After the attack on Jinyoung, BamBam found them a more obscured mountain pass to take instead, and while it was narrower and steeper, it kept them better disguised as they progressed. The higher in altitude they went, the colder it got, which meant that Jackson, Yugyeom, and Jaebum were also called upon to help keep Jinyoung warm at night and to make sure none of his skin was open to exposure. Their body heat was a blessing, but at the same time, their constant presence made it difficult to speak to Mark alone. Not that Jinyoung had even determined what to say to him. A frank “Please ask me to stay” was closest to how he felt, but it scared him to ask without being sure if Mark would want him to stay just for the sake of his children and not because he loved Jinyoung and wanted him as Jinyoung wanted Mark himself.

In any case, the timing was hardly good to discuss such things to begin with. They were nearing their destination, which required them to focus on their plans and putting the utmost caution into assuring that no one would spot them and alert those within the High Laboratorium that a small division of beasts were headed their way. The group of them barely spoke in general, using the silence to help in masking their presence.

On about the ninth day of travel in total, they at last reached the High Laboratorium under the cover of darkness. Jinyoung had been there several times before, but now he knew the truth of it, it looked more foreboding than he remembered. It was a severe stone building repurposed from an abandoned church, retaining its steeple and imposing glass windows, though Jinyoung knew Hyun had gutted the interior to make the layout less open to accommodate the privacy one would need in surgery rooms and examination labs. Apparently the basement had also been repurposed into a dungeon, which the previous owners would have been less than thrilled about allowing in their former place of prayer.

BamBam, who could easily maneuver around unseen at night given the darkness of his feathers, returned quickly from the circuit he'd made of the building. "I found the Sacred Prince," he said. "The scouts were right: there's a window that looks into the area he's in quite openly. Plus, he's being loud as always."

Jaebum's ears instantly pricked up, twitching slightly as he listened. "I can hear his voice! He's singing!" He made to run forward towards the sound, but Yugyeom grabbed him by the collar. "Cover up first, Your Majesty!" He tossed one of the black cloaks they'd brought with them to blend into the darkness. Jaebum quickly threw it over his head, then ran forward. Jinyoung grabbed his cloak and did the same.

On the eastward facing side of the building, there was a huge archtop window looking into what had first been the nave of the church, had turned into an operating theater, and was now a holding cell for the Sacred Prince. A large, silver bird cage was suspended from the ceiling above a retinue of guards prowling below, and inside it was one of the most beautiful people Jinyoung had ever seen in his entire life, even though he was only viewing him from the back and could not see his face. It was a man with cascading hair that was mostly white like finely spun threads of untouched snow, but was striped inky black around his neck and a beautiful, vibrant red around the crown of his head. On his back were a pair of black tipped white wings that were small and stunted, appearing barely strong enough to fly with, and were folded in towards his back rather than arching outwards as BamBam's did. Even though the window had no opening, you could still hear him singing through it, and his voice was so lovely that Jinyoung thought he might weep.

The man—the Sacred Prince Youngjae, the red-crowned crane also known as the white fox—turned, giving them a glimpse of his face. He had a sweet and kind expression, and seemed wholly lost in his music, filled with happiness from it even in spite of being in a cage. Jinyoung felt immediately soothed listening to and watching him, and the effect was so powerful that it felt like a spell Youngjae was casting over him.

Jaebum's tail was wagging at full speed at the sight of his mate, much like a loyal hound's at the sight of its beloved owner. He was so overcome with joy he seemed unable to speak, but you could read exactly what was in his heart in his eyes.

Then, suddenly, they heard one of the guards calling up to Youngjae. "FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME. STOP THAT RACKET! You know how it makes the Feral difficult."

Youngjae stopped singing, his expression immediately turning hostile, almost an exact mirror of how Jaebum had looked when he had first smelled Mark's scent on Jinyoung. "YEAH?" he yelled in a blasting voice Jinyoung would have never imagined could come from one so elegant in appearance. "YOU KNOW WHAT MAKES ME DIFFICULT? HEARING YOUR VOICE. YOU WANT TO FIGHT ME? HUH? YOU WANNA GO? I'LL RIP OFF YOUR FINGERS AND SHOVE 'EM DOWN YOUR THROAT!"

"Wow," Jinyoung said. He wouldn't have thought it possible that those kinds of words could come from that kind of face.

"He's always so charming when he's in a temper," Jaebum said, beaming. His tail wagged harder.

"This kills me," BamBam groaned. "Cranes are supposed to be the gentlest and noblest of the bird tribes, but thanks to you being such a bad influence on him..."

"Youngjae isn't a crane and isn't in the bird tribe, and if you insult him, I'll tear off your wings and stuff them down your beak," Jaebum said gruffly.

BamBam muttered under his breath about bad influences again, but flew away as he did so he would be comfortably out of Jaebum's reach.

"This looks just like Captain Baekho described it," Jinyoung said. "Very heavily guarded. A bit strange, since your Sacred Prince doesn't look like he'd be very much of a threat locked up like that, and there's a trap in place to keep potential rescuers from reaching the room."

"He's not physically much of a threat, but he has a cran—er, I mean white fox thing," BamBam said from above. "There's a reason the bird tribes have always considered the red-crowned cranes sacred—not that he is one, Your Majesty! Their songs have an effect on the psyche, and make the people who listen to them calm and peaceful. It's, you know, like a protective trait they have since they can't otherwise defend themselves from predators, as well as a gift to ease the pain and anguish of others.Youngjae's singing is probably messing with the guards, too, but I'm assuming this Hyun guy hired ones with stronger mental resistance, and having a lot of them around will keep any that happen to fall under the influence of Youngjae's songs from just setting him free unobserved."

"It's very clever of him," Jaebum said affectionately. "Based on what the guards said, it sounds like his songs are having an effect on the Feral, too, maybe making them calmer and harder to stir up in a killing frenzy."

While the others talked, Jinyoung observed the room. He was going to need to help them break into it, so he wanted to have as clear an idea of it as possible. He wasn't overly concerned about the guards, given that Mark could probably singlehandedly kill them all in less than two minutes, but opening the cage would be an issue, as would reaching the room to begin with. None of the guards he observed seemed to be openly carrying keyrings, and Jinyoung couldn't help but wonder, given that Youngjae could manipulate their mental state, if Hyun would even trust them with the keys to the cage of his prized prisoner to begin with.

“Maybe we should consider revising our plan,” Jaebum suggested. “We already know the entrance to this room is trapped. But if we break in through the window, kill the guards, and rescue Youngjae that way, we’ll avoid the trap entirely and achieve our mission with much more ease.”

Jinyoung shook his head. “I’m sure other beasts tried to break through the window. If so, there’s a reason it didn’t work. High Lofferin experiences extreme cold temperatures in the winter, temperatures so cold that it creates cracks in windows and causes them to shatter. Because of this, most buildings use shatterproof windows that are nearly impossible to break. The only way to remove the glass is to push on the upper right edge with immense force, which would be hard to do on this particular window given how high up it goes.”

“I could do it,” BamBam offered.

“Er…no offense, but even I’m not strong enough to push one of those windows out, so I’m not sure you could. Jackson probably could do it, but he can’t reach that high.”

“Way to insult a guy,” BamBam said, ruffling his feathers indignantly. "I'm stronger than I look."

“We’ll stick to the plan,” Jinyoung said. “I’ll go in figure out as much as I can from Hyun about how to access Youngjae’s room, and then neutralize him with the soporific drugs I've brought with me. When it’s safe for you to come in, I’ll send up the signal—remember, look for violet smoke from the chimney. We set Youngjae free, then cure and rescue the Feral and King Minhyun. Youngjae could prove particularly helpful with that, if his voice really does calm them. Hyun can then be punished as you and King Minhyun agree upon.”

“And if something goes wrong when you’re alone with Hyun?” Mark asked, his expression tense.

“If I don’t send up the signal by morning, have BamBam come in through the chimney in crow form and assess the situation. If it isn’t safe…”

“I will find my way in and save you,” Mark finished for him.

“Hyun is using this place to lure in and capture beasts. I’m sure there are more traps than just the one by Youngjae. Please don’t act recklessly or you’ll play right into his hands.”

Mark didn’t respond. Jinyoung wasn’t sure there was anything he could say to dissuade Mark from doing as he saw fit, and could only hope that nothing did go wrong that would necessitate Mark trying to act on his own.

Jinyoung pulled up the hood of his cloak. “Wait out of sight,” he said, taking a breath. “I will be heading in now. Look for the violet smoke signal.”

“Best of luck to you, Jinyoung,” Jaebum said. Yugyeom, Jackson, and BamBam saluted him. Mark reached out and gently cupped his cheek for a moment, then patted it before dropping his hand away without saying anything. Perhaps he, like his children, was superstitious of saying goodbye.

Jinyoung went to the entrance of the Laboratorium, took a bracing breath, and clapped the brass door knocker down three times. A few moments later, a guard answered the door, looking Jinyoung up and down warily. “Yes?”

“I am Jinyoung, a pupil of Healer Hyun's, here to see him,” Jinyoung said as confidently as he could. “I run the clinic in Low Lofferin.”

“Rather late for a social call, don’t you think?” the guard responded in chilly tones.

“It is indeed late, but I’ve just returned from traveling.” He lowered his voice. “I have news of Hyun's fiancée that he would like to hear.”

“Hmm.” The guard looked at him measuredly. “Wait here.” He shut the door, presumably to consult with Hyun as to whether or not Jinyoung should be let in.

A few moments later, the door opened again. “Hyun invites you inside and apologizes for any time you spent waiting in the cold,” the guard grumbled. “He’s lit a fire for you in his office. I’ll bring you to him.”

Jinyoung stepped inside, pulling off the hood from his cloak so he could see his surroundings with greater clarity. His eyes immediately sought the hallway leading to Youngjae’s prison, looking up to the ceiling to confirm the evidence of a giant cage dangling overhead to capture any intruding beasts. He couldn’t see with just a cursory glance what there was in the hallway that would trip the cage to lower, and it would be suspicious to stall there when the guard was trying to lead him deeper into the building, so Jinyoung kept walking, resolving to look into it when Hyun was taken care of.

The guard led him to a door in the south side of the building, rapped on it twice with his knuckles, then opened it. Inside, Hyun was sitting behind a table littered with scribbled on documents, microscopes, beakers, and test tubes filled with colored liquids. His appearance had changed a little since the last time Jinyoung had seen him. The dark hair he'd once worn close cut had now grown long and scraggly, and his unshaven beard was peppered with gray. Though he was only about ten years Jinyoung's elder, he now looked far older due to the harsh lines of his face, particularly his forehead which now looked perpetually furrowed and stern.

When Jinyoung entered the room, Hyun rose to his feet, not looking nearly as surprised as Jinyoung would have expected given that he was by all appearances returning after most likely being presumed captured or deceased.

“So it really is you,” Hyun said. “When your parents told me you never returned home from the fighting, I assumed the worst.”

“I worried I might be pronounced dead in absentia,” Jinyoung said. He went through the motions of clasping hands with his old teacher and clapping him on the back. “I was captured, and couldn’t get word to my parents or anyone else. I've only just recently been able to escape”

“Captured?” Hyun dismissed the guard and sat back down, gesturing for Jinyoung to sit across from him. “And where exactly were you held captive?”

“In Calovia.”

“Calovia? How odd. It’s not like beasts to take prisoners, or at least not uninjured ones. According to the reports I’ve received, the beasts drag dying soldiers to their camp, question them with hyenas, and then either ‘mercy kill’ them if they are beyond help or send them back to their military commanders to demand answers if there’s still life left in them. I’ve never heard of one being taken to Calovia before. It’s not worth the beasts' time and resources to drag a prisoner through an entire mountain before the snows come, yes?”

“I may have been a special circumstance,” Jinyoung said. “As a healer.”

“Ah. And who were you brought to heal?”

“I wasn’t told at first. After the concluding battle of the season, I was kidnapped from my tent by a white wolf and a silver fox.”

“Oh?” Hyun’s expression darkened. “Two very familiar characters to me. Go on.”

“I was told by them that my services would be needed in Calovia to treat a human woman their own healers could not help. They promised me I would not be harmed if I did this, though they treated me as less than human during my capture, locking me up in a cage and barely feeding me and having me guarded by hyenas who hounded me with questions I didn’t understand. What makes a beast Feral? Who devised the method? What has become of the white fox prince?” He'd practiced this lie many times, keeping it as true to the details of his actual kidnapping as he could in case Hyun had intel of the timing of Jinyoung's disappearance. “I spent the winter there as a captive of the wolf tribe. The one who captured me was named Ravi, and he’d brought me to Calovia to be the personal healer of his mother, who had an illness the beasts were unfamiliar with. I recognized the woman right away. It was Lady Kim, the mother of my childhood friend and your fiancée…Chungha’s mother.”

“So Lady Kim lives among the beasts now, too?” Hyun asked in clipped tones. “I take it you saw Chungha, then?”

“Yes. And through speaking to her, I learned of her wolf's blood and…er…betrayal of your adoration for her.”

“Yes. A betrayal she owes me dearly for. Her and her brother and the silver fox as well—all three of them have yet to face their due for that.” He rubbed his chest absently, perhaps in the place where he’d been mauled by Ravi during the escape. “Tell me, Jinyoung—how well did Chungha look to you?”

“I hesitate to refer to someone living among savages as doing ‘well,’ but I will say she seemed happily deluded about her circumstances. She was barely civil to me, though. She convinced herself that at the earliest possibility of escape, I would flee Calovia, find you, and direct you to her.”

“And isn’t she right? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

“Partially. I was able to learn quite a bit when I was captive, things I know you would be able to make good use of. I learned about the red-crowned crane and their plans to set him free.”

“Oh?” Hyun leaned forward. “Are there such plans, then? Tell me.”

“I didn’t understand all of it since I didn’t even know about the crane until I heard them speak of him.”

“Apologies, Jinyoung, but my operations here are a hand I’d like to play very carefully. The citizenry of High Lofferin might doubt my ability to control the Feral here, and others might be bleeding hearts who frown upon my means of eradicating the beasts once and for all. To tell the truth, I thought you might tend towards the latter, which is why I didn’t feel any need to include you in my experiments.”

“You might have been right, before,” Jinyoung said. “But now, after seeing what I saw and hearing what I heard in Calovia, I don’t think I’d be sorry at all to see the beasts gone.”

“Good. Then do proceed with telling me what you know.”

“The beasts are planning an assault on the Laboratorium next month,” Jinyoung lied. “There is a strike force assembling, and it is said the Beast King will lead them, as the crane is his mate. They know of the trap the others have been captured by and know a way around it…I didn’t quite understand their plan, but I think they intend to enter the room the same way the guards do.”

“Ah, so they discovered the side entrance in the training room?” Hyun asked. No, but I just discovered it, Jinyoung thought triumphantly. “An easy enough snag to fix. I’ll simply leave the Feral in that room, and when the beasts open it, they’ll be feasted on by their own brethren. Although I will have to get that damned crane to shut up—the beasts refuse to attack when they hear his voice, and he’s right there in the adjoining room, easy to listen to.” He looked at Jinyoung intently. “Still, I don’t want all the beasts to be eaten by the Feral. I’d want to save a few of the high-quality fighters. Will the Red Death be a part of the strike force?”

Jinyoung swallowed. “T-That was my understanding.”

"Excellent. I've always been intrigued by the Red Death. Did you see him, while you were in Calovia?"

Jinyoung wasn't sure what the best answer would be. "Y-Yes?" he said haltingly. "He's a central figure in Calovian society, so I did see him from time to time."

"And what was your impression of him?"

"There's no denying he's an incredible fighter."

"Indeed. It's not common knowledge in human society, but in Calovia, he's well-known for being a half-blood. But unlike Chungha and a certain member of our own government, his beast blood is strongly manifested. It's entirely unnatural, but...at the same time, it makes a man wonder. What is it in his blood that made it manifest? Why did my own fiancée appear to be a deceptively beautiful human, and yet her brother appear in the form of a disgusting beast?" He folded his hands. "In terms of Chungha, I wanted to rid her of the parts of her blood that made her unfit to be my wife, but I was not able to find a solution before the beast filth took her. But when I journeyed to Calovia and learned more of the half-breeds there who manifest the same appearance and power that beasts do, and that one of such half-breeds was the all-powerful Red Death himself...I grew curious. Truthfully, the Feral were never going to be a long-term solution to the beast problem. They are unruly, and training them is dangerous and time consuming. And now that word has spread in Calovia of my trick of using their precious Sacred Prince as bait, as you have confirmed, they will not so easily fall within my clutches to bend to my will. And if they did, when Calovia is obliterated, I can't imagine taking these drooling, barely controllable Feral beasts to the kingdoms on the other side of the mountains to conquer them. They are unreliable, and suited only for death once their purpose is served."

Jinyoung felt sick to his stomach, hearing this, so much so that he couldn't even pretend to agree with Hyun for the sake of keeping up appearances. He'd never heard lives spoken of as so disposable and meaningless, and it was chilling how tonelessly Hyun spoke of the Feral, the beasts with lives and families back in Calovia who had lost all sense of being because of him.

"But imagine," Hyun continued, not noticing Jinyoung's disgusted reaction, "if I crack the secret to the blood of the half-breeds and what makes them as they are! If I can find a way to pull out the beast essence and seperate their powers and gifts from their impurities and subhuman qualities! If I can do that, I can transfer some of their abilities to our human soldiers, whose superior intellect and nature as humans will allow them to utilize these skills far more effectively than any filthy subhuman ever could. I could make an army of men whose minds and hearts are loyal to me and the kingdom, but with the superhuman gifts selfishly wasted on the beasts. I've already begun to experiment on a certain half-blood prisoner in my custody. I've done tests on his blood and its composition. I've given him potions and observed his reactions to them. I've infused new blood in him to see how his appearance and abilities would change as a result. But his blood is weak because of the generations that have passed since the proginetor of his half-blood lived. My research requires one with strong beast blood, one who actually manifests as a beast and possesses the exact strengths and abilities our armies would most benefit from." Hyun smiled pleasantly. "I speak, of course, of the Red Death. But how does one capture the most fearsome of all beasts? The beast general never seemed to have a single flaw or weakness. Or at least he didn't. But now, my dear student, he has a crippling weakness that will cost him everything. You."

Before Jinyoung could even blink, Hyun's hand shot out holding a syringe, which he plunged into Jinyoung’s arm. Jinyoung yelped in surprise, and Hyun grinned a sickening, twisted grin as he pressed down on the plunger to shoot whatever liquid was inside into Jinyoung’s system.

“Unfortunately for you, Jinyoung, thanks to my lovely fiancée, I’ve stopped trusting everyone other than myself. I know how much a madman I’d look to the rest of the world, contriving this plot not just to destroy the beast tribe, but to turn them into the weapons of mankind, and then to turn mankind into weapons through them. Even those who loathe and fear the beast tribes would think me extreme in taking such measures. As such, I’ve taken pains to keep my plans masked from humans as much as from beasts. The guards here are of—ah—limited intelligence and questionable morality, and as convicts I liberated from their own cells, they owe me too great a debt to go off spouting my activities here to anyone they shouldn’t.” Hyun smiled pityingly. “So really, I would have done this very same thing even if I hadn’t received a report back from a scout whose triple was for the most part wiped out by the Red Death when they attacked you. Yes, Jinyoung, there were three of them—that is how I arrange all the Laboratorium’s scouts, as triples. Two to attack, one to observe and report back. And this one reported back that the Red Death nearly went mad because their target was you and that only you could calm his anger through your sweet and loving words. It seems you turned into just the same disgusting subhuman lover as my dear Chungha and have coupled with the enemy. So as it happens, I trust you even less than any other person who could have knocked on my door tonight. The only value you have is that you’ll bring the Red Death straight to me, just as surely as the crane brought his devoted subjects.”

Hyun yanked the syringe out, and Jinyoung felt his head go light. He prayed it was a sleeping drug he’d been given and not the same variant of water the scouts had almost poisoned him with and suggested might kill him. All the same, whatever Hyun had given him, his situation was as good as hopeless. Again he would be used to hurt Mark, and again he would face the likelihood of his life ending without ever having the chance to share his heart with Mark and settle the debt between them. And this time, the threat to Mark was even greater: if Hyun got his hands on him, he would turn him into the most powerful Feral of all and use his blood to further his plans of powering the human army with beast abilities.

“Why?” Jinyoung rasped out as his body weakened. “What made you do this?”

“Why?” Hyun echoed. “It’s quite simple, really. I snuck into Calovia with King Minhyun’s retinue for the royal wedding with every intention of taking Chungha back and ending it there. But then I heard our King discussing his bloodline with the subhuman fox who calls himself a king, and learned that this abhorrent half-blood intended to build an alliance between our nations and bring humanity into friendship with the filthy subhumans! The very same subhumans who stole the woman I was meant to marry and kept me from cleansing the vile impurity in her blood!” He spat. “I couldn’t allow that. I couldn’t allow humanity to descend to a level where beast lovers would be welcomed and half-blood children would be born to the once pure lines of humans. Even I, if Chungha had not been honest with me, could have been father to a disgusting white wolf cub! I knew I had to prevent it by any means. So I stole the subhuman king’s mate to destroy any chance of unity between beasts and humans. I captured King Minhyun so he would not be able to interfere. I prepared a special gift for the beasts who came to save their so-called Sacred Prince: a drink that would reveal their true nature as nothing more than murderous, brainless animals!”

The room was spinning at this point in Hyun's speech, and Jinyoung was struggling to keep his eyes open. He opened his mouth in an attempt to accuse Hyun of being insane not only for using Chungha to justify his genocide, but for thinking half-bloods and inter-mating was the greater moral crime than the brainwashing and enslavement of an entire tribe, but nothing came out but hazy mumbles.

“I can’t believe my prize student ended up a beast lover,” Hyun's voice danced through Jinyoung head. “You disgust me so much that I have not a single qualm about sending you to death at the hands of your own lover. You deserve worse. You murderers of humanity all deserve worse for turning your back on your own kind. So sweet nightmares, Jinyoung. You’ll awake to an even greater one.”

A wild laugh resounded through the haze, and then the world clouded over completely and blanketed him in darkness.

Jinyoung awoke with a painfully dry throat and an aching head. He blinked his eyes, trying to make out where he was through his blurred vision and rattled senses. A pair of unfamiliar dark eyes stared back at him. Jinyoung blinked again, his vision becoming clearer. He was in a place he didn’t recognize but seemed in every respect to be a prison cell in a dungeon based on the bars, lack of light, and smell. And sitting with him in his cell was none other than His Majesty King Minhyun I.

The King was no longer the handsome, graceful man Jinyoung had remembered him to be. His cheeks were gaunt, his eyes were sunken, and he’d lost so much weight it looked as if he could be easily snapped in two. There was a haunted look to his expression as if he’d seen unspeakable things and was no longer quite sure how to live with himself, and yet a determined glint in his eyes that seemed to suggest that dying was not an option for one so set on not going down without a fight.

“Your Majesty,” Jinyoung rasped out. Oddly, the first thing he thought of was telling BamBam that someone like him couldn’t just talk to someone like the king. If you want to speak to the king, you have to be somebody, he’d said. Well, perhaps being the presumed consort of the beast the madman who’d seized control of their nation most wanted to weaponize at long last qualified him as somebody.

“Majesty? Hardly,” Minhyun said. “Hardly majestic at all after two years in here, I’d think. But let’s not waste our breath on that. Why have you been brought here? Are you another half-blood? They usually kill the pureblooded humans who discover this operation, not imprison them. Who are you?"

"I'm just a lowland healer, sir," Jinyoung said, struggling to prop himself up. "An old student of Hyun's who thought to outsmart him."

"Ah. Well, that man certainly doesn't like to be outsmarted. Hence why he's so obsessed with breaking his victims mentally and stealing away their awareness and intellect. If he didn't, he'd be revealed for the small-minded man he truly is." Minhyun paused, studying Jinyoung. "Why did you seek to outsmart him, anyways? Do you know of what he does here? Are you perhaps an ally to the beasts?"

"Yes, on both accounts. I've lived this past winter in Calovia as a mate to the General...the one you may know of as the Red Death. At first, it was an arrangement based on necessity, but..." He swallowed. "The people there are as a second family to me, now. I wanted to do something to save them. I was part of a strike team comprised of the General, three of his lieutenants, and the gray fox King. We meant to come here and rescue the Sacred Prince Youngjae and the captured Feral, but I...I failed."

Minhyun's eyes glinted. "You brought the Red Death and King Jaebum? Then you have by no means failed, provided that they haven't been captured as well. If the King is here, that means he intends to make a decisive strike, one way or the other. This is our moment. We’re reaching the endgame, and if nothing is done now to save the beasts, nothing ever will be done.” He took a breath. “You do want to help, yes?”

“Of course I do,” Jinyoung said. Even now Mark could be in Hyun's clutches out of desperation to save Jinyoung—he had no idea how long he’d been asleep, or if it was still within the timeframe the others were supposed to be waiting for his smoke signal in. “They’re going to use me to capture the Red Death...the one I love. I have to stop them.”

“Yes, if that is what they intend, they most assuredly must be stopped.” Minhyun shuddered. “I myself have been desperate to stop the Feral problem, but if the Red Death turns Feral, all that remains is surrendering to being eaten. There’s no way anyone could stop someone already so lethal with all his senses intact if he loses his mind. I shudder even more to think what experiments will be done using his blood, given the number that have been done with mine, weak as it is. I wouldn't live to see the aftermath, I'm sure. Hyun is running out of uses for me. I’m sure he’ll be declaring himself king any day now, and when he does, I'll most like be summarily executed...or he'll just drain the rest my blood for his studies and leave my corpse for the Feral.”

“He can’t just do that.”

“He’s creating an army of deranged beasts that kill other beasts on sight. Who would stop him, when they damn well know he could just as easily train them to kill humans he doesn’t like?”

This was a very good point. “I…I know how to stop the Feral problem, at least,” Jinyoung said. “Though I don’t think I can manage from this cell.”

“You know how to stop the Feral problem?” Minhyun’s eyes widened. “Wait, you know how to stop it? I’ve spent the last two years stewing over this problem and have come up with nothing other than it’s definitely something in the water. I have no idea about what it is and how to combat it. What can you tell me about it?”

Jinyoung explained Low Lofferin’s issue with the water contamination and feral animals to Minhyun, and how Hyun had leveraged his research on the matter against the beasts. He also explained the development of the cure and his own role in it, and how it had been successfully used to give Baekho his clear senses back.

“Well, I’m glad there’s some manner of answer,” Minhyun said when Jinyoung was finished. “But this cure doesn’t sound like something we can just put together in a jail cell.”

“We don’t need to make it. I have plenty.”

“Oh? I should inform you then that the guards who brought you here relieved you of the little bag you were carrying.”

“It wasn’t in the bag.” Jinyoung reached down, untying the thick sash he’d worn with his tunic. He didn’t have anything sharp with him to help him undo the needlework, so instead yanked on it as forcefully as he could until the threads began to loosen. With some effort, the stiches came apart, revealing the inner fabric of the sash where Jinyoung and Nia had painstakingly stitched as many vials of the cure Jinyoung had brewed as they could.

“Well,” Minhyun said approvingly, “that’s certainly one problem solved. But now we have our next problem—how do we give it to the beasts here?”

The word ‘here’ reminded Jinyoung that they weren’t alone in the dungeon. He got as close to the cell bars as he could and peered out. Sure enough, just across from them was a leopard pacing in circles in its cell, and diagonal from them was a jackal scratching its claws against the wall. Both had foam on their mouths and red, unfocused eyes. They’d already been turned Feral, then.

“Are all the Feral kept here?” Jinyoung asked.

Minhyun shook his head. “No. Most are in the training room—it’s outfitted with cages, too.”

“That makes things a little challenging. I was going to say that if we could break out of here, all we’d need to do is pour the cure into their water bowls or stick them with a syringe, but if they’re spread out…we’re not going to make it to the training room without attracting attention.”

“Or…actually, this may make things easier.” Minhyun pointed to the far side of the room. “There’s a water tank over there. Twice a day, a guard will come and turn the knob, and water will dispense to the cages. All but mine, since they’ve put a block on it. I get my own water since the one time I drank the water they gave the beasts, it wasn’t pretty. To my knowledge, the tank also supplies water to the training room beasts as well. At least, that’s how it looks based on the pipes I’ve seen in this place.”

“So all we’d need to do is add the antidote to the water tank,” Jinyoung said, nodding. “And to do that, we need to get out of this cell.”

Minhyun laughed a little bitterly. “The cell I’ve been living in two years without managing to escape. Wonderful.”

“There’s no keys we can steal?”

Minhyun shook his head. “Hyun has the keyrings locked to the guards’ belts, and only he has they keys to those locks. It’s useless.” He paused. “There is…there is one way I could slip through the bars, but it hasn’t worked thus far.”

Jinyoung looked at him, horrified. “Don’t tell me you’re starving yourself to be able to fit through?”

“No, that would just as soon kill me off, and I won’t give these bastards the satisfaction of having me dead.” He looked at Jinyoung cautiously. “You said you brought King Jaebum with you, so you must be fairly familiar with him. Has he told you about me?”

“About your beast blood?”

Minhyun nodded. “I’ve got a bit of desert fox in me, apparently. It never really manifested much in the past, but… I don’t know. Something happened here. I don’t know if it’s because of drinking the beasts' water that one time or the experiments they’ve done on my blood, but…” He took Jinyoung’s hand and guided it to his ears, which were hidden underneath his uncut hair. You could still feel the shape of human ears to them, but they were now covered in bristly fur, much like Jaebum’s. “I’m getting a bit of a tail, too,” Minhyun said. “Just a small one, but it was still a bit of a shock when it started growing in. And…well… I can shift a bit.”

He closed his eyes, and after a moment of apparent concentration, his body shifted into that of a small, sandy furred desert fox. His tail and ears were smaller than the desert foxes Jinyoung had seen in Calovia, but other than that, his shift seemed quite successful. In this form, he could slip through the bars with no problem.

But mere seconds after Minhyun had shifted, the beasts in the surrounding cells started growling and snapping wildly, as if they’d just smelled a whiff of particularly delicious meat and were delirious with hunger. Minhyun shifted back into a human almost right away, panting for breath.

“It takes a lot of concentration on my part to do that,” he said. “And I can’t focus when the Feral start going crazy like that. When I’m shifted, my senses are more animalistic, and when I hear predators, it causes me to panic.”

Jinyoung nodded. According to Baekho, the Feral were trained to turn violent at the scent of beasts. They needed to find a way to have Minhyun shift without the Feral reacting to his scent and spooking him, but how?

Jinyoung bit his lip, considering this for a moment before suddenly jolting up. “Youngjae,” he said.

“Youngjae? The Sacred Prince? What about him?”

“His voice has a calming effect, even to the Feral. It might be hard to hear all the way down here, but-”

“His voice? No, when I was first locked up in here, I heard him just fine. I think his own holding cell is right above us, since it used to be that I could hear him screaming at his captors about how he was going to tear out their intestines and cook a delicious stew from it. Personally, I didn’t find it soothing at all.”

“But you can’t hear him anymore?”

"Not for the longest time.” He pointed up to the ceiling. “There was ductwork above for the furnace used in the upper floors during the winter. But they came in and shut off the opening, and I haven’t heard from Youngjae since.”

Jinyoung glanced up. It wasn’t that far to reach, if one of them stood on the other’s shoulders. “If we open that, maybe we could let Youngjae’s voice while he’s singing through. The Feral can calm down enough to allow you to shift and put the antidote into the water tank.”

“It’s a good an answer as any.” He paused. “But then, what comes after that?”

“I’m not sure,” Jinyoung admitted. “I think it’s likely a guard will come down for me before long. They’ll want to bring me up when they’ve captured Mark, and if I know anything about him, it’s that he’ll barge in looking for me the second he thinks something’s wrong.”

“In that case, I’d best still be in the cell when they come get you or there’ll be trouble. The guards are all armed, but I have no weapons here to speak of. Do you think you’ll be safe up there? Hyun’s the most twisted bastard I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting.”

“I…I really can’t be sure. I know he means to turn Mark Feral, so I’ll have the antidote on hand…but Mark in his lion form is massive. I may not stand a chance. If not…if the worst happens…I may need you to finish what I started. I’ll leave you the rest of the vials of antidote that I don’t need. The other beasts will help you when they recover from the antidote, and King Jaebum and some of his soldiers are outside. There are allies here. If I don’t make it, I’m counting on you.”

“Resigning yourself to death is a mistake,” Minhyun said a bit sharply. “You will make it out. Don’t give yourself the choice to fail.”

“Life doesn’t work that way.”

“The will of people is life and how it works. Just think how many things your thoughts and determination have already changed, not just for you, but for the world at large. Don’t think you’re powerless when it comes to shaping things, because Hyun certainly won’t share your thoughts of powerlessness, and he’ll win over you without even needing to try. Don’t you dare give him that satisfaction. I haven’t survived these past two years just to have him win in the end.”

Jinyoung swallowed and nodded. Minhyun was right. He couldn’t go into this with thoughts of a potential outcome being his death at Mark’s hands. That outcome would kill Mark just as surely as it would kill Jinyoung himself, and Jinyoung under no circumstances wished that kind of pain on the one he loved if he could avoid giving it to him.

“Let’s take care of that duct,” he said out loud. Minhyun nodded. His own shoulders were far too frail to stand upon after his extended incarceration, so Jinyoung offered his to Minhyun. His Majesty stepped onto him, unnervingly light even with his entire weight pressing down on Jinyoung, and Jinyoung hoisted him up to the closed slats on the ductwork. Minhyun’s hands sought out the lever and gave it a firm pull. It had gotten stiff from lack of use, but eventually it creaked open.

Jinyoung had had little hope that Youngjae would be in the middle of one of his songs right when they opened the slats, but perhaps a bit of luck was at last on his side since the Sacred Prince's voice filled the dungeon as soon as the lever had been pushed. He didn’t seem to be singing a particular song like he had the time Jinyoung had first seen him, but instead idly running through his scales and simply exercising his voice. But even just scales were apparently enough to have an effect on the Feral. The leopard across from them stopped its pacing and settled on the ground in a restful recline, tail swishing in time with Youngjae’s voice.

Minhyun hopped down from Jinyoung’s shoulders. “I’ll try my shift now,” he said. He closed his eyes, and after a moment of concentration, he transformed into the small desert fox once more. The leopard looked at him curiously, but didn’t growl or snap. Upon realizing this, Minhyun quickly bounded through the cage bars, and when he was safely through, he shifted back, his face flushed with both lack of breath and triumph.

Jinyoung passed a few vials of the antidote to him through the cage bars. “Quickly,” he said. “I can’t say how long the guards will let Youngjae get away with singing.”

Minhyun took the vials and ran for the water tank, climbing the small step stool and pushing open the lid. He dumped the liquid inside, shut the lid, then reached down and turned the knob on the tank to dispense it out. The pipes in the room rattled a little, and moments later trickles of liquid shot out and into the water bowls of the Feral.

Minhyun hurried back. Just as he shifted and made it back in the cage, they could hear the guards snapping at Youngjae to stop singing, followed by another very vocal outburst from Youngjae (“YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ME? I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOU! LET ME OUT OF HERE AND I’LL TEAR YOUR SKIN FROM YOUR BONES AND USE THEM TO BUILD A CHAMBER POT TO PISS IN!”)

The Feral immediately leapt back to their feet now that Youngjae’s soothing performance had ended. The leopard seemed to notice its water bowl now had something in it and began lapping the water tinged dark from the antidote with its tongue. The other beasts in the room followed suit.

It took longer than with the syringe, but after an extended period, they one by one fell to the ground in spasms, beginning with the leopard. Jinyoung exhaled in relief, slumping against the wall in his cell. At least one blow had been dealt against Hyun and the High Laboratorium. The next time they tried to unleash the Feral in the training room, they’d have the nasty surprise of facing scores of beasts entirely in their right minds and burning with revenge awaiting them. Hopefully one of them could take out Hyun if Jinyoung couldn’t, and the threat of his disturbing research and ideals would die with him.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of the dungeon door dragging open, letting in a bit of light. A guard stepped through, his eyes glancing around the room cautiously. He looked relieved when he realized that the Feral, by all appearances, seemed to be asleep, and quickly crossed the room to their cell.

“Your favorite subhuman is here, beastie lover,” the guard said, grinning at Jinyoung with blackened teeth. “He managed to kill a handful of good men when he stormed the place, but we’ve got him all drugged up and out of his mind. The poor thing seems a bit hungry, though, so the boss asked us to get him some food. I’m sure he’ll find you particularly tasty since he seems to like you so much, won’t he?”

The guard’s laughter echoed through the dungeons, and nothing, not even Youngjae’s magic-laced voice, could have soothed Jinyoung’s soul in that moment.