Mask of Poison (Fall of Under Book 1) by Kathryn Kingsley (great novels to read txt) 📕

events of the Rise, my queen, I find I no longer care.” Maverick sneered briefly. Something flashed over his face. Something like disgust, regret, and grief. And hate.

But for what? Or whom?

They are so very old. They must have so much personal history. Once more, she felt small and lost. She slung the strap of her spear back over her shoulder and grasped the strap with both hands, finding some small familiar comfort in the feel of the leather on her palms.

“We should warn the others.” Lyon nudged one of the corpses with his shoe, turning it over. “Where are they? I expected to be the last to arrive here, since I walked with Ember. Taking her through the fold hardly seemed appropriate.”

Ini shook her head. “There will be no traveling through the fold, I’m afraid. Or at least…it seems we no longer know how.”

“What?” Lyon lowered his voice again. “That isn’t possible.”

“The very first thing I tried to do when the Orrery fell was fetch Vjo and Evie from the north. But when I tried to pass through the fold…nothing happened.” Ini began to toy nervously with an elaborate necklace of sapphires and diamonds that hung around her neck. It shimmered in the light from the gas lamps on the walls.

Lyon paused. He furrowed his brow. He held out his hand then and seemed to try to do something. But after a moment, he let his hand fall back to his side. “Damn.”

“It seems you fools are forced to walk and ride about like the rest of us.” Maverick smirked. “Aon will be quite put out. However amusing as that is, I do not look forward to dealing with his foul mood. More foul, at any rate.”

“What could cause this?” The blood-drinker paced toward a window, rubbing his hand over the lower portion of his face. “Has this ever occurred? The loss of the fold?”

“No. Not in all the thousands of years. Not even when the void had nearly consumed us,” the Queen in Blue replied.

“What’s the fold?” Ember asked Maverick quietly, afraid to interrupt Ini and Lyon’s discussion.

“The royals of Under, by benefit of their close proximity in nature to the Ancients whom they represent, may pass through the fifth dimension to travel quickly from one location to another,” the man patiently explained.

She stared blankly at him. “Fifth dimension?”

“Ah. Think of it like this.” He took out his pocket watch and held the ends of the chain between the thumb and pointer finger of his two hands and pulled it taut.

She resisted the urge to snatch the watch from him and marvel over it. She had never seen one working before! And certainly never so shiny. But Maverick was already launching into his explanation, and she was more than a little curious.

“Think of yourself as a two-dimensional creature. A dot drawn onto a piece of paper. Yes?”

Ember nodded.

“Good. You are here, at the end of the chain in my left hand. You wish to walk to the end of the chain in my right hand. You could do so by following the straight line. By traveling along that two-dimensional line to the finish. Yes?”

She nodded again.

“That will take a great deal of time. But think of it this way. If you had the ability to do so—if you could, as a two-dimensional creature, temporarily pass through the third dimension…” He brought the ends of the chain together until they touched, creating a loop of the brass links beneath his hands.

“You could—oh—oh—” Ember smiled. “Like folding a piece of paper.”

“Precisely.” He smiled. If she wasn’t mistaken, there might have been a bit of surprise, and a tiny bit of pride in his visible eye. “And lo, the fold.”

“They can pass through the—I can’t imagine that isn’t immensely disorienting.” Ember wrinkled her nose. “Or pleasant.”

“They adjust. It is unsettling for the rest of us if we are unfortunate enough to be brought along as baggage.” Maverick grimaced. “Believe me. That Lyon brought you by foot is a testament to his bleeding heart.”

“But now they can’t use ‘the fold?’ Or whatever?” Ember looked back to Ini and Lyon, who were talking in hushed tones by the window. Ini, even though she wore a full mask, was more than expressive enough by her body language. It was clear they were both deeply troubled.

“Yes. This means the other royals are stranded wherever it is they were when Under fell. If we are in danger, it means we may be caught off guard.”

“Great.” Ember scratched the back of her neck. “As if living through the end of one world wasn’t enough. I have to live through another.”

“Hopefully, you will.” He began to tuck his pocket watch back into his vest but caught her staring at it. He held it out to her. “Would you like to see it?”

“I—I mean—” She wiped her hands off on her pants, but it was useless. Her pants were about as dirty as the rest of her. She looked down at her palms. She hadn’t ever been ashamed of how she looked until right that moment.

“It’s quite all right. I promise.”

With a shy smile, she took the watch from his hand and turned it over in her palm. It was a beautiful piece of work. The back of it was etched with diamonds that gave it a wonderful texture. She held it up to her ear and couldn’t help but laugh at the sound of it ticking. “I’ve never seen one of these working.”

“I would love to hear more of your world, Miss Ember. I would gladly trade you a tour of our grand library in exchange.” Maverick let out a small grunt. “If Lyon will part with you.”

“I don’t think there’s anything left of my world.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just a theory…”

“It may be the correct one. What do you think has happened, Miss Ember?”

“My world was dying from the drengil. The corpses.” She gestured her head at the bodies on the ground. “They were brought on by