what might that idea be?” the old priest asked, slipping a thin metal bookmark into the pages to keep his place. He seemed curious.

“I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ about it.” Jocelyn shot one last warning glare at Horus and then turned to face the priest with hands on her hips. “Yer just gonna have ta trust me.”

Sargon frowned. “Outta the question.”

“We don’t have time ta sit here while ya scratch yer beards!” She gestured to the room and its male occupants.

Sargon’s hand jerked away from where it had begun to stroke his own well-brushed beard. “I won’t be riskin’ lives on some whim, Jocelyn,” he retorted.

“That’s exactly what ya be doin’ if ya let ’im leave this room without some kinda self-control!” she insisted, her voice rising.

“No,” Sargon said. He turned, signaling the close of the matter, and reopened his book.

Jocelyn ground her teeth in frustration. Casting about, she caught Gideon’s eyes. The scar-covered dwarf had sidestepped the conversation—or so he had thought. She took a step toward her brother, intent on enlisting his aid.

Gideon shrugged his shoulders and lifted his hands, forestalling her advance. “I got no say,” he said. “This be no battle.”

Jocelyn was on the verge of screaming at the stoneheaded fools. Why could none of them see what was about to happen? If Kinsey didn’t have control, then his introduction to the dwarven people could be the final destruction for the Brunahlen family. King Thorn’s declaration of choosing an heir had set the snare in a trap that he didn’t even realize was there or had chosen not to see.

Kinsey’s thick baritone interrupted Jocelyn’s rampant thoughts. “Do as she says.”

The simple words had the immediate effect of a clap of thunder. All the dwarves turned as one to the prince. Sargon blinked as if he were surprised to find Kinsey standing there. “Now, lad—”

“Prince,” Kinsey interrupted. “I’m the
prince
of Mozil. And I say, do as she says.”

Jocelyn caught her breath. After weeks of travel and two months in this chamber, Kinsey had avoided acceptance of that title even to the point of shouting at Neal to “stop with your fish-eyed staring!” It wasn’t only her that was amazed. Sargon stood with his mouth working. The old priest looked like someone had just claimed that Dagda was actually an elf in disguise.

The consternation slowly bled from Sargon’s face to be replaced with a look of...
relief
? Then he said, “All right, lads, out.”

The eight dwarves of their company scurried to the archway, which began to glow before the first boot was within five feet of the archway. Sargon was the last. Before he stepped into the arch to follow the others, he turned and bowed. When he arose, his charcoal eyes were glistening. “As ya say, ma prince.” Then they were gone.

Jocelyn stood with her mouth open, staring at the fading glow of the runes. Sargon had never given up so easily, not even when in debate with the king. Slowly, realization dawned on her:
he
wanted
Kinsey to take control…they all did.
Beyond Sargon’s initial grumbling, not a word of protest had been issued by any of the party when Kinsey spoke. She wondered how long the old priest had been trying to make this very scenario come to pass.

Kinsey’s voice broke her train of thought as she considered the now-empty and quiescent archway. “So, I hope your plan entails a bit more than what Horus had assumed,” he said, wryly.

Heat suffused her cheeks as she turned from the portal. “No...I mean yes...
I mean
, I have a plan that’s got nothin’ ta do with...ya know.” Jocelyn shook her head, flustered.

The prince laughed, and the tone was rich and easy. “Okay, then, let’s hear it.”

Kinsey’s mirth was infectious, and she found herself laughing as well. The stress and worry of the past months felt farther away with each quake of her shoulders.

When the moment passed, Kinsey motioned for her to follow as he walked to the center of the chamber. He knelt and picked up the manacles. He stood as she approached, callused fingers caressing the carcodium script.

Jocelyn touched the manacles and then gently took them from the prince. He held his wrists out, but she did not attach the restraints. Instead, she laid them on the floor at her feet, the heavy chains rattling as she did.

Kinsey’s brow came down in confusion as his gaze moved from the chains to Jocelyn.

“These be the tools of a child, ma prince,” she said as she stood to face him.

Kinsey’s frown deepened. “But, I thought—”

“Aye,” she interrupted. “I do want ya ta change, but not with those.” She placed a hand on his broad shoulder. “Be the man we all know ya ta be. Be the leader our people need ya ta be. No chains.”

She’s insane. There’s no other explanation,
Kinsey thought as he looked down at Jocelyn and her thick, golden locks. “I’ll kill you.”

“No,” she said. “Ya won’t.”

Her voice contained such surety that Kinsey almost believed her, but it was crazy.
Eos help me, but it is.
He would tear her apart and not even know he was doing it. “I’m beginning to think I’ve sided with the wrong person,” he said.

“If yer gonna lose control, it’s better ta test it here, with me.” She pointed to the empty manacles on the floor. “There be no enchanted chains ta protect the governin’ members of the dwarven people in the council chamber, and I doubt the king be plannin’ on showin’ ’em this place.” Her head tilted to the side, and she placed her fists on her hips once again.

“That just backs up what I’m thinking. It’s crazy. I just won’t go to the meeting,” Kinsey said, as firmly as he could.

“Probably not an option fer ya. The king be a stubborn man, and this meetin’s gonna happen sooner or later. Sooner, I’d say, considerin’ the goblins be practically at our front door and all.” Jocelyn raised her fair brows and smiled up at him.

She exuded confidence. Her feet were planted, and nothing but faith and certainty radiated from her. Whatever it was she thought she knew, it had her convinced; that was for certain. Sadly, though, Kinsey was not. “That may be so. Regardless,
this
isn’t happening.”

Jocelyn frowned. “I’ve been watchin’ ya change these past months, as close as any o’ the others, and...” she hesitated.

Kinsey waited for her to continue, but she seemed lost in thought. “And?” he pressed.

She pursed her lips then nodded to herself, resolute. “Ya coulda killed Sargon at least once, maybe twice—”

Kinsey snorted. “I could’ve killed you all. That’s what the
chains
are for.” He couldn’t help the sarcasm that laced his words as he nudged the links with the toe of his boot.

Jocelyn shook her head. “No. I mean, ya coulda killed him in the ring, chains or no.”

“What?!”

Jocelyn drew herself up and thrust her chin out stubbornly, daring him to deny her. “I seen it. Clear as day!”

Kinsey shook his head in disbelief. “You think you saw it. You were wrong.”

“I know it!” she proclaimed. “Just the other day. Yer jaws snapped an inch shy o’ Sargon’s back, but there was
slack
in them chains.” She paused and nodded for emphasis. “Ya coulda had ’im fer sure, but ya let ’im go.”

Kinsey couldn’t say one way or the other if what Jocelyn said was true. He had yet to remember anything after turning into the bloodthirsty creature these foolish dwarves worshiped so reverently. He stepped away from her and her fervent eyes.

“I’m not makin’ this up.” Jocelyn pleaded, as if she had read his mind. “Please, ya have ta try this...with me.” She followed him, stepping even closer and craning her head back to stare into his eyes.

“Even if that was true, and I’m not admitting that it is, your plan is still too risky.”

“The risk be mine,” she whispered. Her left hand came up to her mouth in a genuflection Kinsey had seen Sargon perform many times. Cradled within her fingers was a smooth black stone that she often touched when she was most introspective. Jocelyn stepped even closer, slipping the stone back into a pocket. She was so close that Kinsey could smell the spicy, clean scent of her. Her eyes were opened wide and shone in the torchlight surrounding them.

Jocelyn’s blade jabbed into his stomach twice before he pushed her away. “No!” Rage and pain shot through Kinsey’s veins as he clutched his belly. “Crazy…!” he said through clenched teeth, trying to hold back the avalanche of fury.

“Change, ma prince,” Jocelyn said. Her voice was intent, but calm. She stepped forward as he stared at her in horror. The knife slashed his shoulder, and she spoke again. “Save yerself, ma prince. Change.”

Kinsey staggered away, losing control of his limbs. Thrumming, popping noises came from deep within his body as the change began to take him in spite of his desperate fight to forestall it. “No!”

Kinsey fell to the ground as his body convulsed and the rage fought to control him. In his desperate struggle, his eyes fell upon the manacles, still open and gleaming in the torchlight. Frantic, he rolled to his stomach and began to thrash his way toward the only thing that could spare Jocelyn’s life.

Jocelyn stepped into his path, kicking the gleaming steel away.

He growled, deep and angry, and attempted to squirm by her. Her boot came down on the same shoulder she had scored with the blade. More pain flared, adding to the agony of the change and the burning of his wounded belly.

Kinsey tried to curse, but his mouth was clenched in fury and full of spittle. A frustrated gurgle came forth, heightening his anger even more. He attempted to grab her foot and remove it from his shoulder, but the pain made his attempt feeble and futile. He stared at her boot in defeat as the torrent of madness clawed its way out of him.

His back arched suddenly from another spasm. There was no holding the rampaging fury at bay any longer. Skin and clothing ripped free from his body to reveal dense fur and muscle underneath. Kinsey’s scream turned into a roar that echoed through the chamber as the Dakayga howled its triumph.

During every change before, Kinsey had blacked out as the Dakayga fully emerged. As that same darkened void rose up to claim him once again, closing his vision to a bare sliver of white light, Kinsey fought back harder than he had ever fought for anything in his life. Jocelyn’s idiotic existence depended on him finding and taking the control that had managed to elude him thus far. He screamed at the monster that battled to possess him and shoved his mind against its wall of gibbering insanity.

The void came roaring back, stronger. He had never endured anything like the insistent pressure of the flood that now crashed against his will. He felt like a lone rock pressed by the raging spring currents of the Tanglevine.
Eos preserve me.

Kinsey scrambled desperately to hang on. Fighting only seemed to make the encroaching darkness stronger and more insistent. Was his resistance feeding it? Ridiculous! How could he master it if he didn’t fight? How would he possibly survive with no means of defense? In the maelstrom, a thought surfaced, quiet and bobbing like a cork.
No defense,
it said.
Do not feed the beast.

Kinsey focused on the sliver of light in front of him and did his best to ignore the raging tempest that pressed against his will. As he focused away from the struggle and on the light, he began to perceive more. It was as if he was peering through a pane of glass that bore the grime of eons. Hazily through the filth, he could see a figure frozen as if encased in amber. He struggled to get closer to the light, to the figure beyond. The dark fury moved to block his way like a thing alive, but he pushed on, creeping forward ever so slowly until his goal was reached.