Nøkkyn raised his hand and slapper her, hard, across her cheek. The sound echoed through his bedchamber. Brunhild said nothing, although I could already see the red mark of Nøkkyn’s hand rising on her cheek.
“Explain yourself!” he demanded.
Brunhild brought a fist to her forehead and bowed. “My Lord. My deepest apologies.”
Nøkkyn glanced at me again. I turned away, staring at the floor, but not before catching an unpleasant gleam in his eyes.
“Bitch,” he grunted. “I ordered her fed, not bathed and dressed for a goddamn ball.”
“Of course, My Lord,” Brunhild replied. “I simply thought nothing in your chambers should be so filthy.”
“You thought?” Nøkkyn sneered. “You’re not meant to think, woman. Now, get out of my sight before I become irritated.”
Brunhild vanished through the door before I could take a breath. Her hurried footsteps echoed down the hallway, joined by what must have been the rapid patter of Fiora and Gladis trotting after her. No wonder they’d all seemed so nervous in these chambers. If I had to live in this castle, I’d come up with any excuse to avoid King Nøkkyn.
As if he’d heard my thoughts, Nøkkyn sauntered over to me and sank to his knees. I fixed my stare on the black sheen of his boots.
“You think you’re something in your new dress, don’t you?” he whispered.
I said nothing. It was obvious the colorless, battered dress I wore was just a step away from being torn to shreds for rags.
“Look at me when I speak to you!” Nøkkyn snapped.
My entire body felt cold. I raised my eyes slowly. It seemed to take a great deal of effort to meet Nøkkyn’s black eyes. His pale, thin lips formed into a smile that made my stomach curl in on itself. I didn’t realize I’d clenched my arms around my abdomen until my fingers bit into my skin hard enough to make me flinch.
Nøkkyn turned to the guards at the door. “Leave us!”
The two tall men nodded, then pulled the doors closed behind them. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. What in the Nine Realms was he doing? Was he going to threaten me? Had he somehow found Fenris?
“That’s better,” Nøkkyn said. He raised his hand to my face and traced the curve of my cheek with his long, cold fingers. I bit the inside of my lip to keep from flinching.
“Sol.” His voice was almost a whisper. “It was Sol, wasn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Sol from the Ironwood. Such a pity it had to turn out this way.”
He rocked back on his heels, and his hand left my cheek. I almost sighed with relief.
“I’m going to ask you a question, Sol from the Ironwood. Do you know what the difference is between me and those men I just sent out of this room?”
His words were so odd I almost forgot to be scared. I stared at him again, meeting his dark black eyes and wondering if this was a joke.
He raised an eyebrow. “Well? I’m waiting.”
“You—” I stalled as my mind raced for a possible answer to this riddle. There were as many differences between Nøkkyn and those guards as there were stones in this horrible castle.
“Come now, Sol,” Nøkkyn chided. “I’d been led to believe you were somewhat clever.”
“You’re a king,” I stammered. “Those men are just guards. You could not be more different.”
Nøkkyn laughed, sharp and hard. He leaned forward again, grasping my face in his cold hand. “You’re wrong. You know what separates me from those men? From any of the men in this kingdom?”
I held my breath.
“Nothing,” he spat. “That’s the great secret, Sol of the Ironwood. I’m a man like all the rest of them. The only difference between us is that when I order a man dead, people listen. When I order anything, people listen. They obey.”
He squeezed my cheeks until they hurt. “But you. You little nothing whore from the back of beyond. You didn’t obey.”
His cold grip released my face, and I sank forward. The chain pulled taut, and the metal collar bit into my skin.
“Look at me!” Nøkkyn snapped.
I looked up. His cheeks had flushed with angry red spots of color, and his eyes flashed. He raised his hand. I flinched, but he wrapped his fingers around the chain instead of striking me.
“You are going to die, Sol of the Ironwood,” he said, calmly fingering the chain that bound me to the wall. “I want you to know that truth, to accept it. I am going to kill you for your insolence. No one can disobey me. Obedience is everything.”
His fingers tightened around the chain, and he yanked down. My head snapped backward, pulling the rest of my body with it. I landed hard on the stones, the fall knocking the breath from my lungs.
“Look at me,” Nøkkyn said.
I rolled onto my side. Nøkkyn was still on his knees. From my position on the floor, he looked very tall. His hand had wrapped into a fist around the chain.
“You still have a choice, little Sol. You will die, but the manner of your death depends on you. Answer my questions, and you will die a quick death. I won’t promise painless—I have to make an example of you, after all—but I will promise quick. Relatively quick.”
His lips curled into a smile that made my heart shrivel in my chest.
“Deny me, and I will make you suffer. Greatly.”
Nøkkyn pulled on the chain again. The collar cut into my neck. I gasped as my throat constricted. Before I knew what I was doing, my hands had flown to my neck, scrabbling against the cold metal. My lungs burned, and my vision began to blur.
Nøkkyn laughed, then stepped back, dropping the chain. It clanged against the stone wall behind me. I coughed as I tried to suck air back into my chest.
“Have you heard of the province of Agoria?” he asked.
My eyes welled with tears, but I was too afraid to move to wipe them away. I didn’t understand Nøkkyn’s question. I didn’t understand anything he’d said.
“It’s a very nice province,” Nøkkyn continued, as though he wasn’t expecting an answer from me anyway. “Not quite as nice as it used to be, of course. But at least it’s my province. Mine.”
He stood. From my position on the stone floor, I watched the sheen of his black boots cross the room.
“It’s a very wealthy place, Agoria. An important trade capital, you know. And they think quite highly of themselves. Always have. Lots of misplaced regional pride, plus their own standing army. Not a threat, they told me. Just a tradition.”
He spat out the last word as though it were something extremely unpleasant, then sank onto a silken couch. It was the same couch he’d used last night to fuck those women in front of me.
“Well. I couldn’t have that, you understand. One of my provinces, with an army whose strength might grow to rival my own. Agoria was trouble. I had to subdue them.”
I swallowed. I remembered hearing rumors of a war with Agoria when I was a child. My brothers and I had taken turns watching for soldiers and running back to the house. If we saw anyone on horseback, Jael and I were to race back to the house and tell Da. He knew a spot in the Ironwood, a secret place where he’d hide until they were gone so he could not be pressed into service as a soldier. But no soldiers had come, and the war with Agoria had faded from my mind.
“You know what I did, little Sol?” Nøkkyn asked.
I glanced up. Nøkkyn was watching me with a self-satisfied grin on his face. The entire story felt smooth and rehearsed, as if he’d told this particular tale a thousand times.
“I went to King Mendex,” he said. “I traveled there in secret, and told him I’d uncovered a terrible plot. A plot by Agoria to attack Mendex’s little kingdom and take it over before declaring their autonomy from my rule. What a terrible thing.”
His smile widened unpleasantly. “I announced it in front of Mendex’s entire court. And I was, if I dare say so myself, terribly convincing. I pledged my undying support for the sovereign nation of Mendex and, by the time my ship sailed for home, his entire kin
gdom was whipped into a fury.”
The satisfaction on his face made my skin crawl. “You made Mendex fight your battle for you?”
Nøkkyn’s black eyes met mine. “Exactly. And, after their armies had slaughtered each other, I led my troops to the battlefield. We brokered a peace treaty, in the process increasing my tariffs on both Agoria and Mendex’s kingdom.”
My stomach clenched, and I bit down whatever I might have said to that.
“Agoria was strong. Possibly too strong for me to defeat. So I set a bigger dog upon my enemy, and then I feasted on the ruins.”
He fell silent. I risked looking at him again. He smiled at me, the sort of smile that probably haunted the nightmares of everyone who lived in this castle.
“Now. Sol of the Ironwood. You will tell me about Fenris. You will tell me everything I want to know. And, if you lie to me, I can promise you that your death will be exceedingly slow.”
My body froze, but my mind raced. How much did Nøkkyn know? The hard weight of the bread I’d just eaten shifted in my stomach. Fenris was here, somewhere within these walls. Brunhild’s handsome, rich idiot from the Ironwood. Was Nøkkyn trying to test me? Had he discovered my husband?
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and tried to push myself back onto my knees. “W-What do you want to k-know?”
“Good,” Nøkkyn purred. “Cooperation. That’s very good.”
He leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees. His long fingers looked very pale against the black of his pants. “The soldier who survived Evenfel said he’s not always in the form of a wolf.”
My mouth went dry. The missing body. The soldier from Evenfel whom Fenris didn’t chase down. Of course Nøkkyn had found that damned bastard, and of course the soldier had given up everything he knew.
Nøkkyn’s gaze pierced right through me. “What does his human form look like, Sol?”
I swallowed hard. The soldier had seen us at night, by the uncertain light of a low fire. He couldn’t possibly have gotten a good look at Fenris.
Unless he’d been in the White Bull with us. I twisted my fingers together, my stomach churning.
“Sometime today, please.” Nøkkyn’s black foot began tapping against the stones.
Stars. If Nøkkyn already knew Fenris had somehow found his way into the fortress, then we were both dead already. And, if not, then by the damned Realms, I could at least buy him some time.
I could lie.
“He’s...tall,” I squeaked.
“How tall?” Nøkkyn barked. “Taller than me?”
“No,” I lied. “Not as tall as you. Not as strong either.”
I glanced up to see a thin smile spread across the sharp features of Nøkkyn’s face. “Tell me more.”
I forced the words out. If the soldier who fled had seen us sitting together in the pub, these lies would spell my doom.
“He’s...blond.” I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for Nøkkyn to summon the guards and drag me to the executioner.
Instead, Nøkkyn chuckled. “It’s hard for you, isn’t it? Giving up the details of your little secret.”
I bit my lower lip so hard the sting of blood flowed over my tongue.
“Well, do go on,” Nøkkyn drawled. “It’s your execution on the line. You don’t want to die badly, do you?”
“No, my Lord,” I whispered. I didn’t dare raise my eyes.
“What about his face?” Nøkkyn said. “Is he...handsome?”
Stars, yes! Fenris’s face flashed through my mind, his full lips and high cheekbones, his smile so beautiful I’d though he had to be a demon when we first met. That demonically handsome man was somewhere in Nøkkyn’s castle right now, looking for me. Waiting for his chance to rescue me. Trembling, I remembered the whispered vow I’d made over his sleeping body. I’ll protect you.
“No” I sighed.
Nøkkyn laughed again. There was a sharp edge in his voice that made my skin crawl. “Please. Do go on.”
“His face is round,” I lied. “Like a child, almost, with bright cheeks and red lips. He looks younger than he is.”
Nøkkyn crossed his hands behind his head and leaned back. “Good. And where does the beast live?”
“J-Just outside Evenfel.” My voice trembled with the lie.
Nøkkyn’s tongue darted across his lips. “Where? Where outside Evenfel?”
I shivered, trying to remember the land surrounding Evenfel. It felt like years had passed since I’d ridden Fenris in his wolf form through the Ironwood.
“We followed a river,” I said. “It got bigger the closer we got to town.”
Nøkkyn nodded. “Yes. Yes, the Silven River.”
“If-If you say so. I don’t know the name. But it starts in the mountains—” My voice trailed off. I was flailing. We had followed a river, but we’d joined it in the Ironwood. I had no idea if it originated in the mountains or not.
Nøkkyn nodded distractedly. “Fenris lives near the river? Or in the mountains?”
Our beautiful birch grove filled my memory, the little clearing where white tree trunks stood like columns along the dancing river.
“The mountains,” I answered. “Just below the snowline. There’s a...a huge cave.”
Nøkkyn brought his fingers together in front of his thin lips. “Follow the river to the mountains? Then climb to just below the snowline?”
I pulled my lip into my mouth and nodded. My heart hammered so loudly I was afraid Nøkkyn would hear it.
“You’ve betrayed the monster who stole you from me,” he finally said, with that same cold smile on his thin lips. “I’ve heard he’s a drunk, and an idiot. It must have been a very terrible cave he took you to.”
I dropped my eyes to the floor, afraid to speak. Memories of Fenris’s cave, our cave, surfaced in my disjointed mind, the enormous white mattress he’d stolen, the bags of bread hanging from the walls, the piles of fur on the floor. There was nothing terrible about that small, safe place. My chest ached as though my heart had already stopped beating.
“Why does no one see the Fenris-wolf on the full moon?” Nøkkyn asked, jolting me from my memories. “Is it true he’s powerless when the moon is full?”
I sucked breath through my nostrils. Of course no one saw Fenris when the moon was full. That was when Týr came with bread and mead. Dear, sweet Týr, with his soft lips and kisses. The strong, intertwined bodies of Týr and Fenris flashed through my mind, but I shoved the memory away.
“It’s true,” I agreed. “He’s paralyzed when the moon is full. I mean, he can’t take his wolf form. He’s trapped inside the cave.”
Nøkkyn’s eyes narrowed. “Probably drunk as well. And yet you did not try to escape.”
My eyes dropped to the floor. “Where would I have gone?”
At this, Nøkkyn truly laughed. He laughed until his pale face flushed, and he was left gasping for breath. “Ah, you little idiot,” he said, wiping his hands across his cheeks. “You could have been one of my pets, you know? Pampered and fed and very well-fucked. And now, you’re going to die when the moon is full.”
My mouth went dry. “W-When is the moon full?”
Nøkkyn’s smile cut through me like cold steel. “Tomorrow.”
THE MONSTER AND THE PRISONER: CHAPTER NINE
Nøkkyn rose to his feet and clapped his hands together. With a creak, the doors to his bedchamber opened and the two guards reappeared. Neither of them so much as glanced at me.
“Is he ready?” Nøkkyn asked.
I froze. By the Nine Realms, he couldn’t be talking about Fenris.
“Yes, my Lord,” the first guard answered. “He’s been waiting almost an hour.”
Nøkkyn grinned. “Good. I hope he’s nervous.” He waved his hand toward me. “Bring her.”
The men nodded. The one who’d spoken left the room with Nøkkyn while the shorter guard scurried over to me. He took my chain from the wall, then tugged it sharply. I scrambled to my feet. Bolts of pain shot through my crampe
d muscles, and I staggered, grabbing the edge of Nøkkyn’s silk couch to stop my fall.
“Don’t touch the furniture, dirty bitch,” the guard sneered.
The collar bit into my skin as he yanked me backward, and I fell flat on the thick carpet. The guard stood over me, wearing a nasty grin. I hadn’t seen this one before; his face was a flushed, bright red, and his nose looked like an overripe, misshapen beet. His beady eyes focused on my breasts, and he licked his lips. His hands twitched, looming over my prone body like a bird of prey.
“Lay a hand on me,” I growled, “and I’ll be sure to tell the king why we were delayed.”
His eyes widened as the sneer fell from his lips. “Come on,” he grunted.
He yanked the chain, snapping my head up. I pushing myself upright, trying to ignore the stabbing cramps in my legs. I could already feel tender bruises forming under the heavy collar. The guard didn’t wait for me, and I almost fell again as he tugged me toward the door. He walked with an uneven pace, waiting for me to fall behind so he could pull the chain taut and dig the metal collar into my skin. As I stumbled behind him, through grand hallways and down cold staircases, I tried to imagine all the different ways Fenris could kill him. By the time he forced me to stop before a set of black doors inlaid with sparkling gems and a thin gold filigree, I’d pictured over thirty deaths for him, each one more painful than the last.
The red-faced guard creaked open the door, then handed my chain to someone just inside. I winced, bracing myself for another sharp tug to send a fresh wave of pain through my body. But the pain didn’t come. Instead, the door opened wider. I recognized the guard inside as the tall, silent man with the distant eyes, the one who’d made love to his companion last night in Nøkkyn’s bedchamber while I drank in their pleasure and made it my own.
Before I could stop myself, my lips curved into a smile. The guard’s expressionless face did not change, but he inclined his head slightly, almost as though he were about the speak. I dropped my eyes and stepped through the door, which closed softly behind me.
We stood in a small, dark room. At first I thought the walls had been lined with odd, rectangular bricks of different colors but, as my eyes adjusted to the candlelight, I realized they were books. I gasped before I could stop myself. So many books! The richest man in my old village, Maddie’s father, had one great book. I’d never seen it, of course, but Maddie had bragged about it often enough. Apparently it was worth its own weight in gold pieces.
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