My anger ignited like a combustible gas. “Your captain will be so proud. You’ve put the population first — stopped seeing the people. People like Rafe.”
The muscles in Everson’s jaw shifted and clenched. “If that’s what it takes to end a plague, then yes, fine, I’ll act like a guard.”
“Act? Don’t kid yourself. You’re a guard through and through. That’s why you can’t break the rules. Why you needed me to do it for you. Because, no matter what you think, you still do what you’re told.”
I’d taken him from mad to furious — his eyes blazed with it — but I didn’t care. He’d hide it under his guard face soon enough. Not that I’d be here to see it. I shoved open the freezer door and stepped out.
Everson followed me into the corridor and caught my wrist. “You’ll never make it to the zoo and back. There are handlers and hyena-things at every gate.”
“Let. Go.” I tugged on my wrist but he held tight.
“Lane, you can’t go out there alone! It’s too —”
I ducked and sank my teeth into his hand. Hard. He gasped and his fingers sprang open. Without so much as a glance at him, I bolted.
I took the stairs two at a time, heaved open a slanted storm door, and crept into the castle yard. Two handlers stood guard by the gate. I slipped through the shadows to the lionesses’ enclosure, which was lit by a single overhead light. In the center of the cage, Mahari lounged on a couch piled with furs, her golden eyes hard and bright as she watched me make my way to a dark corner by the bramble fence. The others strolled forward, curious as well. I stopped within an inch of the cage, feeling as wild as the lionesses within.
Deepnita arched a brow at my maid’s dress and leather collar. “You’ve come down in the world.” Her voice was low and gravelly, much like a rock star’s after a concert. “Did the queen decide you were too much of a threat?”
“The queen is dead.”
Mahari stretched, arching her back like a cat. “Oh my, the girl’s gone wild.” She sauntered to the edge of the cage.
“Chorda killed her, not me.” I unbuckled the leather collar around my neck and threw it aside.
Mahari’s fangs flashed in the shadows — a smile. “And you were just beginning to impress me.”
“I came to make a deal.”
She stepped so close I could see the golden starbursts in her irises. “I’m all ears, little human.”
“The handlers took Rafe to the zoo and I need to get him out.”
Charmaine tossed back her curls with a chuff. “Good luck.”
“They’ll put him in the cage outside the feral house,” Deepnita informed me. “Smack in the middle of the zoo.”
“Which will be crawling with handlers,” Neve added and dropped into a leather chair.
“Or they might put him in the small cage,” Mahari said conversationally.
“The small cage?” I asked.
“It’s not a real cage. It’s the space between two exhibits in the feral house.” Her voice turned so rough it was almost a growl. “One used to house a man infected with lion, the other, baboon. The space is so narrow that if you move more than a foot in either direction, one of the ferals will snag you and pull you to him.”
“Is that what happened to you?” I swept my gaze over them. Had they all chosen to be bitten by a lion-feral over a baboon? That would have been my choice too.
“Infection is grounds for an instant divorce, by the king’s law,” Charmaine explained. “That way he can marry his next wife, the very next day.”
“Whether she wants to or not,” Mahari added dryly.
“If Rafe stays very still in the center of the small cage, then the ferals can’t reach him, right?”
Mahari lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “The one who infected us was killed in an initiation test last year. I don’t know what lives in that cage now. Maybe something with a longer reach.”
I began to feel frantic. “I have to get Rafe out of there.”
Deepnita snorted. “Even if you could get past the handlers, the cages are locked.”
“And one key opens them all, right? The same key that unlocks your cage.” I stepped back before unclipping the key from my maid’s dress. Good thing, because when I held it up, three of the queens slammed against the wire fence. The cross-hatching wasn’t wide enough for them to push their hands through, but their fingers strained for me with their claws extended. The hair on my arms stood on end, but I didn’t back up any farther.
They yowled and hissed until a voice cut through their inhuman sounds. “Get back!” Mahari ordered, hauling one away from the fence and then flinging the other two aside as if they were sock puppets. No wonder she was the head lioness. For all her voluptuous beauty, she was stronger than three jumpsuits on steroids. She licked her palms and ran her hands quickly over her dark hair, smoothing it down. “So, about this deal … ?”
I knew that they weren’t as tame as they looked and that if I let them out, there would be no way to re-cage them. I also knew that once released they’d unleash their fury on the handlers who’d tormented them. Mahari had made that very clear this afternoon. And I was counting on it. “I let you out and in return you get me past the gate.” I pointed at the briar fence where the two handlers stood. “And then create a distraction at the zoo while I free Rafe.”
Mahari’s eyes smoldered and a smile crept over her lips. “Little human, you have a deal.”
She looked so savage, I wondered if she’d rip out my throat once she was free. Maybe. But I was willing to take that chance because if anyone could clear my path to Rafe, it was the lionesses. I unlocked the cage and threw open the door. The women stalked out, grinning and stretching. Their muscles rippled under their dusting of gold fur.
I pulled my dial out of my maid’s dress and pressed record. If I died tonight at least there would be a record of what happened, though I doubted anyone would ever see it.
“All right, girls,” Mahari purred, tipping her head toward the handlers by the gate. “Let’s get feral.”
The other queens extended their claws and roared in answer. The sound sent an electric current down my spine. The handlers whipped around to peer at the enclosure. In the split second it took them to realize that the queens were free, the lion-women sprinted for them with long effortless strides. Deepnita flung one into the air. He landed on the coiled barbed wire on top of the fence, where he thrashed and screamed. Neve took the other down, laughing as she straddled his back, her blond hair spilling around his head. “He’s a big one.”
“Play later,” Mahari ordered. She vaulted over Neve and threw open the gate.
With a quick twist, Neve snapped the handler’s neck. She rose and dashed after the others. I ran after them as well, but they were too fast for me. I raced onto the street and nearly fell over when two figures stepped from the shadows. Dromo and the Pekingese-maid named Penny stared after the bounding lionesses.
“The queens …” Dromo gasped and dropped the shovel he’d been holding. “What have you done?”
“I set them free.” I lifted my chin, daring him to berate me, but then I noticed the mound of freshly turned dirt behind them. My breath caught. “Cosmo?” When Dromo nodded, I flinched and very nearly bolted. But I wouldn’t let myself run away from Cosmo. Couldn’t. I dragged my wet palms down my dress and ventured closer to the small unmarked grave.
“The queens will … They’ll” — Penny dropped her voice to a whisper — “go after the handlers. They’ll kill them all.”
“They’ll try,” Dromo agreed. “We have to tell the others.”
I sank beside the mound of fresh earth, pulled down by the heaviness in my chest, and began patting the loose soil into place.
“With the queens free, we have a chance,” Dromo went on, his voice rising. “More than a chance.” I glanced back to see him unbuckle his collar. “We serve no more,” he declared and threw his collar to the ground. Penny dropped hers too, though with less fire.