“With friends like you three, who even needs enemies?” I point out, tittering as I work to get a hold of myself. “You’re so certain that everyone is obsessed with you, but have you even considered for a moment that it’s not about you at all?” I ask, trying and failing to rein in my amusement. “You keep saying I’m here to infiltrate your stupid Order, but how can I do that if I’m dead?” I demand, as though it’s all so simple.
Laugh tears slip down my cheeks, and I dash them away as I take in the three skeletons and the pompous expressions on each of their glamoured faces.
“I’ve been commanded to kill an Order member, and as much as Ihateto piss on the fine impressions each of you have of yourselves, it has nothing to do with you,” I tell them, spelling it out when it’s clear they’re too dense and sure of themselves to fully grasp what I’m saying.
I know it’s stupid to be repeating any of this, but I just can’t stand how arrogant they are. I thought in the beginning that the kill order might be for one of them, but after replaying Tilleo’s words over and over again in my mind, none of the Scorpions fit the bill. He said whoever it waslikes to play with females who haven’t been broken yet. Yes, I’ve shown attitude and gotten away with it when it comes to these three, but I’m not picking up any of thetorture the innocent for funvibes that I got when Tilleo was vaguely describing who my mark will be.
I could be wrong, but my instincts are telling me I’m not. Either way, I’ve got nothing to lose, and I can’t pass up the opportunity to put these self-righteous pricks in their place, not when that gift has landed right in my lap like this.
“Tilleo’s going to violate the sanctum?” Skull points out, as though it alone is proof that what I’m saying is impossible.
“Like I said, I can’t infiltrate shit when I’m dead,” I lob back, sighing against the bone-deep fatigue that’s working hard to sap me of every ounce of energy I have right now.
I close my eyes for a beat and then decide it’s not worth the effort to try to open them again.
“Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to pass out. But have fun stroking each other’s cocks while cooing away about just how big and important you all are. This whole time I thought the realms revolved around the four kingdoms, but now I know how wrong I was. It’s been all about your little circle jerk this whole time. I can die happy now that I know,” I say with a tired laugh and far too much mirth. “Remind me to bow down when I’m all healed up, wouldn’t want to waste the opportunity to worship you like you so clearly worship yourselves,” I add, the words slipping closely into an unintelligible slur as my limbs grow heavier and sleep nips at my heels.
“Who has Tilleo ordered you to kill?” Scorpius demands, his face suddenly so close that I can feel the heat of his words against my mouth.
He smells good, like rich leather and sleek elven steel. There’s a hint of something sweet there too, something oddly floral, but I don’t know what it is. I resist the urge to shove my face closer to his to sniff out what it might be…but just barely.
“I don’t have a name, just a description. Go ask him yourself if you want to know so badly,” I grump, trying to wave him away, but my arm feels too leaden to actually move at the moment, so it’s more of a solitary wobble.
“What does he look like?” Bones asks, and I can taste the sliver of desperation in it.
“He looks like the end of everything I ever wanted for my life,” I tell them sullenly, and then, just like that, my mind and body decide they’ve had enough, and everything around me fades away.
ChapterFifteen
SKULL
“What in the orc tits was that?” I ask, rounding on my brothers as the flaps to our tent close and the wards envelop us.
“I don’t even know,” Scorpius admits, running his hands through his hair, his stare far away and equally confused.
“I didn’t see things going down like that,” Bones adds, his own gaze also contemplative like he’s shoving around everything we just learned until it all lines up in a way that makes sense, except none if it does.
“Who the fuck would Tilleo want to kill bad enough to violate the sanctum of the Bidding?” I throw out, knowing that neither of them have any more information than I do, but I need to say it out loud just to try to wrap my mind around it.
“We were so certain the trap was for us, but—”
“She could be lying,” Scorpius interrupts, but I can tell not evenhebelieves that.
“Why does she talk like we’ve all been here before?” I ask, again needing to put a voice to my inner confusion so I can try to see what it is we’re all missing here.
“I told you that there’s something about her that’s familiar to me,” Bones emphatically reiterates.
I didn’t put much stock in his claim before. Bones can be like that, seeing signs and hints of destiny where there’s nothing. But right now, I also feel like I’ve somehow forgotten something. It’s on the tip of my tongue, so close and yet somehow impossible to reach. I pace at the foot of my pallet, grumbling with frustration as I smooth my hair back. I think through everything Auset just said to us, examining each word and syllable like the clues I know they are. Her rich voice teases my memories, her questions demanding my attention, and then I see it. I seeher. Plain as day, younger, terrified, huddled in a corner, clutching blades covered in orc blood.
“Fuck,” I whisper on a weary exhale as the memory comes crashing to the surface with a force that rocks everything inside of me.
Both of my brothers look over expectantly, and I know my face looks haunted as that night plays out again in my mind. I’ve never given it much thought since then. There were bigger things at stake, so why would I have wondered about what happened to the frail creature we found in the corner that night? But now, seeing her again, seeing what became of that scared, doomed girl, I realize just how fucked up that is.
“She was there,” I tell them, my tone tortured as I drop my head into my hands and feel a wave of shame move over me. “She was there the night we executed Dorsin,” I continue, and realization dawns in Bones’s face while Scorpius runs through everything that happened that night in his mind, trying to place her.
“Fuck,” Bones echoes, and I plop down on the soft cushion of my pallet, my legs suddenly shaky with guilt. “The girl in the corner,” he recalls, paling just like I did, finally understanding what Auset was talking about.
“I offered to kill her,” I croak as Scorpius exhales his ownfuckand then stomps over to grab a glass from the liquor cart and promptly fills it with bloodwine.
