“Skadi.” The king faced me. “Are you ready for your mark?”
I kept one hand hooked over a narrow beam above my head and carefully lowered to a crouch next to Kase. Below was a wide, circular hall. Two guards in dark tunics with a pair of blades each, stood watch on a set of heavy, black oak doors.
My mark. All the king explained was they would need my help getting through the doors. I thought I might have to steal a lock perhaps, but there was nothing said about guards.
“What am I supposed to do?” I whispered, breaths too heavy to be sly. There would be few doubts who had become the weaker part of this ploy.
“There is something important I need to retrieve in that room.”
“Then why not simply go inside? You are the king.” My palms grew sweaty. I looked over my shoulder. “I know you hate to admit such a thing, but you do have a voice of authority in this palace.”
“I’m aware,” he said, a jest in his dark voice. “Trouble is one voice has more influence on those sods down there. They’re rather inclined to listen to my wife.”
“The queen!” My voice was small, but squeaked and cracked. “We’re scheming against the queen?”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” Kase shifted slightly, making room for me to see the doors a little more. “Whatever Malin has in there she has kept from me with intention, and I cannot let that stand.”
Jonas’s father or his mother. Would I die by my deepest fears or forget how to bleeding exist? Perhaps the queen would have a bit of mercy on me and let me keep my memory on how to breathe.
The king let out another chuckle, shaking his head. “You’re worrying for nothing.”
“Nothing?” Another squeak. “I’mstealingfrom the queen.”
“No. I am stealing from the queen. You are removing the guards. Ready?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Perfect. It’s best to act without overthinking too much.”
Before another protest, darkness coated the hallway. Like the walls wept in black ink, sunlight was blotted out, gray stone was soaked in his mesmer.
Somewhere in the shadows I could’ve sworn one of the guards muttered something likenot again.
“Go, go.” Kase handed me a rope they’d fastened earlier to the rafter, and spilled it over the edge.
Leather gloves with the fingers cut out covered my hands, sturdy enough I could grip the rope, but slick enough scaling down was hardly a trial. The moment my boots struck the stone floor, Raum was there, holding tightly to my wrists, guiding me through the suffocating dark without trouble.
When we reached the doors, a hazy image of the two guards revealed they’d retrieved their blades and shuffled in front of the doorway. They’d literally chained their damn arms to the door.
“Ah, they’re growing rather clever,” Raum whispered. “All right, lovey, we need them gone. They’re not going to go down without a fight.”
“He’s the king.” I didn’t understand this.
Raum beamed. “What does that have to do with anything? Take them for us, won’t you?”
My mists. They wanted me to swallow the guards. It was cruel. They were only doing their duty.
I’d kept my affinity doused here, only showing a bit during the spar, but everyone had used their magics then. Still, the staff of the palacedidn’t look at me in horror. They didn’t fear me. I was merely the elven princess who loved honey cakes.
Already, I could feel the urge to fall into the shields of apathy. Fearful glances and painful words would not touch me there.
“Skadi.” Kase was there. I hadn’t even heard him approach. “Pieces of you do not need to be hidden.”
Cold bloomed over my palms. Mists mingled in the shadows of fear. My affinity wrapped around my arms like iridescent snakes.
With slow, careful motions I raised my hands. “If the queen takes my memory, tell Jonas he was a good husband while it lasted.”
“I’ll pass on the word.”
