Hearts of Shadow (Deadglass #2)

by Kira Brady

  “Your goddess, your affair,” said a hawkish young Thunderbird.

  “After all your brother did to our people? Never!” shouted another man.

  A woman in a paisley gown spat on his boots.

  Lord Kai stepped forward. “I’ve fought Kingu. He is more wraith than monster, but he’s still formidable. My brother Jace would have said this is a cause worth fighting for. The demigod is an abomination on this side of the Gate, and he’s a danger to us all—”

  “But the soul-suckers killed your brother!” someone shouted.

  Kai held up his hands. “And so you know I wouldn’t easily side with our enemies. But Jace believed in sacred honor before personal glory. For him alone we should join this effort, except we can’t trust this man.” He pointed to Leif.

  How would Zetian spin this? Leif wondered. “We’ve had our differences in the past—”

  “I wore a bracelet around my wrist to remind me of my brother’s sacrifice,” Kai said. “But your mercenaries stole it last time we ‘teamed up.’ Where is the Tablet of Destiny now?”

  Leif met Kai’s eyes. “It’s the only tool to defeat Kingu.”

  “And so you stole it from me? Now you ask us to trust you? To join you in this battle now that you’ve taken the best weapon?”

  The Kivati started yelling. A few booed. The few voices raised in favor of joining the Drekar-human pact were quickly drowned out.

  Leif looked to Corbette to step in, but the Raven Lord’s violet eyes cut through him as if he weren’t even there. His advisor, the Thunderbird general William Raiden, stood guard at his side. His hand twitched, ready to call a thunderbolt from the air and destroy Leif.

  Corbette let the people’s objections fill the room; then he raised one hand. Immediately, there was silence. “You say your brother’s sins are not your own. You say we can expect honest dealings from you. Very well. Tell me, Regent, in the six months since the Unraveling, what have you done to hunt down Kingu?

  “I didn’t—”

  “And in that time, what steps did you take to locate and secure the object of power that was used to orchestrate the destruction of civilization?”

  “I didn’t know for certain—”

  “You knew Kingu could use the Tablet of Destiny to wage the same war across the world that he did the first time, and you knew both Kingu and the Tablet were somewhere near Seattle. Yet, you sat back and did nothing.”

  Leif closed his mouth. The room narrowed to blues and greens. How could he explain that he had been trying to right Sven’s wrongs by not becoming the ruler everyone feared? He knew, now, that he didn’t have to lead like his father and brother, but it seemed his acceptance of the crown had come too late. Because of his inaction, he had sins to repent for. “I’m sorry. I should have hunted Kingu, but he didn’t seem the immediate threat. There were no signs of him, but there were plenty of starving, shivering people who needed direct assistance. I directed my efforts there. Give me another chance. We can be allies. We must if we are to defeat Kingu.”

  Corbette stood. “Your promises are as insubstantial as starlight. While you were hiding away, we, the Kivati, found the object Kingu desired beneath the treacherous rubble of the Unraveling. We risked the lives of good warriors to draw Kingu away from the civilians in the city by sending the Tablet out on wild-goose chases. We helped direct Marks’s and Jameson’s efforts where they would be least detrimental to the safety of the entire city. And what have you done? Shown up in council only to interfere with our negotiations. Ignored the excesses of your own people who hoarded resources—”

  “I thought we were working together to bring light to the city!” Leif said, steam trickling out his nose. Gods, but Corbette twisted the truth. “Light to keep the aptrgangr at bay. Light to make the streets safe from thugs and bring warmth before winter set in. If you hadn’t been working against me all this time we might have a fully functioning core of buildings right now!”

  “Yes, the coal.” Corbette stroked the head of his silver-tipped walking stick, the raven with its spread wings. “A useful endeavor to draw Kingu away from the city, until your mercenaries stole the Tablet and brought it right back here, endangering countless lives. Trust you? You led Kingu right to our hill and ran away while our warriors fought him—”

  “Thunderbolts—the blue fire of the gods—can stop him. Your Thunderbirds drove him away. Proof that you are essential to the coming battle—”

  “And now you’ve found the Heart of Tiamat and refuse to share its location,” Corbette continued without a pause. “Why should I trust you? Why should I believe that we are all safe with you, direct descendant of the Mother of all Dragons, in possession of such great power?”

  “You can trust me,” Leif said, “for the same reason you lambast me for my inaction. I have no thirst for power. I rule because I must and because there isn’t anyone else I’d trust with the job. I will keep my small territory and people safe, but I have no interest in world domination. I pledge you this: unless you attack us, the Heart possesses no threat to the Kivati while it’s under my control. I can’t promise that Kingu will give you such assurance. If you don’t help us fight him, we stand little chance of winning.” Leif looked to the Kivati surrounding him, but no one would meet his eyes. None spoke against him now. They were listening, at least. The small victories mattered.

  In the crowd he found the Kivati princess, Lucia, with her porcelain features and the lightest lines of grief shadowed on her face. After the Tablet had been used to cut her veins and bring down the Gate, she had more reason than any of them to fear the power of the Tablet, but she didn’t cower now. She raised her pointed nose and held his gaze. Maybe she could convince Corbette where he could not. He appealed directly to her. “Please. My brother might have found the key, but a Kivati man was responsible for turning it in the lock to release Kingu into the world. Do it for your sacred honor, if not for your neighbors. You don’t want Tiamat to reawaken. It will be much, much worse than the Unraveling.”

  Lucia’s face turned white as her hair, but she lifted her chin a notch. She reminded him a little of Grace, bruised but not defeated. She would make a good queen. “And what is your plan, if you rely so much on our Thunderbirds’ weapons?”

  Thank Freya, she listened to him! “When Marduk defeated Kingu the first time, he had a host of warriors, thunderbolts, nets, and the Scepter of Death. I can provide manpower to distract him, and the suits of armor I built for Admiral Jameson’s men can shoot nets and fire.”

  “And the scepter?”

  “We don’t have the scepter, but we believe if we can trap Kingu, we can use the Tablet of Destiny and the Heart to bind him and send him back through the Gate. Kingu was a full demigod in the first battle, but he is only a very powerful wraith now. Hopefully that will be to our advantage. The Tablet can be used to rewrite his destiny. The Heart will fuel it.” Gods, he hoped. Even to his ears, the plan sounded flimsy as a newborn calf. But they had nothing else.

  Corbette stirred. “And afterward what happens to the Heart?”

  “It must be destroyed,” said Kai. “I’ll do it. Give me back my Tablet and tell me where it is.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Leif said.

  “This is your idea of working together?” Kai sneered.

  Corbette tilted his head, an inquisitive gesture so like his totem. “You’re hiding something.”

  Leif set his jaw. They couldn’t learn about Grace. “Trust me.” The audience laughed. “I haven’t earned your hatred. My brother’s ways are not my ways.”

  “We will give you time,” Corbette said. “You will give us the Heart.”

  “No.”

  “No.” Aether swirled out from the Raven Lord and licked up the walls. The fire in the hearth roared. “Then you’ll forgive me if I turn the tables. Go to your battlefield. Ready your troops. But I’ll give you no immediate answer. You’ll simply have to trust us to do the right thing.”

  Leif swallowed. His life dedi
cated to science and fact and now this. The fate of the world required an act of faith.

  “Lucia, wait.”

  Lucia turned. The Raven Lord stood, face black as a thundercloud, and pinned her with eyes given over to a dangerous violet. Kivati streamed past them on either side. A siege of Queen Anne Hill seemed imminent. “Yes, my lord?”

  “I’ve given the order for the most vulnerable to be evacuated and assigned Lord Kai to be your personal bodyguard. He will escort you to Canada and keep you safe until the demigod is defeated.”

  She stared at him for a moment. With his black hair and silver hoops, he had always seemed a figure inked from dreams. His movements flowed with the Raven’s grace, and his presence in a room licked up the walls like a sentient fog. As a rebellious teenager, she’d often cast him as a dark angel in her secret fantasies, but in the daylight he was nothing but properly polite.

  After the Unraveling, he’d saved her. He had barely spoken to her since. He’d avoided her like an embarrassing, broken thing, and she’d let him. She’d tried to squash her rebellious urges and become the perfect Kivati lady that he could be proud of, but the more passive and pretty she became, the easier it was for him to ignore her. Now he wanted to send her away with the infants and elderly.

  She was angry, she realized, and it felt much better than being depressed. Raising her chin like Grace had taught her, she let her deference fall away like wisps of thin lace. “And are you sending the other women away? My sister Delia? Violet? Lady Damnable?”

  “No. If Kingu attacks the hill, Lady Damnable might singlehandedly fight him off with her parasol.” The line of his mouth softened. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was a lot less frigid.

  “I can fight,” she said.

  His jaw tightened again. “No.”

  “I’ve had a good teacher. She says I’m ready, if there is no other option. We’ve reached the last resort.”

  “No,” he growled. “Kai will take you to safety, and that’s final—”

  “I’m physically fit and can throw a better punch than Delia, but you won’t let me—”

  “No.” He took a step toward her. “This is not a game, Lucia.”

  “Don’t patronize me.” Her hands curled into fists. “I have every right to defend my people.”

  “Your people need you to be safe. The prophecy—”

  “Damn the prophecy!” she shouted. The Kivati around them stopped and stared. She didn’t care. “I am more than that unintelligible rambling. But fine. You want to talk about it? ‘Follow the Crane to destiny, for behind her lies ruin,’” she quoted the last line of the Spider’s prophecy, uttered more than a century before she was born. “Well, look around you. The city is in ruins, thanks to me. Want to follow me to destiny? I doubt destiny is hiding in a forest in Canada!”

  “You are overset,” Corbette said. “Kai, take her with the others.”

  She realized Kai was standing behind her. His hands came down on her shoulders with the weight of steel. “What about the Drekar? What about your promise to Asgard? They need our help.” Corbette closed the distance between them. His power washed over her, an untapped river of Aether that sent shivers over her skin. She was trapped between two towering men. If they wanted to make her feel small and vulnerable, it was working.

  “A hundred years ago my father trusted the Drekar, and they stabbed him in the back, burnt the city to the ground, and massacred our people. When he died, I swore on the Aether that the Kivati would never be weak again. You are important—” He paused.

  By the Lady, how she wanted to hear him say, “to me.”

  “—to the Kivati,” he finished. He softly touched her face. The scent of cedar calmed her racing heart. Inside, the Crane curled toward him. “Please, go with Kai. Be strong for our people. Promise me, Lucia.”

  She felt a sharp pain in the left side of her chest, and she ducked her chin. “I promise.”

  Leif met Grace at the foot of Kivati Hill where he’d parked his carriage. “How did it go?”

  “Hart doesn’t have a lot of faith in Corbette,” Grace said. “But not everyone blindly follows the Raven Lord. Hart is calling in his favors to see who he can get to join us.”

  “Corbette told me to trust him to do the right thing. I have no idea if he’ll show up or not.”

  “We need more time.”

  Leif had to touch Grace. His fingers were greedy to feel her skin. The cold pinked her cheeks and the end of her nose. The wind stole strands of hair from her braid. She couldn’t be more beautiful. “Let’s get back to the lair. Come inside. I’ll warm you up.” He helped her into the carriage and shut the door against the outside world. “Your hands are frozen.” Sitting on the leather bench next to her, he rubbed them between his own. He imagined putting them warmer places.

  “Did you get support at the Althing?”

  “All factions are drawing troops. Zetian is coordinating. No one wants to place his men under the rule of another. It will be a disorganized mess, but better than nothing.” He smoothed her hair back from her face and let his lips drift across her cheekbone. His fingers traced the shell of her ear, lightly brushed down her throat, and paused at the pulse in her neck. Blood beat through her veins. She was alive. She was whole.

  In this moment, in the dim light of the carriage, they had their own secluded world. The peace before the storm. What if this was the last moment they had to be together? Even with the Kivati, defeating Kingu and his aptrgangr army was a long shot. Many people would die, and both he and Grace would be in the thick of it. He couldn’t protect her from the battle. In a few short hours they would unleash the beacon of the Heart and call Kingu to the field of their choosing. He might never feel the noonday sun on his back again or listen to the waves crash against the rocky shore. He might never fly beneath the stars, his wings held aloft for sheer joy at being. He might never create, never explore, never uncover another mystery of nature or unveil that divine clockwork of the universe.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. A line of silver rippled across her eyes.

  He gave her a smile and pulled her against him. “Nothing. I found you. After two centuries, I’d almost given up hope.”

  She pushed against him. “Don’t talk like we’ve already lost. We’ll kick Kingu’s ass back to the Land of the Dead and show Corbette just what we think of his pretentious bull. We’ve got a shard of the Tablet of Destiny; we can craft our own fate.”

  “Do you know how it works?”

  “No.”

  “You’ll think of something. You always do.” He kissed the top of her head and breathed in her unique scent. Forget sunshine and flight, this is what he would miss. This chance to sit with her in quiet and soak up the warmth of her soul. “I trust you.”

  “Do you?”

  He paused at the sudden tension in her body. “Of course.”

  “You haven’t fed.”

  “Ah.” He sat back against the seat.

  “And don’t tell me you don’t need to, because I know it’s a lie. You’ve got to before the battle so you have enough strength to fight—”

  “Don’t worry.” He stared at the opposite wall of the carriage, hating this part of himself. “I’ll find a Maiden. That’s what they’re for—”

  “Don’t be an ass.” She took a fortifying breath.

  He could feel her vibrating with tension at his side, but he refused to look at her and see the revulsion he knew he would find. He didn’t want to take that image into battle with him. “We’re passing over the bridge. We’ll be home soon.”

  Grace took his jaw and turned his head to face her with surprising strength. “Don’t pretend for me. I don’t want some human shadow of you. You’re Drekar. You trust me? Show me everything.”

  A growl rumbled in his throat, and his vision changed to blue and green.

  “I know what the soul kiss is—”

  Twining his hands into her hair, he kissed her hard. She tasted of mint, tea, and desperation. “You sa
w the worst of the worst. It doesn’t have to be like that,” he said against her lips.

  “Then show me.”

  Leif anchored her to him, body flush against his. The carriage swayed, and he cradled her against the back of the seat. Gently, so gently, he licked the line of her lips. He teased her mouth, little bites, little kisses that eased the tension in her shoulders, until she began to relax. He could tell the moment she became aware of another part of his anatomy clamoring for her attention. She put her hand on the seam of his pants. Letting go of her hair, he moved her to straddle him, so that the V of her thighs rode him with each bump over the brick and asphalt road. “Gods, I wish we had more time.” They would be in Ballard soon, and the work couldn’t wait, so he simply let himself luxuriate in touching her, smoothing his hands over her body and down to the curve of her ass.

  “If you’re trying to distract me—”

  “Is it working?”

  She laughed. “Yes.”

  “Good.” Her eyes were shut, straight sooty lashes above wide, flat cheekbones. He traced his lips over each lid and back to her mouth. “I love you.” He didn’t give her time to respond. Her lips parted, and he surged in. Kissing her deeply, he felt her defenses give way, and he breathed in.

  Her sparkling soul light ran like a river of Aether into his body, flooding every dark, forgotten corner, ringing his head with the peal of a spirit charm. She tasted of moonbeams and starlight. The power, the absolute glory of her being, sparkled into his empty heart. He hadn’t realized how dark he had become until she chased away the shadows and lit him up like a Yule tree.

  The taste of a human in love was rumored to be the finest, most satisfying drink to his kind. It was too much to hope that she returned his affection, but the small sip of her soul was definitely the best taste he’d ever had. So much so that he could believe Longren’s tale. If she would have him, he could see himself being satisfied with Grace and only Grace until the end of time.