Chapter 91 Ninety-One.

Chapter 91 Ninety-One.


KYLE’S POV.

“Yes, that’s it! Why do you ask?” Katniss looks at me, waiting.

I keep my hands flat at my sides, my mind spinning out of control. Sandalwood. The exact scent from the antidote. One that was packed full of ancient, heavy Fae energy.

I do not know if I should tell Katniss that King Sven might possibly be a Fae, just as Orion suspected. If the scent and the Fae energy match, then the King of Māui is an absolute fraud. He is one of us. But I’m aware he is also a hybrid, so does it mean he is half Fae and half hybrid or however that works?

Is that why Olivia refused to work with Orion? Did she discover his secret during her time in his palace? Could that be why they are mates?

But even as the pieces violently slam together in my head, I cannot help but think of the massive flaw in the puzzle. Why does King Sven hate Faes so fiercely despite being one of them? He literally tore down Eris wall. He watched his kind be killed and taken as slaves by other kingdoms.

Why would a Fae slaughter his own kind just to pretend to be an Alpha King?

“Kyle? Hello? Wake up back to reality,” Katniss waves a hand in front of my face, breaking my thoughts. “You’re staring into space. It’s creepy.”

‘It’s nothing,’ I sign quickly, shaking my head. ‘Just thinking about our next move.’

“Well, think while I figure out how to cook this,” she says, turning toward the brick hearth in the corner. She pulls a couple of raw potatoes and a piece of tough, dried beef. The sack of bread remains untouched. “The trading post didn’t give me much to steal from, but I can throw this into a pot with some water. How hard can it be?”

I watch her go to work, and within five minutes, it becomes painfully obvious that it is incredibly hard for her. She hacks at the potato like she is trying to murder it with her sword, sending peelings flying onto the dirty floor. Then she throws the entire dried beef into a cold pot of water without even trying to wash or even slice it.

I let out a silent sigh and step up behind her, gently tapping her shoulder.

“Hey!” she protests as I take the knife from her hand. “I was making progress. I managed to cut the potatoes and put the beef into the pot.”

‘Without washing either of them or even cutting the beef,’ I sign, giving her a deadpan look. ‘Go sit down before you chop off a finger. I will handle dinner.’

Katniss huffs, crossing her arms, but she doesn’t fight me on it. She slides onto a wooden bench by the hearth, watching as I quickly peel the potatoes, slice the beef into thin ribbons, and start a proper fire beneath the iron pot. Back at the pack house, Olivia had to cook most of the time and when there wasn’t enough food she could make a banquet from scraps and I always helped her, so I actually know how to make something edible out of nothing.

“You’re surprisingly domestic compared to guys who love being all Alpha. Pathetic,” Katniss mutters, resting her chin in her hands.

I roll my eyes but keep my focus on the soup. After a few minutes of quiet bubbling, the room starts to smell like actual food.

“You know,” Katniss says softly, her voice losing its usual sharp edge as she stares into the flames. “It’s weird being back here. The last time I sat in this room, I was just a kid. Before my parents decided an Omega daughter wasn’t worth more than a bag of Denarii so they sold me.”

I stop stirring the pot, looking over at her. I raise a hand to sign, ‘How old were you?’

“I’m sure you know that as tradition dictates, any Omega without a wolf by the age of thirteen is taken in as a servant by the Alpha, but my parents sold me as early as nine years old because I had no werewolf manifestation,” she says plainly. “And now I’m sixteen. Seven years of scrubbing floors in the Shadow Moon Pack house, and now I’m a fugitive. Quite the resume.”

My hand freezes on the wooden spoon. I look at her small frame, my brows furrowing in genuine surprise. I lift my hands, ‘You are sixteen?’

Katniss gives me an incredibly flat, judgmental look. “Yes, Kyle. Sixteen. Why do you look like you just found out about a life changing secret?”

‘I thought you were still fifteen,’ I sign honestly.

She lets out a loud, dramatic groan, rolling her eyes toward the almost caved-in ceiling. “Are you serious right now? My birthday was literally last month! We were hiding in the pack house basement by the time my birthday rolled over.”

I feel a wave of genuine guilt hit my stomach. I lower my hands, my posture dropping slightly. ‘I am really sorry. I truly did not know.’

“Oh, whatever, don’t look so upset about it,” she scoffs, waving her hand dismissively, though a small smirk plays on her lips. “I never actually mentioned the date to you either way. It’s not like we had cake and candles to celebrate our years at the Shadow Moon pack. It was just another day of starvation.”

I nod slowly, returning to the soup, but the guilt lingers. I sign back to her, ‘When we find Olivia, we will make it up to you. I promise.’

“Deal,” she smiles, leaning back against the wall. “So, what about you? Since we’re doing the whole interrogation thing. How old are you and your twin anyway? Olivia never told me either.”

‘Nineteen,’ I sign, holding up my fingers. ‘But we will be twenty in less than two days.’

Katniss’s smile completely vanishes. She sits up straight on the bench, her eyes widening as the math clicks in her head. “Wait... less than two days? Kyle, the final match of the Dance of the Dead takes place in exactly two days from now.”

I nod, my jaw tightening as I stare into the bubbling water.

“Gracious Cessi,” Katniss whispers, her face turning pale. “That means Olivia will be fighting a death battle against the Ripper Ghost on her twentieth birthday. That is brutal.”

‘She won’t be fighting him,’ I sign, slamming the wooden spoon against the edge of the pot. The sudden noise echoes sharply in the small house. My eyes lock onto hers, completely serious. ‘I have a plan.’

Katniss looks at me skeptically, crossing her arms. “A plan? Kyle, you just found out the bounty on your head was dropped. We don’t even know if we can walk down the pack streets without getting captured by a rogue bounty hunter. What is your grand plan?”

‘I am going to meet King Sven tomorrow,’ I sign, my movements firm and unyielding. ‘Before the day of Olivia’s match.’

Katniss stares at me like I have completely lost my mind, which I honestly might have.

She jumps up from the bench.

Her voice rises to a frantic pitch. “Are you crazy? Are you absolutely insane? Kyle, lifting the bounty on your head doesn’t mean he wants to invite you for tea! He hates your kind!!! If you walk straight into his palace, he will use his claws to tear open your throat before you can even open your mouth to utter a word.”

‘He won’t,’ I sign back, stepping away from the hearth to face her directly. I hold her gaze, refusing to let her panic sway my resolve. ‘Because I have a leverage.’

“What leverage could a fugitive slave, a Fae, possibly have against the Alpha King of Māui?” she demands, her hand instinctively dropping to the hilt of her sword. Her words are harsh, but I do not mind it.

I look toward the dilapidated window, thinking about the antidote again, the sandalwood scent, and the Fae energy that saved my life.

If my theory is right, the King is desperate to keep the world from finding out what he truly is.

‘I know his secret,’ I sign sharply. ‘And he knows I know.’