Aknock came at the door.
Winter chill sank in through the walls, even with my full dress still on my back. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. I’d intended to wait for Kye to return, but I imagined with war being newly announced, his meeting with the general might run late into the night. Still, I was surprised to find myself in bed, alone but for the sheathed dagger I’d drifted off next to. Dusk stretched through the windows. Snowflakes fell outside, fat and fluffy and entirely silent.
The knock came again.
I rolled off the edge of the bed, taking the blanket with me and leaving the dagger behind, naively assuming the inn’s servants were bringing a tray to eat. How wrong I was. I opened the door to find the tray on the floor, left there hours ago, and Thaan standing over it.
Tall, slender, cold. Cheeks hollow, skin even more gaunt than the last time I’d set eyes on him. The air snapped and fizzled around him, churning with an electricity I knew could strike me dead.
His gaze pierced mine, and even at a short distance, I knew something was wrong. His irises had fully inverted with his pupil, the ring of his eye near black, the center a cloudy, empty blue. The hairs at the back of my neck stood,spiculaesending shock waves down my spine, rebounding in the other direction. As my hand left the door handle, static exploded under my touch, sparks flying innocuously from under my fingertips, suddenly wet and slippery.
We stared at each other from opposite sides of the threshold.
“It’s considered an offense to leave a guest standing outside a door,” Thaan finally said.
“Where’s Nikolaos?”
My face must have worn the same clammy, cold fear that had crossed into the pit of my stomach at waking alone and finding Thaan outside my door. His nostrils flared, though his posture remained straight-backed and bored. “I imagine he’s preparing for his tour into the mountains in the morning.”
“The mountains?” I frowned. “We just came from there.”
With a soft grunt of impatience, Thaan pushed into my room. I stood back to let him, though my skin itched as Cain followed and closed the door behind him. I crossed my arms, ignoring the foreboding prickles that lined my scalp.
“Have youcordaed?” Thaan asked. Cain sat in the only chair, adjusting his spectacles as he unrolled a scroll over the small table and studied it.
“We escaped pirates, you know.” My words shook slightly, anger wrapping around the edges of my fear. “Traveled by foot and horse the span of Rivea. Kye was arrested. I was captured. We’ve both been injured.”
Thaan clicked his tongue. “Have you?”
“He suffocated under ice. His heart stopped yesterday. He shouldn’t be traveling the mountains.”
“He’ll manage,” Thaan said, his voice lined with the threat of his impatience. “Have youcordaed?”
I glared at him. “It’s considered an offense to demand intimate details that should be left between a husband and wife.”
He pressed his fingertips together. “My dear girl, we both know I care as little about your love life as I do the slave trade up north.”
“So, you deal in slaves, too?”
“I will force the answer from you if you refuse to give it willingly.”
“No,” I spat. “No, we have not.”
He took his time studying me, then reached a hand into his tunic, drawing out a letter with a broken seal. A seal identical to the one stored in my bags. The one I stole from Kriska’s pocket. I watched, suddenly breathless as he unfolded it and handed it to me.
I have your weapon.
Four words written on the parchment. No name, nothing else. But the seal was unmistakable, whereas the letter I’d stolen had been mashed, chipped, dented. A mass of tentacled legs streaming out from the center like spokes on a wheel.
Aegir.
I glanced back at Thaan to find him watching me carefully. “Did you orchestrate your own kidnapping?” he asked.
I fought the urge to laugh at the stupidity of the question.
Thaan tapped a finger on the page, and I caught the faint whiff of forged metal floating through the air. “Do you understand what Aegir is insinuating here?”
My nostrils flared. “That I am a weapon of some kind?”
