A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty

Author:Jaclyn Moriarty [Moriarty, Jaclyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia
Published: 2016-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

6

Elliot woke early to slamming doors and voices raised and rushing.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Still? How much can they have to say about the Director being free?’

Another door slammed, close by. Ming-Sun, in his usual chair, curled his mouth with irritation. ‘Wait,’ he said, and left the room.

A few minutes later, he returned, resuming his position.

‘All across the Kingdom,’ he said, ‘prisoners are fleeing.’

‘What? Seriously?’

Ming-Sun shook his head. ‘No. I am jesting. The Director was released last night, as you know, and now it seems the Princess Ko has escaped. Quick!’ He clicked his fingers before Elliot’s eyes. ‘How do you feel about this?’

Elliot swiped the clicking hand away. ‘What is that, some magic thing? Cut it out.’

Ming-Sun chuckled. ‘No. I can just imagine the Assistant doing it. But seriously, what do you think? The Princess was your friend. She was to be executed today. Now she has escaped. And so?’

‘What about the others? Are they out too?’

‘Samuel and Sergio. Yes, them too. But I am asking how you feel about Princess Ko’s escape.’

Elliot frowned. The truth was, his first reaction was huge relief. But now he didn’t know how he felt. He tried to get a hold of that sense he’d had last night, of being inside his own skin.

‘Well, it’s bad news,’ he tried.

Ming-Sun brayed. ‘This is not a job interview! And if it was, you would not get the job. You lie badly, Elliot. Tell me your truth. And its colour! How does it smell? Describe its appearance! Rate your truth for me.’

‘Seriously?’

Ming-Sun drew out a handkerchief, blew his nose, then bellowed with laughter. ‘No,’ he said eventually. ‘I am joking.’

‘You sure are in a strange mood today, Ming-Sun.’

Ming-Sun smiled. ‘I did not want you to die at the hands of the Assistant, nor did I want Chime punished for your escape. My secret hope was that you would be truly converted. It has happened. My relief makes me both joyful and extremely tired. Of course, we have yet to convince the Assistant of your conversion. Which brings me back to my question: how do you feel about Princess Ko’s escape?’

Elliot tried again. He closed his eyes and visualised himself as a lion, but that only confused him. He looked stupid with a mane.

He thought of the Princess Ko that Chime had described, and then he thought of the Ko he had seen in conference rooms, in the tent by the Lake of Spells, in a boat at Olde Quainte—missing her sister, desperate for her family, demanding they get her little brother first, because he was alone and he didn’t have his blankie—stamping her foot, holding brainstorming sessions, ruthless, callous, selfish as heck.

‘I’m glad she’s not going to be killed,’ he admitted in the end. ‘I don’t want anyone killed, and she’s young, and she did her best, and I liked her, even though she made me crazy. But I hate the idea of her and her family ever being back in charge. That’d be bad news.’

Ming-Sun stretched and yawned.

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