by Bec McMaster
“Do I look like I suck the magic out of other dreki?” Entire oceans of disdain echoed in Árdís’s voice.
“Someone did.”
Solveig slammed a hand over Marduk’s mouth before he could move. She reached out for him on a psychic thread. “They’ve got a small army in these halls. The two of us can’t stop this.”
“You would dare break guest-right?” Árdís demanded.
“You will be confined to your rooms until the other members of your party can be found,” Draco replied.
“While we’re free,” Solveig continued, “we have a chance to rescue them. Think, Marduk.”
It took him long seconds to concede a nod, and he was trembling before he’d finished.
“Unhand me!” Árdís yelled.
“Get your hands off my wife!” Haakon growled.
Solveig grabbed Marduk’s hand and tugged him into the shadows. There was nothing they could do here, but as the sound of a woman screaming in rage echoed through the hallways, he flinched.
“They won’t hurt her. This way,” she soothed. “I promise we’ll rescue them. We just have to avoid Draco and his warriors.”
“And Andri.”
The Zilittu castle had been built centuries ago, and the servants’ quarters were a rabbit warren.
They remained undiscovered for over an hour, until a hooded finger appeared out of the shadows, a spark of green glowing in her hands.
Marduk stalled Solveig’s hand as she reached for her knife.
This was a Chaos-wielder, and the chances of actually managing to unsheathe said knife were slim.
They’d have to talk themselves out of this now.
It was over.
Andromeda’s face appeared within the hood. She lifted a finger to her lips, then whispered, “Come with me.”
Marduk shot Solveig a look.
But they followed.
“What’s going on?” Solveig whispered. “Where are you taking us?”
Andromeda shushed them again, paused by a corner, peered around it, and then gestured them forward after her. “Hurry.”
She urged them toward a door even as metal-clad feet tramped elsewhere in the castle.
Once through it, Marduk came to a halt as he recognized the opulence. Gold and silk and an enormous four-posted bed….
He spun around, incredulous. “You bought us to your chambers?”
Draco would be furious enough as it was without scenting a rival male in his mate’s bedchambers.
Andromeda leaned against the doors. “Draco will not enter here. You may speak freely.”
“Why?” Solveig demanded. “Why would you hide us?”
“I could smell you both in Klara’s hut.” Andromeda glanced at Solveig. “You washed her dishes. It did not appear to be the actions of a woman who intended her harm. And you have always been respectful toward me, even when others have not been. What happened?”
He swiftly explained. “What does Draco intend to do with Árdís and the others?”
Andromeda clicked her fingers, and every candle in her room lit up. “He has them locked away in their chambers, with guards on all the doors. I don’t know what his intentions are. He’s trying to find the pair of you, the drekling, your younger cousin, and Ishtar.”
Marduk let out a breath. “Ishtar escaped?”
“Draco’s warriors tried to grab her and she disappeared into thin air. He’s convinced she popped into being in Klara’s hut and murdered her.”
“It’s not her. I will stake my life on it. My sister can’t hurt another dreki. She simply doesn’t have it within her.”
“I share a similar opinion.” Andromeda tapped her fingers on the edge of the table. “Whatever is going on leaves my sisters of Chaos vulnerable. They train them from birth to defend themselves if necessary. Klara should have been able to protect herself.” She looked troubled. “Whoever is doing this is born of Chaos.”
Solveig produced the cloak. “We found this. In the hut.” She took a deep breath. “Tell her the rest of it, Marduk.”
By the time he’d finished, Andromeda’s eyebrows formed an M. “You think your mother’s wraith is taking her vengeance out upon your family?”
“Klara seemed to think it was possible—that’s why we went to see her.”
“Andri escaped with the drekling girl. They were with Ishtar in the gardens.”
Trying to get to the tunnels….
Marduk pushed to his feet, the heat draining out of his face. “We have to find Ishtar. I can’t sense her right now, which means she’s still travelling via portal. She may return to those she knows. If Andri is housing my mother’s wraith, then Ishtar is vulnerable. She’ll trust Andri. She’ll let him get close to her. And if my mother consumes her magic, then she’ll be unstoppable.”
Andromeda sighed. “To hide the two of you in my rooms is one thing. To countermand Draco’s guards is another. I need to speak to the king.”
“No. Please.”
“Draco’s not….” Andromeda winced. “He has… moments of honor. When I came to this court, I had heard rumors of the Zilittu, but he is not what the rumors are made of. He is trying to wrest his court into some semblance of a noble one.”
“Considering what Draco has done to his own twin, I have doubts,” Solveig pointed out.
Andromeda gave her an odd look. “What he’s done to Scorpius?”
What was Solveig doing?
Now was not the time to test the fracture between the king and queen of Zilittu.
“Wait.” Andromeda pushed forward, her shoulders straightening. “You know something. What’s going on? What has Draco done?” Her voice softened. “Is Scorpius still alive?”
“He’s alive,” Marduk replied. “Technically.”
Solveig sighed. “Ask your king about the dagger.”
“What. Dagger?”
“Your mate will have that answer,” Solveig said firmly. “It is not our place to provide it.”
Andromeda gathered her cloak and swung it over her shoulders with an angry flourish. “I will. If you’d care to join me, Your Highness, the two of us may be able to talk some sense into him. He respects you and your father. And I think he’s going to listen to me. I have a few things to say to him.”
“What about Marduk?” Solveig asked.
“Come,” Andromeda said to Marduk. “We’ll hide you in the tunnels. Because while Draco may grant Solveig time to plead your case, he will not take kindly to another male’s presence. Not right now.”
19
A sound whispered through the tunnel.
Marduk froze.
It could be a mouse. He couldn’t smell such a creature, but it had been a small noise. A mere wisp of fabric shifting.
There. There it came again. And this time he could distinctly hear someone placing their weight on a floorboard.
Easing the knife from his sleeve, he waited with his heart racing….
Whoever it was, they were moving directly toward the armoire where the hidden tunnel was located.
A latch clicked. The second the armoire door opened, he lunged forward, grabbing a handful of silk and shoving the offender back against the wall, with his knife at their throat.
“Marduk!” Big green eyes blinked at him in shock. And then Elin breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against him. “Thank goodness! I was so certain I was going to be captured by a big, scary Zilittu warrior, and here you are to save me. I was looking for you!”
He tried to extricate her arms from around his neck.
He’d been hoping someone else from their party was free, but he’d hoped for someone a little less… clingy.
“Elin.” Marduk shot a savage glare around the room to ensure they were alone, then tugged her into the armoire, hauling the door shut behind them. His voice dropped. “What are you doing here? How did you escape? Where is Andri?”
The hidden chamber was still lit by the glowing emerald Andromeda had given him.
“I was never
captured,” she whispered, glancing around. “I thought everyone else was gathered in Árdís’s chambers. I was trying to see if I could get them out. Malin’s in there. You don’t think they’ll hurt her, do you?”
She was almost trembling with fear.
Marduk rested his hands on her shoulders. “Malin is fine. Solveig’s working with Andromeda to see if she can convince Draco to release them.”
“Don’t trust him.” Elin grabbed his sleeve, wearing her heart in her eyes. “He’s planned all of this! He’s trying to get rid of his queen, and if he plants the seeds then he can have her murdered and lay the blame on our court, with none of her family the wiser.”
Marduk drew back. “Draco’s planned this?” He frowned. “That’s ridiculous. His wife and sister are—”
“Chaos-wielders,” Elin snapped. “Do you think it a mere happenstance? He and his sister are behind everything. They wish to rid themselves of Andromeda. You know it’s a mating forged by political means. Neither of them wish to remain handfasted after the terms of their mating contract is over, but to strike the mating asunder means Draco must return what her family gave him as dowry, and he wants to keep the key.”
“Where did you hear all of this?”
Elin gave a little shrug and a bitter smile. “I’m but a drekling, my prince. I’m invisible to the eyes of the dreki, in this court and any other court. Nobody ever looks at drekling for long enough. You hear all sorts of things.”
He scrubbed at his mouth. He’d sent Solveig there in good faith, certain that her father’s name would grant her safety.
What if he’d made a mistake?
She’s fine. If there’s anyone who can handle themselves in this treacherous court, it’s Solveig.
Still…. “It can’t be Draco. Why would he let his people die?”
“I don’t know.” She bit her lip. “But doesn’t it seem too much of a coincidence?”
Maybe it wasn’t his mother, back from the dead.
Maybe it was nothing more than some unfathomable plot dredged within the Zilittu king’s mind. Draco had overthrown his father, uncle, and twin brother, after all.
Or maybe he wanted to think that.
It would be far too easy to let his emotions toward the dreki king sway him, but as he’d claimed to Solveig, he wasn’t ruled by his urges to kill.
And that didn’t explain the death of Marthe.
Or the shattered emerald necklace.
“Solveig can handle herself,” he said, more to himself than to Elin. “We’ll wait and see what Draco has to say to her. Have you seen Andri?”
“If we wait, then it’s too late,” Elin said, her eyes darting over her shoulder as if she was afraid to say anything too loudly. “Andri knows where the key is. He’s gone to secure it. I think that was what he wanted to tell you. He sent me back to tell Malin and Árdís, and then this all happened.”
“The key?” That changed everything.
“Please, Marduk.” She bit her lip. “We have to help him. If we have the key, then we can rescue the others.”
Fuck. If Andri truly was housing his mother’s spirit, and she got her hands on the key…. “Where is it?”
“It’s not in the castle. Ishtar said she could feel it pulling her toward the north. There’s a set of caves nearby. They call it the Abyss, and it’s where their Chaos-wielders go to worship the goddess and their magic. It’s a sacred place, forbidden to most dreki. Nobody goes there.”
To rescue the key—a creation that could win the war against the alfar before it was begun? Or his sister and their company?
Damn it. He could handle Andri by himself. His magic was far superior to his cousin’s.
He needed to get his mother’s wraith as far away from the others as he could, before she could hurt anyone else. Amadea wouldn’t know about his connection to Ishtar. And she’d think Solveig would leave him there to die.
“Solveig will find me,” he murmured as he picked up the glowing emerald. “Where is this Abyss?”
20
One of Draco’s warriors entered the throne room, passing a slip of paper to the king.
Draco unfurled it, read it, and then his gaze locked on Solveig like a hound catching scent of the fox.
“What is it?” she demanded.
“So much for your belief in the Zini court’s honesty.” He crushed the letter in his hand and scowled at Solveig. “I start to see now. Did he think you would distract me?”
“Distract you?” Solveig’s glance stole toward the letter, as Andromeda took it from him. “What’s going on? Did something happen? Is it… Marduk?”
Please tell me he did not decide to go rescue a princess….
“Yes, Marduk. My beloved distant cousin.” He tossed the letter toward Andromeda. “He was just seen vanishing into the mountains, heading directly toward the Abyss.”
The color drained from Andromeda’s face.
“Maybe it wasn’t the sister we should have been looking for?” Draco growled. “Or maybe he’s going to find her. You said they were linked after all, and he can communicate with her.”
“What’s going on?” Solveig repeated.
“Seize her.” The king flicked his fingers toward his warriors.
The pair of them took two steps toward Solveig, and she summoned the merest stir of Air. “If you lay one hand on me, I will stop the breath in your lungs. You promised us guest-right.”
“Guest-right was obliterated the second someone in your party started killing my people,” the king snapped.
“You have no proof it was one of ours.” She loaded every inch of her voice with frost. “Are you willing to cost yourself your honor for such mere hints of conspiracy?”
“Mere hints?” Draco snarled. “Your party resisted being confined; you and your mate hid; and the incredibly powerful Chaos-wielder in your party simply vanished—”
“You tried to confine our party without cause, including a man whose mate is with child. If you expected Haakon to go quietly, then you’re a fool.”
“It wasn’t the dragon-slayer who resisted, but the princess herself.”
“Then ask yourself this…. If Árdís was involved, why did she not attack your guards with her magic? She could have removed them from existence.”
“She—"
“That’s enough.” Andromeda slowly lowered the missive and waved the guards away from Solveig. “Leave us.”
Both guards looked hesitantly toward their king.
“Draco.” Andromeda gave him an imperious look. “I am more than capable of handling Princess Solveig should she prove difficult. And I want to speak to you. Privately.”
“As the queen wishes.” He gave a curt nod to the guards, but every inch of him vibrated as if the dreki within was lashing its tail. The second the door shut behind his guards, his voice turned dangerously silky. “And what does my queen wish to discuss?”
“I think Solveig’s right,” Andromeda replied. “Queen Amadea was a powerful force of Chaos. And Klara herself confirmed there is a spell with which a dreki soul can be bound into an object. If the queen is back—”
“If.” Draco’s eyes half-lidded. “I find there are a great many secrets seemingly floating around. A queen’s wraith. My people being murdered with magic. And the Zini clan, here on the pretext of introducing two of their unlearned Chaos-wielders to mine. This trouble only started when the Zini party arrived.” His hard gaze locked on Solveig. “And let’s not pretend you haven’t been seen in areas of the castle which lend themselves to suspicion. You’re looking for something.”
“You doubt me?” Solveig asked as she unrelentingly threw him to the wolves. “Or maybe you’re the one with secrets? We speak of dreki souls being bound into objects, but maybe you would know the truth of that best?”
“What does she mean?” Andromeda asked.
Draco cut Solveig a hard glare.
“Does this have anything to do with Scorpius?” Andromeda advanced upon him.
&nb
sp; Draco’s head turned toward his queen sharply.
His nostrils flared, and anger turned his eyes to gray ice. But his attention was still focused upon Andromeda.
Or her reaction, rather.
“Andromeda—"
“What have you done to Scorpius?” The queen’s voice thickened. “You said he was exiled. You said the matter was ended.”
“The matter is ended,” he snapped.
“And you claimed your brother is in the north with an army.” Andromeda’s breath hitched. “Did you lie to me?”
“I never lied,” he countered. “One of my scouts reported that my brother sought an army, and there was… suspicion he would claim the northern keep.”
Andromeda’s fists clenched. “I don’t know what is going on here, but she does. And you do. And I cannot help feeling as though some secret is being kept from me. I will have the truth.”
“Perhaps the pair of you can discuss it later,” Solveig broke in. “In private. Why would Marduk be going to the Abyss?”
Both king and queen glared at each other, but then Andromeda conceded with a nod. “You’re right. Marduk’s cause is more urgent. And Draco will tell me the truth when we have a chance.”
The king barely moved, both his hands clamped over the arms of his throne. “Later, then. In private. As to Marduk, who knows why he’s going to the Abyss? Perhaps he’s meeting his sister there.” He focused all his attention on Solveig. “Though I think you would have more knowledge of what he seeks.”
Stalemate.
“I doubt Ishtar has fled there,” the queen replied. “It’s an eerie place, and while I know you can’t feel the shadows hovering over it, every Chaos-wielder in the clan avoids it unless absolutely necessary to attend. It sets my teeth on edge even from here.”
“What is this Abyss?” Solveig’s heart skipped a beat.
She’d told him to stay where he was.
Why would he leave?
Why now?
Something had to have happened.
“It’s a prison,” Andromeda replied, “designed to hold dreki and Chaos-wielders alike.”
