by Bec McMaster
“And you bedded half the women between here and the Hindu Kush.”
He shot her a mild look over his shoulder. “Don’t listen to rumors, Solveig. I like drinking and gambling. I enjoy pleasure. Dreki look at me and instantly suspect all I’m interested in is chasing after a woman.” He cut her off before she could speak. “And maybe I was that sort of youth. Once.”
“You kidnapped a female during her mating ceremony in France,” she pointed out, because she’d made it her business to track him.
“Is that what your resources say?”
“You deny it?”
“No. I kidnapped Khadija from her mating ceremony.” His mouth thinned. “She was barely of age, and her uncle—the dreki warlord of a tribe in Morocco—had arranged an unwanted mating for her. Her mother begged me to rescue her, and I couldn’t just walk away. Khadija is now happily putting arrows through the throats of her uncle’s dreki in the Jbel Saghro mountain range with her grandfather. My smuggler friend, Hassan, is her brother.”
This time, it was her turn to be surprised.
“What?” There was a faint edge of amusement on his lips. “I’m handsome, charming, a rakish, unthreatening dreki prince who can make even the sternest dreki laugh. They watch their females when I’m around, but they never suspect I’m working against them. I’m just a pampered prince, after all. It’s almost too easy.”
Solveig thought her way through everything she’d ever heard about him. “You were caught in a princess’s bedchambers in Germany.”
“Now that,” he said, “is true. I was trying to steal back a relic that was important to a witch in Zagreb, but my information was inaccurate and I climbed through the wrong window. Amelie was happier to see me than I expected, and I had to distract her somehow.”
“You burned down a monastery in the Kingdom of Romania.”
“It was just one tiny little monastery,” he said with a shrug, reaching back to help her down a narrow section of stairs. “It wasn’t as though it was run by a group of monks who’d captured dreki kits and were seeking to ‘burn the devil out of them.’”
Solveig stopped, with her fingers in his. “You’re saying all these rumors of women in your bed are wrong?”
“Oh no, there were women.” He arched a brow at her. “For both of us, clearly. I’m just saying, there may not have been quite as many as the stories say.”
She stared at him.
His ability in the sky was breathtaking. He moved like a dreki who’d learned stealth from the best. He fought better than she’d have expected.
She had never, ever suspected he was more than an arrogant wastrel, and it was a little embarrassing to realize she too, would have underestimated him.
I had visions of being some dashing pirate somewhere….
“What’s wrong?” he teased. “Did I just shatter all your preconceptions?”
“Why do you hide it?”
He continued walking. “Because nobody knows who I am. My friend in Oslo trades far and wide. When people are desperate they know they can contact him, and hire a certain, elusive figure to rescue someone they love, or recover something that was stolen. I like the work. It pays well and I’m good at it.”
It was more than that.
Maybe he liked being the hero. Maybe he felt welcomed for the first time in his life. He risked his life for people and they were grateful.
“You rarely mention your brother, either.”
There. There was the tension in his shoulders. This time she caught a glimpse of his profile as he gave her his attention. “My brother?”
“Rurik.”
For the first time there was a certain heaviness about his steps. “I spent a good portion of my life thinking my brother guilty of my father’s murder. You were the one who forced me to confront certain truths about my mother.”
“I did?”
“We were swimming in a mountain stream, and you said something like ‘my father never did trust your mother’ when I mentioned his death.”
She remembered that moment. That stream. Though her focus had been on other things at the time.
The kiss that had almost happened between them.
“And then my mother tried to have me assassinated.” This time the words were sharp. “It all began to make sense. I knew then that Rurik was innocent.”
“And so you fled. Why did you not go to him?”
He paused at another intersection, before taking the right turn. “I just wanted to escape her rotten court. And Rurik had been gone many years. He’d never…. He’d never once come for us.”
Ah. So there was resentment there.
Or no, perhaps hurt.
She tried to think how old he would have been when his father died….
A boy, waiting for his brother to come back for him.
“Perhaps he didn’t think he could,” she said. “Your mother was very good at isolating those who might cause her damage. And she had many years to seed such guilt through all three of you. I think she made sure that Rurik found himself very alone, and uncertain of the outcome should he dare defy her. Maybe you weren’t the only one who found himself with no allies. Maybe your brother felt that too, and felt it best if he retreated.”
Marduk turned on her. “Maybe he did. But that doesn’t explain why he forgave my father’s murderer and stood him at his right hand.”
From what she’d seen of Rurik’s court, she’d thought it unusual that a male with as much power and strength as the Blackfrost submitted to the king. “The Blackfrost?”
The muscle in Marduk’s jaw flexed as he looked away. “I found out the truth barely a month ago. Mother twisted Sirius’s dreams until he didn’t know what was real and what was not. She made him kill my father.”
Solveig took one final step down, until she was on a level with him. She wanted to see his face. “You don’t forgive him?”
“I don’t know what to feel. I know what she could do to you. I know. But…. Sirius killed my father. He….”
“He?” The word came out softer than she’d intended.
“Every time I look at Sirius, all I can see is my father’s blood splashed all over the tiles.” His voice roughened. “They said his heart had been torn out of his chest.” Another pause. “How can Rurik forgive that? How can he trust him?”
It was more than that, she suspected.
From what she’d seen of the Zini clan, they were trying to weld themselves back together after an enormous fracture within the court. Rurik ruled, and Sirius allowed it, but it was clear the two stood side-by-side.
If she pictured the enormous round table they’d sat at, she could almost see it again. The king on one side with Árdís and Haakon, and then Sirius and Malin…. And Marduk, deliberately taking the seat opposite them all.
Ah.
He thought there was no place there for him. And worse, his anger over his father’s death prevented him from taking that step, and making a place there for himself.
If she’d wanted to destroy Marduk, this would be how she’d do it.
His guilt was a knot around him. Resentment stirred like a hot coal in his gut. It would take very little to push him over a certain edge.
But she was not Amadea.
No. She had her own rules and morals. She was merely able to see pathways within him.
Solveig sighed. “You trust me too much.”
His gaze sharpened.
“You keep forgetting I have vowed to destroy you,” she said with some disgust. “You spill all your secrets like a boy with his first love.”
“Are you trying to say you’re my first love?”
“Oh, please. Do I look like some sort of gullible fool? I am saying…. You shouldn’t trust me like this. You’re virtually handing me the keys to your doom if I chose to take it.”
“Maybe that’s because I don’t think you’re going to destroy me at all.”
“No?”
Marduk captured her fingers and lifted them to his lips.
“Because then you’ll never know….”
This time, it was her turn to catch her breath. “Know what?”
He merely smiled and kissed her fingertips, before letting her hand go.
“Know what?”
Marduk scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’re right. I am spilling all my court’s secrets.”
“Know what?” she growled.
He looked at her for a long, heated moment. “One day I’ll tell you. But have you ever wondered why you’re so curious about me?”
“I am curious about you because I have vowed—”
“To destroy me?” His lips kicked up in a faint smile as he took a step toward her. There was barely an inch between them, and her heeled boots put her mouth devastatingly close to his. “You’re the one warning me, Solveig. If you wanted to ruin me, then you’re right. I’ve given you everything you need to be able to do so.” He leaned closer to her, his breath stirring her lips. “You’re lying to yourself. You’re not asking all these questions because of some burning desire to see me undone. Maybe you should think about the real reason behind your curiosity.”
And then he pushed past her. “Are you coming?”
Solveig stared after him, her chest heaving as she dared consider the question he’d asked.
What in the Goddess’s name was she doing?
They finally reached the bottom, and Marduk became eerily quiet as they found themselves in an enormous set of cellars.
“This way,” he said, walking slowly as if he was in a trance.
Light began to emanate ahead of them.
Green light.
“What is it?” Solveig whispered, lifting her pilfered torch high as they passed beneath an arch. She’d found it halfway down and he’d lit it for her.
“I don’t know.” Marduk suddenly stopped, blocking her view. “Goddess’s mercy.”
Now she had to see.
Pushing past him, she saw what had caught his attention and froze herself.
There was an enormous bier in the center of the cellar, and at first glance, a statue appeared to lie in repose upon it.
But her breath caught when she saw the chains wrapping around the body. Chaos magic danced in glimmering waves throughout the room, reflecting across the walls in ripples that reminded her of the sea. But it was centered above the body, all of that power focused within an emerald the size of her thumb, which was encased in the hilt of a knife.
A knife that was buried in the center of the statue’s chest.
“What is this?” she whispered, circling the bier slowly.
“It’s not the key,” Marduk murmured, his gaze locked on the emerald intently.
“It looks like a statue of Draco.”
Solveig lifted the torch, sweeping dust away from the statue’s face—
And warm breath caressed her palm.
Solveig yanked her hand back with a hiss. “Sweet goddess.”
“What is it?” Marduk demanded.
She stared down at the unconscious dreki in horror. “It’s not a statue. It’s a dreki. And he’s alive.”
Marduk prowled around the body as Solveig set her torch in a nearby ring.
It was like looking at the Zilittu king himself.
An enormous muscled figure bound in repose, a dagger sticking out of the center of his chest. If he leaned closer, he could almost sense something swirling within that defiant emerald.
Not the key they were looking for.
But as Marduk reached out and touched the emerald, he realized it might be something they could use.
The second his fingers grazed the jewel, a flash of image overtook him. A male’s face, his eyes blinking wide open and locking upon Marduk—
Marduk tore his hand away and clutched it to his chest. “His soul is inside the jewel,” he whispered, swallowing hard. “It has to be Draco’s twin, Scorpius.”
“Scorpius was exiled.”
“And who put about word of that little rumor?” Marduk breathed out unsteadily. “Zilittu lands are impenetrable to outsiders without an invitation. The only way rumor got out was if it was allowed to get out. And from everything I’ve ever heard, Scorpius was the warmonger of the two brothers. If he was exiled to the north, where his alleged army supposedly waits, he wouldn’t just be twiddling his thumbs. He’d have attacked Draco by now.”
“But why go to all this effort? If Scorpius is somehow trapped down here, then why would Draco pretend he wasn’t?”
“That is a very good question.” He prowled around the dusty figure. “Unless… not everyone knows who is down here in the Zilittu cellars.”
“Andromeda?”
It was nice to talk to someone whose mind leaped to the same conclusions his did. “Andromeda.”
“So Draco overthrows Scorpius, trapping his soul within the emerald in that knife. And then he locks him away down here, sends out word that Scorpius escaped, and takes his place on the throne.” A dangerous laugh escaped her. “And now we have the Zilittu king by the balls. I wonder who else knows? Viveka? Or Rune?”
“You’re going to blackmail Draco?”
Solveig’s eyes practically glittered as if he’d giftwrapped an entire throne for her. “I’m going to do nothing until I discover exactly who knows of this, and who might take exception to Scorpius’s apparent daggering.”
Utterly merciless in every way. His gaze slid down her lean figure. He was trapped underground with the soulless body of a dangerous Zillittu prince, and all he could think about was how Solveig’s utter ruthlessness made his cock hard.
There was something wrong with him.
She noticed. “Why are you giving me that look?”
“What look?” His voice came out rough.
“The one that says you’re imagining me naked.”
In answer, he gave her a faint smile.
“Unbelievable. Here I am, plotting vengeance and ruin, and you’re thinking about your cock.”
“I like it when you plot. Your smile is so ridiculously evil when you’re scheming that all I can think about is what your mouth tastes like.”
“Focus,” she snapped.
He arched a brow.
“On this bloody knife!” She gestured toward Scorpius. “Can we use it?”
Marduk hauled his thoughts out of the bedchamber and leaned closer. “It’s embedded in his heart, but he’s still breathing, which makes me think the blade isn’t entirely corporeal.”
“It’s magic?”
“It’s forged of raw Chaos, I think.” Ishtar would have a better idea than he did. But how was he going to get her down here? “Chaos transcends space and time and matter, so it might be embedded in his chest, but physically, it might also not be. If his soul is trapped in that jewel, then maybe the blade itself is merely a link between them.”
“And to remove it—”
“Would break the link. We’d either kill him and leave his soul trapped in the emerald, or we’d break the connection and maybe wake him.”
Solveig stared down at the prince. “We need to—”
The sudden echo of footsteps drifted down the stairwell.
Marduk froze, his gaze locking on Solveig’s.
They weren’t alone.
She reacted faster than he did, waving a hand toward the torch and snuffing it with her magic, before spinning toward the arch that led deeper into the cellars. “This way!”
The sudden shock of darkness left him blind. Marduk groped along the wall, finding the small arch that led to the left.
Blinking, he gradually began to make out shapes, and started hurrying along the enormous cellars.
“Can you see them?” someone demanded behind him.
“Nothing,” another voice called.
“Is that smoke?”
Solveig bumped into him and Marduk hauled her behind a column, and pressed her against the wall, clapping his hand over her mouth. His vision was starting to adjust to the lack of light, and he could just make out the aquiline edge of her
nose. He linked with her. “Don’t make a sound.”
He squinted in the direction of the guards.
“What are you doing?”
“Creating a diversion.”
Fire spun to life in his breath, his heart, and he channeled the magic into pure flame—a glimpse of lights flickering in the distance. He held the flames as long as he could from this distance, as the guards shouted and pointed. Marduk eased away from her as the guards hammered after the twinkling lights in the distance. Tension locked his body into a hard line, and as he glanced down, he saw an odd expression on Solveig’s face. “What?”
“That was an exquisitely controlled piece of magic.”
It was almost as if she’d doubted his abilities. “I could burn your drawers right off your body if I wanted to.”
The hot little glare that answered that conjured a grin on his lips.
“Come,” he breathed, tugging at her fingers. “They’ll chase my lights for a while.”
It took them ten minutes before they found another set of stairs. The cellar system seemed riddled with tunnels.
Solveig slipped up them like a wraith ahead of him, his hand occasionally resting in the middle of her back.
Almost there….
He could see light beckoning, and the crushing weight in his chest was starting to lift.
And then a shadow loomed in the light. More footsteps. The rasp of armor.
He captured Solveig’s hand, hauling her back into him.
“Guards ahead,” she sent on a thought-thread.
“Guards behind.”
And it wouldn’t do for either of them to be caught down here.
Especially if their suspicions about the prince in the dungeon were correct.
There wasn’t time to go back to where the tunnel last branched and try and slip away. They were close to the surface here. Too close. Several rooms beckoned off the stairwell. They looked like they’d been chambers, once upon a time.
“If we kill the guards, they’ll know we were up to something.” Solveig bared her teeth in frustration. “Unless there’s somewhere where we can hide—”
“Why is that your first and only response?”
“Because it’s expedient and solves a vast majority of life’s little problems. You have a better plan?”