A sob hiccups through my chattering teeth.
“Shh,Yegmenka,” he murmurs, kissing the tip of my nose. “Annul your bargain and remove the glamour. I want to see your face.”
“Two…” Bohdan drawls.
“I release you of our bargain, Konstantin Korol!” The loathed words streak up my aching throat and score the air.
I pray Konstantin has a plan and the energy to execute it, because I’m fading fast.
52
KONSTANTIN
Although my lungs feel as tattered as the crumbling rags cloaking me, I sigh when I feel the bargain flit from underneath my skin. My chest expands with a second ragged exhale when she draws the glamour from beneath her skin.
I lean over and kiss my weeping princess, then press the providential dagger into her trembling hands and pivot toward Zaslofsky.
“Swear that as long as you wear the Cauldron’s talisman, you will not harm Isla, or any other member of my family, and the necklace is yours,” I say, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other as I leave Isla’s side to deliver my necklace.
The fool repeats my words and tags my name to our bargain.
A band cinches around my bicep as I maneuver around one dead Volkov, then another. Once I’m within arm’s length of Lev’s father, I slide my necklace off my head and dangle the chain between us. I expect to feel weakened, but instead, I feel like I could take on the world and come out the victor. My healed hands probably have something to do with it.
“Here you go, Zaslofsky. All yours,” I say, dangling the platinum chain in front of his fiery shield.
Like the greedy snake that he is, he whips out one arm and snatches my cursed offering.
For a heartbeat, I think of what Isla once told me about Meriam being crafty. What if the magic lingers? Even if it does, my bargain will protect the people I love from his ambitious coup, which is all that truly matters.
“Will you still be sharing my medallion with Ksenia?” I ask as I crouch to retrieve Vasily’s gun and proceed to sling the leather strap across my chest.
“Not much point sharing with the dead.” Bohdan hums some little victory tune as though my sister’s existence meant nothing to him…as though his squadron of mutineers doesn’t litter the floor.
“She’s not dead.” Isla’s voice is agonizingly hoarse from Bohdan’s inferno.
I squint through the thinning fire encircling Ksenia and her deranged partner, focusing on the slumped woman—searching for the flutter of a pulse or the twitch of a muscle.
“Probably will be soon, though.” Bohdan snuffs out his flames, plunging the wagon into almost complete darkness.
Only the wall sconce at his back remains intact, spitting light over him and Ksenia. Picking up his tune once more, he unclips his gorget and tosses it aside, then tucks his prize into his cuirass.
“No, because I didn’t use iron,” Isla says as I pivot and catch her lambent stare. “Her fate was not mine to determine.”
I’ve lost so much blood that I teeter as I walk toward her. To avoid making a fool of myself in front of the woman I intend to love until my dying breath, I lower my gaze to the floor to map out every last hurdle.
Something clatters—the dagger. It now shines beside her boots. I whip my head up so fast that my neck cracks in time with my pulse. Why did she drop it? Her cheeks, that are hers again, sparkle with tears that wring beats from my heart.
“I thought you never wept,Yegmenka?” Though I add a smile, my quip merely seems to heighten her sorrow.
The bullet…it must be reaping havoc. I need to get it out of her body before the obsidian powder leaks into her heart and stills it like it stopped Aodhan’s. Perhaps I can blow the blasted thing out with my magic…
She palms her mouth, trembling hard. Trembling is good. Trembling means the igneous rock hasn’t breached her beautiful heart.
“Mimi lied.” Her murmur trespasses the barrage of her blood-stained fingers.
“Doesn’t matter,” I rasp. “The terms of my bargain will keep Bohdan from harming us.”
She blinks wide, wet, violet eyes at me. Gods, I love her. May Lorcan not take her away from me.
