“Words and rumors are valuable—many are even true—but I want to see you in action. Tonight. I have some rubbish I’ve been meaning to deal with for quite some time.”
Cheers erupt around us with all the women banging their goblets against the table.
Ra'Salore speaks next, clearly surprised. “You want us to kill someone tonight?”
Mrath angles her chin upward and smiles. It is a lethal look.
“How long has the king’s mate been with the giants? Ten days? I hear he’s been dragging her around… on a leash.”
Rage burns hot inside my body, and my tail flicks out behind me angrily. She knows far more than she was trying to let on earlier. She knows that Estela is my mate; she has spies in Zlosa.
“Of what do you speak?”
She shrugs. “Rholker brought a very strange group of women to handle her. She seems quite docile these days, which is a shame. I was hoping to see what kind of fire she spits out when threatened.”
“So, she’s alive and unharmed?” I ask, desperate, fighting the shaking anger inside me. There are no crystals to calm me down, no gentle embrace of the caves. I must control myself.
“Alive, yes. Unharmed? Well, you’ll have to see for yourself.If you pass the test,” she says with a grin.
A thousand scenarios pass through my mind. I see Estela’s back, the scars, the bruises. I think of her hands, her fingers. Her hair. Her feet.
Gods on their stoney thrones, what have they done to her?
“Are we in agreement then?” Mrath asks again.
I blink, looking up at her. She wants me to kill one of her targets to prove that I can help her with her brother. Killing is nothing new to me. I’ve killed enough people that my hands will be stained red forever.
My people are my redemption. I have done awful things for them—to keep them safe. To keep them alive. Estela isn’t just one of my people—she is my mate.
I look up at Mrath and stare straight into her smirking face. She looks as if she doesn’t believe I will agree to her terms.
“When we were married, I spoke a vow to my wife. I told her that I would protect her with my power, influence, and my own body. You think I am too noble to do this thing—I see it written over your face. You think The Butcher has grown soft.” I tighten my fists. “Give me your target, and I will finish it beforemorning.”
Mrath’s mocking smile fades. She stands up on her throne.
“Very well. Off you go—you will find your instructions in your camp.”
She snaps her fingers, and then the enclave fades. Seconds later, the camp appears around us. I look at theglacialmaras, which are untouched, as she said they would be.
Pinned to my tent with a dagger is a bloody note and a map.
The map marks something not too far from where we now stand, and the note reads:
You will deal with a woman named Laavi under our protection. Her house is marked on the map I’ve attached—I’m told she sleeps on the second level. Be wary, if she is alerted to your presence she has some nasty enchantments she can trigger that will make you all beg for a swift death.
Laavi. That name… it sparks something in the back of my mind.
“What the hell happened to this place?” Niht says, breaking the thought before it reaches completion. It’s likely just a coincidence, anyway.
I look up and see the enclave right in front of where we were camped. The forest does look different, with four or five grand houses visible through the trees. They aren’t close to each other, but it’s hard to believe we didn’t see them at all when we arrived.
Powerful glamour.
There’s much I have forgotten about the elves.
“It seems as though our eyes have been opened to this hidden place,” I say.
Ulla lets out a short melody as she comes over to help fold up the remains of our camp. Our fire has long since gone out, but our vision allows us to see quite well in the dim light. Herface is open, shining, clearly in awe by all she has seen. I forget how new this is to her.
