Page 19 of Death God

“Going—” I grinned, starting again. I could do this the whole day.

“Please, Lady Pip,” Spaghetti said and shoved Shorty behind him. “Don’t make things harder for us.”

I needed to create chaos wherever I went. Then I’d sneak out and get the layout of the castle while they cleaned up my mess. I had to find out where the horseman had posted his main army and all the strategic positions.

The door to the commander’s suite was yanked open, and Going-gray stormed out in his impeccable red-and-gray uniform. He’d changed his uniform.

“Pip girl!” he yelled at me in exasperation while shooting the guards angry glares. They shrank back. “I left you alone for two seconds and you had to cause a scene!”

“My apologies, good sir,” I said. “But I didn’t cause a scene. I was calling you for help since I was frustrated. Could you assign me another room, one that no one has occupied before?”

“What’s wrong with the room I assigned to you?” he barked. “It’s nice and big! Just try to make yourself comfortable. You’ll have to stay close to me so I can keep you in my sight.”

“But you didn’t keep me in your sight,” I objected. “You stayed in your own room, having an important meeting and excluding me. And you can’t keep me in your sight all the time. No one can. It’s an impossible task.”

A vein throbbed on his temple. “Until the king or I send for you, you should just stay in your room. Act like a lady!”

“But I ain’t no lady,” I said. “Even you said that before. While others call me Lady Pip or Lady Pip Ophelia, you keep calling me Pip girl. Pip is fine, you know. Simpler. Lady Pip Ophelia is a bit redundant, if you ask my humble opinion.”

“What exactly do you want?” Going-gray snapped at me. “Let’s get it over with. After that, do not disturb me again!”

“Okay,” I said. “You asked me what was wrong with the room, and I haven’t answered your question.” His expression grew more impatient, so I hurried up and told him. “The room is a fucking mess! If you don’t believe me, you can come in and take a good look. The sheets are rumpled. Rumpled! Your aide is so sloppy that he didn’t even make the bed. It’s unacceptable, sir! I’m not going to sleep on that sheet with his smell and sweat on it. Who knows what else he’s done on top of that sheet. These days, you just can’t trust anyone.”

“You called me out of an important meeting because of a rumpled sheet?!” He raised a finger to stop me from interrupting. He was doing that a lot today. “Don’t answer.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand why the Alpha King must have you back. Just not worth all the trouble, if I had a say in this whole messy affair.”

The guards looked like they absolutely agreed with their commander, but they wouldn’t dare to open their mouths before their superior spoke to them first. In the shifters’ world, hierarchy was written in stone and bred into every shifter before they were born.

“You kind of hurt my feelings, sir,” I said. “I don’t want any trouble. All I want is a clean sheet to sleep on. I don’t think that’s too much to ask, considering the long journey and the ordeal I went through to get here. If you think I’m such trouble, I won’t bother you again. Dismiss me and send me back. The second option is that I’ll just walk out of the castle all by myself.”

“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “We already went through enough hassle to get you here. I don’t know exactly what you’re planning, but bear in mind, Pip girl, your plan won’t come to fruition. Play nice, and you’ll get your way. In the future, for any trivial needs, you can ask the guards and maids to take care of it. I’m done babysitting you!”

He turned to bark at the guards. “Go fetch the maids to clean the room and provide whatever Lady Pip asks. Just don’t give her any reason to bother me again. Am I clear?”

The guards snapped to attention. “Yes, sir! It won’t happen again.”

Well, they’d promised what they couldn’t deliver, and it was going to bite them in the asses.

Going-gray turned to me. “Or you can return to the king’s palace and be treated like a princess. It’s not too late.”

I smirked at him. “I’d rather stick with you, Highness. You’re growing on me.”

He shook his head, stormed back to his room, and slammed the door in my face since I was following him. I wanted to see whom he was having a meeting with so I could remember all the key players and create a hit list.

The door would have hit the tip of my nose if I hadn’t been quick to step back.

“Chivalry is dead,” I told the guards, but they just stared at me with stony expressions, not sharing my sentiment but probably blaming me for getting them yelled at by their boss.

I gave them a shrug and returned to my room. Collecting intel wasn’t a one-day job. I needed to play the long game.

Spaghetti told Shorty to go get the maids, and the short guard sent me a nasty look before rushing off.

A few minutes later, a series of rude knocks came from the door.

Before I answered, someone pushed the door open with force.

An icily beautiful woman in a purple robe barged into the room. Four women in maid outfits followed her in but kept a wide berth, their submissive gazes cast to the ground.

Even though the cuffs dulled my senses, I could smell black magic pouring off the lead woman. She was a black witch, a powerful one. No wonder the others were afraid of her; they were all humans.

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