Chapter 90 Ninety.

Chapter 90 Ninety.


KYLE’S POV.

The back window of the cabin opens with a muted slide. I slip out first, my boots hitting the soft dirt without making a sound. The morning air hits my face, cold and crisp, completely erasing the last lingering traces of my sickness.

Katniss climbs out right behind me, carefully pulling the wooden panel of the window shut. She grips the hilt of her hidden sword through her traveling cloak, her eyes scanning the dense tree line.

Out front, I can hear the distant, low murmur of Helios and Toby discussing what to have for breakfast. Orion isn’t around. Katniss mentioned he left for the palace hours ago, which makes this our only opportunity to escape. If the southern leader were here, we wouldn’t stand a chance of sneaking past his nose. Hybrids are especially sensitive to their environment.

Katniss grabs my wrist, tugging me sharply toward the thickest trees. “Move,” she mouths silently.

We move like ghosts, weaving through the underbrush until the cabin is completely out of sight. We walk for nearly two hours in absolute silence, navigating the steep, rocky terrain of the outskirts. I do not ask where we are headed to, but I trust Katniss enough to follow her anywhere.

Finally, Katniss stops in front of a small, decaying wooden structure completely swallowed by wild ivy and huge oak trees. The roof has partially caved in, and the windows are covered in thick layers of grime.

“We’re here,” Katniss says, pushing open a creaking side door. “My grandma’s old place. It’s been abandoned for years since my parents sold me and no one cared enough to take care of this place. Nobody comes out this far, not even the low-ranking scouts. It’s where I planned on hiding you prior to our meeting with Orion. Was thinking we could hide here and head to the Kingdom of Eldians.”

I step inside, looking around the dusty room. It’s a stark contrast to Orion’s comfortable cabin, but at least we are in control of our own lives here without any threats looming over our heads. I sit down on a dusty wooden crate, my mind immediately racing back to the capital. I raise my hands, my fingers moving frantically.

‘How do we get to Olivia?’ I sign, my expression dead serious. ‘We are on the outskirts. The colosseum is heavily guarded since it’s near the Alpha King’s Palace, and the finals are in less than two days. We can’t just walk through the front gates, and more importantly we cannot let Olivia fight the Ripper Ghost. She will die.’

Katniss sighs, pacing the floorboards. “I’m still trying to figure that out, Kyle. The route to the palace is crawling with royal guards. Sneaking an Omega and a fugitive Fae into the palace is basically a suicide mission. But we have the whole night to map out a route.”

She stops, her stomach letting out a loud, empty growl. She clears her throat, looking slightly embarrassed.

“First, I need to get us some actual food,” she says. “There’s a small trading post about a mile from here. Stay inside, don’t touch anything, and keep your hands off the windows.”

‘Do you even have money?’ I sign.

She shines her teeth at me. “Well, I never said I was going to actually pay for anything, now did I?”

‘Fair.’

“Just stay safe.”

I give her a firm nod.

Once she slips out the door, the absolute silence of the abandoned house leaves me alone with my thoughts. I lean my head against the damp wall, my mind instantly drifting back to the antidote she forced me to drink.

I haven’t forgotten it.

I can’t.

The scent of rich sandalwood and that sharp hum of Fae energy are still burned into my memory. It definitely wasn’t from Olivia. Orion did say Olivia hasn’t awoken her Fae energy, and the magic around that bottle felt ancient.

Who actually gave that to Katniss? Who inside that Kingdom of Māui has access to pure Fae magic and wants me alive? The curiosity is eating me alive, spinning a web of endless questions I can’t answer.

The sound of the front door slamming open snaps me out of my trance.

I bolt to my feet, my fists automatically rising into a fighting stance, but relaxed when Katniss bursts into the room. She is completely breathless, her cheeks flushed bright red from running, and she drops a small cloth sack of bread and dried meat onto the table. Her eyes are wide like saucers, swimming with absolute shock.

“Kyle,” she pants, gripping the edge of the table to steady her breathing. “You won’t believe what is happening in the Kingdom right now. The packs are in turmoil and the market is filled with gossip.”

I step forward, my hands moving sharply, ‘What happened? Is it Olivia?’

“Yes and no,” Katniss stammers, looking at me with a wild, confused expression. “I went to the trading post, and everyone, literally every wolf on the street, is talking about it. At dusk today, King Sven held a public event in the main square. It’s called the Last Supper. It’s an old tradition for the finals of the Dance of the Dead.”

Dread runs through my veins. ‘The Last Supper?’ I sign. ‘What does that mean?’

“It means Olivia and the Ripper Ghost had a formal dinner in front of the entire kingdom,” Katniss says, her voice dropping into a tense whisper. “Because the council and the people already expect one of them to die in the arena in three days. They are treating her like she’s already a corpse, Kyle. The word on the street is that nobody expects her to survive a single swipe against the Ghost.”

I clench my fists so hard my knuckles turn white. A furious, burning heat flares up in my chest. I can’t let her face that monster.

“But that’s not even the craziest part,” Katniss cuts in, grabbing my arm, her grip trembling. “Kyle... King Sven withdrew the bounty.”

I freeze entirely. I stare at her, completely paralyzed as my brain tries to process the words. I raise a single hand, my fingers sluggish with disbelief, ‘What?’

“The bounty on your head. It’s completely gone,” Katniss says, her voice rising in disbelief. “He officially cleared it from the royal ledger this morning. The guards have torn down the wanted posters all over the Kingdom. Some pack Alphas are openly throwing a fit in the council room, questioning his authority, saying King Sven is going soft over a slave. The King literally ordered his scouts to pull back from the forest and commanded that no one attack you if you’re seen on the streets.”

I drop my hands to my sides, my mind spinning into a dizzying circle of confusion.

King Sven dropped the bounty?

The same King who tore down the walls of Eris and hates my kind just pardoned me in secret?

It makes absolutely no sense.

‘It’s a trap,’ I sign quickly, my jaw setting into a hard line. ‘He is lifting the bounty to make us let our guards down so we walk right into his hands. It’s a way to lure us out.’

“That’s exactly what I thought at first,” Katniss agrees, chewing on her lower lip nervously. “Lifting a bounty right before the finals screams trap. But the wolves on the street are genuinely furious, Kyle. If it’s a ruse, King Sven is risking his own crown just to play it. The pack leaders think he’s losing his mind over your sister.”

Over Olivia? Yet, he lets her participate in the Dance of the Dead? What sort of twisted love is that?

I look toward the dirty window, the image of that antidote bottle flashing in my mind again. Sandalwood and Fae energy.

‘That Sven is a Fae. Just like you and Olivia.’ Orion had said in our conversation just yesterday…

Could it be?

No. No. It’s impossible.

‘Katniss, do you know what King Sven smells like?’ I sign, bringing my gaze to her.

Her brows furrow, clearly taken aback by my question. “Uh? Why do you ask?”

‘Just answer.’

“Well, I would not know. He is royalty, after all, and I cannot just walk up to him and take a sniff. But I have heard people say he smells of cedarwood, I guess? No. No. The other type of ‘wood’ but I have forgotten.”

‘Sandalwood?’

“Yes, that’s it! Why do you ask?”

No fucking way.