“Our desires align,” I said. “We could help each other. The king finding the Wanderer’s bones frightens you. Why? What would happen?”
Hot, crimson eyes locked with mine. Teeth clicked. A low rumble of a growl rattled from somewhere in his cloak of shadows. “The power of all. A new Wanderer, a lord over the lands. All the gods’ power would once more belong to one. A soul to corrupt, a soul to enslave, a soul to rule all.”
“Because soul bones from the Wanderer would have every vein of craft. Is that why? He was the last to have all three. Only melding had to be shown to him, a craft used for greed.”
Skul Drek hummed his agreement.
I faced another hooked claw, watching my fingers meld thegolden hook to the gleam of Hundur’s form. “I don’t want Damir to have all the power. I want to be free. Perhaps you do, too, from whatever curse keeps you killing for the sake of soul bones.”
Half of Skul Drek’s face was hidden in darkness, like a mask of night, but his eyes flashed like he might’ve grinned. “You brighten the night, Melder.” A coil of shadows flicked the golden band between our hearts.
He spoke in riddles, but there was meaning underneath it all. I simply needed to discover it.
Another step closer. I could breathe in the salt and chill of his skin beneath the darkness. “I want to help. I don’t want any more deaths.Idon’t want to die.”
Copper red deepened in his eyes. A coil of darkness wrapped around my throat, not enough to choke off air, but enough I could not move. I wasn’t certain I wanted to.
“Once you know, you cannot unknow. I speak the truth to you, then you cannot betray it.” His shadowed mouth brushed across my ear. I held my breath. “Or I will find you; I will end you. I will not be able to stop.”
“I want to know.”
Without a word, Skul Drek stepped back and sat atop a heap of darkness that could’ve been a mirrored chair or windowsill.
“The first king lies in places unseen.”
“Places?”
“Four.” Skul Drek spoke clearer, firmer. As though I were speaking to a simple man and not some spectral of a killer. “Four pieces to make the bearer the gods’ ruler of their craft. The arm, to swing the sword as the first king. The ribs, to wear his armor. The breast, to have his warrior’s heart. And the skull, to claim his wisdom.”
I pressed a hand to my stomach, ignoring the final two fingersof Hundur, and knelt in front of Skul Drek. “Are thebonesof the Wanderer all here in Stonegate?”
Skul Drek clicked his tongue twice. “I do not know, but…some have felt close.”
Closecould mean the damn fjord beyond the wall, for all I knew. “This is why your ravagers hunt the Stav. To slaughter them before anyone can stumble onto the Wanderer’s bones.”
“And to leave fewer warriors for the Thief King.”
“What if you’re wrong?” I said. “What if the Jorvan king is hunting only for soul bones to build his army? He rarely keeps them for himself. You might be slaughtering people for nothing.”
“So sure?”
I added another bone to the glow of Hundur’s hands. “No, I’m not sure, and that is the reason I’m asking you.”
“Should the Thief King find the power he seeks, those he has bound to new souls will bend the knee to their first king.”
“I don’t understand.”
Skul Drek hissed like I’d angered him. “The Wanderer’s soul commands all craft and it will bow to him. Soul bones are crafted, are they not? Manipulated and filled with a melder’s touch.” Skul Drek’s eyes turned a poisonous sort of red. “No crafted soul will be free of their king and all will bend the knee to the new Wanderer.”
Shit. King Damir was not simply crafting Berserkirs.
He was crafting an indestructible empire where no one could stand against him.
“I want to find the bones.” I lifted my gaze to Skul Drek. “I want to find them, so he never does.”
He cocked his head. “To hunt the bones you must take them. You will be hunted in turn.”
“Then stop.” My voice came sharp and edged in ice. “You arethe one hunting and attacking us. Stop doing so and give me time to help.”
