Broken Dove

by Kristen Ashley

  “Lo, this is your decision,” Frey stated and Apollo looked to him.

  “Let her enter.”

  He felt Maddie relax in front of him.

  Frey nodded and turned instantly to the door he was blocking, opened it and moved inside.

  He left it open and Maddie began to move there but he caught her arm and turned her to him.

  “Apollo—” she started impatiently.

  “One moment, my dove,” he interrupted her gently. “Before you enter that room, you must be warned. You have seen Laures at work but you were in no state to let it register and he had just gotten started. Oleg, Frey’s man, is also skilled at extracting information. He does not relish using these skills, but he has them. What you may see in that room may be difficult to witness no matter the…” he paused, “carnage you’ve already beheld.”

  Boots were sounding down the hall but he didn’t look, nor did Madeleine.

  Instead, she assured him, “I’ll be fine, honey.”

  “If you wish to leave. You go. But you do not go alone. I or one of my men goes with you and takes you immediately to the witch.”

  “They have a witch in there,” she told him. “I saw her too.”

  “Regardless, do as I say. Understood?”

  She held his eyes as he felt others join them and he only looked to them when she nodded.

  Alek and Hans had arrived.

  “They have them?” Hans asked.

  “All of them,” Apollo answered. “Save Franka. She’s staying at a cottage not far from here. They’re collecting her. ”

  Hans jerked up his chin.

  “The children?” Apollo asked.

  “Quincy and Balthazar play guard. Calder has sent a witch as well.”

  This time, Apollo jerked up his chin.

  Hans looked to Maddie. “Word on Loretta?”

  “She’s fine, Hans,” Maddie said quietly. “Stitched up and now resting.”

  With mild surprise, Apollo watched a cloud shadow Hans’s face before he moved into the room. And this cloud formed even as the news he received about Loretta was good.

  Alek had already gone in.

  Apollo took Maddie’s hand and led her in.

  When they entered, he saw Eirik and Calder nose-to-nose. He also saw Valeria standing to the side, watching in a detached way, arms crossed on her chest. And last he saw Kristian squatting in a corner, head down between his knees, the fingers of both hands shoved in his hair.

  Kristian. Clearly the weak link.

  Apollo cast his eyes further through the room and saw Frey and his own men standing about, as well as Garik. Finnie was standing in the shadows resting one shoulder against the stone. Her booted feet were crossed at the ankle, her arms crossed on her chest, eyes to Calder and Eirik.

  When they entered, she looked over her shoulder, caught Apollo’s eyes, then hers moved to Madeleine, down to their clasped hands and back to Apollo whereupon she winked.

  He again felt his lips twitch.

  Then his attention was taken by the action.

  “Three witches I paid a fortune to watch over my wife, my unborn child, and my home and you connive to tear that protection away?” Calder clipped into his father’s face.

  Clearly, the interrogation had advanced during his absence. No one knew about the conspiracy.

  Except the conspirators.

  Apollo knew, however, that Frey had warned his brother and Calder had taken precautions. This was the reason why Apollo felt safe bringing the children and Maddie to Brunksar.

  In his fury, Calder had obviously informed the occupants of this room who previously might not have known.

  Unless they did.

  Something they would soon find out.

  “I’ve done no such thing,” Eirik returned.

  Calder’s eyes sliced to the witch who was standing shoulders against the stone wall, eyes to the action.

  “Indeed, as I reported, the enchantments we cast were broken,” she stated.

  Calder looked back at his father.

  “Explain that,” he demanded.

  “I’d hardly connive to put my own son and unborn grandson in jeopardy,” Eirik returned.

  “Just to say, she carries a daughter,” the witch put in.

  “Your further input is hardly welcome,” Eirik bit out.

  Maddie leaned into him and whispered in his ear, “Cool that Melba and Calder are expecting a daughter.”

  Apollo shook his head while tipping his chin to look down at her and lifted a hand to press his finger to her lips.

  She rolled her eyes.

  He felt his mouth quirk as he looked back to Eirik and Calder, dropped his finger from her lips but lifted the hand he was holding and folded it into his chest, drawing her nearer.

  “You fail to grasp your position here, father,” Frey noted and Eirik looked to him.

  “I fail to do so because it’s beyond unseemly to escort the Head of a House to his own dungeons,” Eirik shot back.

  Calder’s back shot straight and his face turned cold.

  “I will repeat, you fail to grasp your position here, father, and it would appear you do it in more ways than one for you have not been Head of this House for some time,” Frey returned.

  “Can I ask at this point,” Valeria cut in in a bored voice, “if someone will bring me a chair? I’ve been dancing all night and my feet are killing me.”

  “Holy cow.” Apollo heard Maddie breathe in disgusted shock and he squeezed her hand but did not take his eyes from the players on the stage.

  “It would seem, mother, that you too are uncomprehending of what is transpiring in this room,” Frey noted.

  “We have been informed of what occurred this night and really.” She shook her head in mild rebuke. “My dear son, you know my husband, nor I, would conspire with malevolent forces to bring down the powers that be on two continents. Not with a son who is The Frey and The Drakkar. A son married to the Winter Princess and a grandson who inherits the crown to this realm, a realm that is vast in size now that it’s rightfully reunified.”

  “Too true,” Frey allowed and his eyes dropped to his mother’s throat. “Though I must take this moment to compliment you on the ice diamond you wear.”

  Apollo watched Valeria pale as her hand started to snake up to her throat but she wisely thought better of bringing more attention to the stone at her throat, an extortionately costly one.

  “But I must admit confusion,” Frey continued. “Seeing as in his last message to me, Calder explained he had to curtail your allowance, along with father’s, as your spending was unduly extravagant and it was threatening the livelihood of every member of the House of Drakkar. Can I take it that jewel is an indication of what my brother was referring to?”

  Valeria lifted her chin but her face briefly exposed a crack in her bravado that Apollo knew Frey would detect. “Your father purchased this stone for me before Calder assumed Head of the House.”

  “How odd, considering the condition of the Drakkar House’s finances were in disarray prior to Calder assuming Head,” Frey shot back instantly. “So, although Calder’s revitalization of Drakkar family funds has been dramatic, my father would have had less resources when he was Head to provide you such a gift. Or perhaps gifts such as these were the reason the Drakkar assets were in such disarray.”

  Eirik had turned to his wife and Apollo saw his eyes narrowed on the diamond at her throat.

  “That is not a gift from me,” he told her. Then he looked to Frey and repeated, “That is not a gift from me. She got that elsewhere. She’s addicted to her fripperies and finds her ways to get them. But it is most definitely not a gift from me.”

  Frey didn’t take his eyes from his mother. “Perhaps you’d like some time to formulate another lie. You’ve five seconds.” Only then did he move his eyes to his father. “Even as she stands there, lying when treason is in question, it warms the heart how swiftly my sire so staunchly champions the woman who birthed me.”
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br />   “As you say, treason is in question,” Eirik returned, puffing out his chest.

  “Yes, indeed,” Frey replied. “And on behalf of my wife, this realm’s princess, I thank you for your swift incrimination, no matter if only implied, of your own wife for our country of ice.”

  Eirik’s face suffused red just as there was movement at the door and everyone turned to see Draven and Thad bringing Franka in.

  Her eyes instantly scanned the room and stopped on Frey.

  “We must stop meeting like this,” she remarked cattily, a derisive smile on her face.

  “Yes, Franka,” Frey said low, his voice ominous. “We must.”

  It was almost imperceptible but Apollo caught it.

  She swallowed.

  Missing this, Eirik demanded of his wife, “Who bought you that jewel?”

  “It was you,” she returned, her voice cold, her eyes level, but she couldn’t completely mask her fear.

  “I believe I would remember buying you an ice diamond of that size,” Eirik returned.

  “I’ve been dragged from my bed, and the company in it, to witness a domestic?” Franka asked, performing the remarkable feat of sounding both astonished and bored.

  “I advise you keep quiet,” Calder clipped at her.

  “If I do, then how would you all know that Valeria has long since tired of her husband’s wandering eye, and cock, and for years has been bedding Malcolm Turnish, a wealthy merchant who could afford dozens of those diamonds, and Korwahkian emeralds, sapphires, rubies.” Franka threw out a hand. “I could go on. He would actually wed her, if she would sever ties with Eirik and allow it. However, it’s unlikely some of her acquaintances would invite her to their gales if she was on the arm of just a merchant. And we all know Valeria likes to dance.”

  She looked to Valeria and continued, what seemed genuinely.

  “I’m sorry to tell tales of your wifely betrayal, darling, but I actually like Malcolm, regardless of his profession, and have desired for some time for you to be kept in the style to which you should be accustomed without needing to beg. Not to mention the not insignificant bonus of having a man known to be much endowed in a variety of ways.”

  Franka barely finished her words before Eirik roared, “You betray me?” and he made a move toward his wife.

  He didn’t get very far. Garik moved in and detained him.

  Eirik struggled infuriatedly, though futilely, against his son’s hold while Valeria studied her husband like he was a specimen tacked to a board.

  “I have not entertained you in my bed in fifteen years, husband. And I only took you before to get my sons and, after I had them, as duty to our marriage,” she explained casually, as if she was informing him of the menu she’d chosen for the week.

  Suddenly Eirik stood still and hissed, “You never had an interest in play.”

  “Oh no, darling,” Valeria whispered. “I never had an interest in playing with a man who doesn’t know how to use his cock. One who does is very different.”

  Franka emitted a purring chuckle.

  Garik looked to his eldest brother. “Just to say, at this point, I don’t know whether to vomit or cut off my ears.”

  Apollo was done as well.

  And he communicated this by saying quietly, “Frey.”

  Frey looked to Apollo and nodded.

  Then he moved his gaze from one brother to the next. “You might wish to leave.”

  “I’ll be staying,” Calder announced immediately.

  “And I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Garik murmured, pushing his father off and moving toward Finnie. He settled in, leaning his shoulders close to where she was still lounging.

  Frey looked to Apollo. “Oleg or Laures?”

  “Let’s see what Laures can get,” Apollo answered.

  He felt Maddie’s hand convulse in his and he reconsidered his decision to allow her to enter, especially as she was close to Laures and he did not like to think of her perception of him changing as he went about the unpleasant necessities of his work.

  Before he could make his decision, Laures moved forward.

  Valeria and Eirik came alert and started moving back as Franka watched Laures move toward her brethren. She did this with a face showing only mild interest.

  “Are you…do you mean to…to…torture us?” Eirik asked, his eyes glued to Laures.

  “No,” Frey answered then finished, “If you don’t make that necessary.”

  Eirik’s eyes shot to his son. “I’ve told you, I know nothing of a conspiracy!”

  “Can I go last?” Franka put in at this point. “I’d like to watch.”

  Frey looked to her but Apollo had been finished with her games earlier that evening.

  He was most assuredly done with her now.

  To communicate this, he told her, “The last conspirator I faced who proved of no use got his throat slit.”

  Her eyes slid to him and she raised her brows. “You’d take a blade to a woman?”

  “Maybe not,” Maddie butted in. “But I would.”

  Apollo stifled a sigh, looked down at her and murmured a warning, “Madeleine.”

  She turned her eyes up to him. “She’s not very nice, Lo. The world would hardly be a poorer place without her in it.”

  “And you?” Franka’s voice came at them, dripping with scorn. “The woman who uses a dead wife’s charms to enchant her heartbroken husband so she can warm his bed in order to wear his jewels and earn her place on his arm? Is the world richer for your presence?”

  Momentarily frozen with fury, Apollo went completely still even as he felt the air in the room turn thick at the same he time he watched Maddie’s face pale and she turned woodenly to Franka.

  “Franka,” Valeria surprisingly whispered, her voice cautious. “Take heed, dear.”

  Apollo forced himself to turn, drawing Maddie’s stiff frame closer as he did so and caught Franka looking to Valeria.

  “I’ll hardly be insulted in the seat of my own family by a whore who doesn’t even have the courage to claim herself as such.”

  And that was when Apollo let Maddie go.

  A second later, he had Franka pressed to the stone with his hand at her throat squeezing, his face dipped to hers.

  “She battled hewcrows this evening,” he growled.

  Franka tore at his wrist with her nails, her mouth opening and closing, fighting for air.

  “And”—he got nose-to-nose with her—“she has my arm.”

  He felt her throat convulse under his hand as strangled noises escaped her mouth.

  But Apollo had no patience for further delay.

  So he finally got to the point.

  “And last, a Keer parcel was found in your brother’s rooms,” Apollo went on and her wide eyes widened further. “You’ve had your play for the evening. You…are…done,” he growled. “Now, we move to my games. Tell me, is it you ensnaring your brother in your schemes or are they his alone?”

  “Honey, what’s a Keer parcel?” Apollo heard Finnie ask her husband.

  “Wee one, not now,” Frey replied and this reply came close to Apollo’s back.

  “There was no Keer parcel in my room.”

  That came from Kristian and Apollo looked to his left to see Kristian had come out of his crouch and was staring with wild eyes at Apollo and his sister.

  The weak link bends.

  “Why do you think you’re here?” Frey asked his cousin.

  “I had no Keer parcel,” Kristian whispered, his eyes quickly moving from person to person through the room. “I don’t even know a witch who could conjure a Keer parcel.”

  “Kristian, it was found in your rooms this eve when the floorboards were torn up after Madeleine was taken,” Frey informed him.

  Kristian frantically shook his head. “I have no knowledge of it.”

  “Intelligence came to me that a Drakkar was aligned with a conspiracy involving Minerva, her collaborators, and Baldur,” Apollo informed him and Kristian�
�s panicked eyes grew wider.

  “I have no involvement with Baldur!” he cried.

  “Ah…pah…lo,” Franka forced out and Apollo looked to her to see her beautiful face mottled, her eyes bugged out and her mouth still opening and closing as she tried to get air.

  So he moved his face again close to hers and whispered, “This night for you is not over. But, if you leave this room intact and you ever again utter a word to or about my Madeleine, or even look her way should you again be in her presence, I will squeeze the life out of your throat, Franka. Do not mistake me. It will be done.”

  She nodded as best she could with his hand at her throat and he released her.

  Instantly, she jerked to the side, folded double and lifted her hands to her throat, gasping in air.

  Apollo dismissed her and looked to Frey.

  “My Madeleine was under attack tonight, Frey. I grow weary of this banter. We remove the women and let Laures work.”

  “Apollo,” Maddie called in protest at the same time Finnie said, “I don’t think so, Frey.”

  Frey turned to his woman.

  Apollo turned to his.

  “You’re a distraction, dove,” he said quietly. She opened her mouth but he saw her face was pale, her eyes haunted. He knew she would not spend one more minute in that room and he didn’t care if he had to carry her out himself.

  But first he tried, “Please.”

  She shut her mouth.

  Thank the gods, that worked.

  “Take the women to the witch,” Frey ordered and Thad moved toward Finnie.

  Apollo looked to Draven, jerked his chin Madeleine’s way and Draven moved toward her.

  He watched them leave the room, noting Maddie left without looking back. He then watched the door close behind them. Only when the door closed did he turned his eyes to Laures.

  “Start with Franka,” he ordered.

  “What? No!” she cried, all her audacity lost, her eyes were huge and staring at Laures.

  Laures looked to Apollo and Apollo knew why.

  He drew a line at woman.

  Apollo cut his eyes to Frey.

  Frey nodded then looked to Oleg.

  Oleg moved forward.

  “I know nothing of conspiracy!” Franka exclaimed.

  “Annar, get me a hook,” Oleg said.

  Franka’s face lost all color.