“So I was his pet tiger?”
“I have never seen a tiger, but if it is dangerous and kills with its teeth, then yes.”
Ohmygod. My mind flashes to that moment when I threw Uhrn, Benicio’s servant, to the floor, attempting to extract information from her. She said to “keep those things away from me.” She’d been referring to my teeth.
I press my hand over my mouth. It’s just one more thing my family didn’t tell me. Of course, Grandma Rain made me promise to read her journals before she died. She claimed everything I needed to know was in them. Like a fool, I didn’t do it, and then they burned up along with my little house down the hill from the mansion.
“Am I poisonous to anyone else?” I ask.
“No.” He shakes his head of long golden hair.
“So just the Blood People.”
“Nature has a way of providing creatures with defenses from their most vicious enemies.”
I guess he’s right. I think about how some lizards can shed their tails or how the Colorado river toad excretes toxic slime when threatened. But me having a poisonous bite doesn’t change a thing. Two seconds in a room with Benicio, and I’ll be laying down my arms, so to speak, and handing over the keys to the castle.
“You have to trust me; this plan won’t work.” I fold my arms, keeping my distance. I feel too vulnerable around him. “We need to come up with something else.”
“The family heads meet in one hour,” he offers.
This is encouraging. Maybe they can come up with another strategy to get Alwar back and stop Benicio. “Good. Let me know what they come up with. In the meantime, I need to sleep.”
I start walking again, but he catches up and grabs my hand. “You do not understand, Lake. As our leader, you must go.”
My stomach lurches. “What?” I jerk my hand away.
“In the absence of the king, the queen must take the throne. You are the queen.”
“Queen? Of the War People? No thank you!”
“Lake, this is very serious. No time for your human jokes or to show weakness. Our people, on both sides of the wall, are depending on you.”
I stare for exactly five seconds before I turn away and vomit.
“You all right?” Gabrio asks.
I spit a few times, trying to clear the sour, awful taste from my mouth. “Must be all that rich food I ate.”
“I bet you are with child,” he says proudly.
“Stop it. Just stop it.” He already told me it doesn’t happen that fast.
“I am still a dead man. Allow me my fantasies.”
What is the matter with him? He’s jumping from one insane, giant, nightmare topic to another. He might be accustomed to just rolling with things this big, but I’m not.
“Why the hell are you doing this to me? I don’t want to have your baby. I don’t want to be your queen. I don’t want anything to do with any of you. So please stop tormenting me with your weird War Man macho bullshit. Stop piling on.”
Gabrio smiles down at me. “See? You are a fighter. You will do well for us, Lake Norfolk.”
I roll my eyes and march toward the house.
“Where are you going?” he asks.
“To dress for another goddamned trip to Monsterland.” And this time, I’m packing snacks.
CHAPTER NINE
I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have a damned clue. All I know is I have to figure this out because I can’t go back to Benicio. The red flag being that I want it so badly. I would do anything for another bite. The only thing stopping me is my will to live.
But I can’t leave Alwar there with the Mountain People, either. At the end of the day, despite everything I’ve been through, nothing’s changed. The wall has to remain intact.
I’ve only seen a glimpse of what lies beyond it, and I already know we humans don’t stand a chance. I bet if I’d done the full monster-world tour, I’d be a thousand times more terrified.
I dress in jeans, a T-shirt, hiking boots, and my new red hoodie. I fill my backpack with a change of clothes, water, a compass, vitamins, and protein bars. I’ve got my rifle strapped to my back and pepper spray (for the Grim Raper) and a lighter in my hoodie pocket.
Oh, and I brought my toothbrush. I don’t know jack shit about what to bring to a war in the land of monsters, but if my teeth are the only weapon I’ve got against the Blood King, I’d better take good care of them.
It’s early afternoon now, and I find Gabrio and Master sitting in the main house’s parlor, which is now an enormous library of rotting, unreadable books after years of roof leaks. Grandma didn’t have the money for repairs. But in its heyday, this room was where the family gathered next to the huge fireplace to talk, tell stories, or share their day. Part of me wishes I could have been around when we had such a big family filled with siblings, children, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Now it’s just me.