Raye still couldn’t stop staring, couldn’t think, couldn’t draw the pieces together. Kalfr had a bond with Sybil, Kalfr had lied, and now…
“I just want it gone,” Sybil said, her voice cracking. “I just want to find him, and find a way to be finally free of him, so I can live my fuckinglifeagain.”
Raye’s throat convulsed, as all this chaotic mess began lining itself up, into one neat row after the next. Kalfr had built a bond with Sybil. And this entire time, Sybil had been feeling that draw toward Kalfr, that longing, maybe even that miserable helpless sickness Raye had felt. And Sybil had been hunting him down, trying to… to…
“So were you actually trying to kill him?” Raye asked slowly. “Or to capture him? Or did you just… want him back?”
That drawing of Sybil’s naked body flared behind Raye’s eyes, and real-life Sybil shrugged, barked a laugh. “Any of it, I don’t care,” she said. “Whatever it took. And when he finally stopped moving, hunkered down in that little fortress he built, I thought I could finally gather some reinforcements, and trap him there, and finish it.”
More comprehension slammed through Raye’s thoughts, heaving the breath from her lungs. Goddess, that explained so much, didn’t it? It explained why Sybil had been so determined. Why she hadn’t been willing to negotiate. Even why she’d sent that letter, that ridiculous portrait. Just needing to get at Kalfr, in any way she could.
“And you couldn’t have just — explained?” Raye asked. “You couldn’t have just written to Kalfr about the bond, and asked for his help fixing it? Or arranged to ask another orc, somehow?”
“Ididarrange to ask another orc,” Sybil replied, her voice flat. “And I was told every orc knows there’s no undoing this horrid bond magic. I can either wait for it to fade, for gods know how long — or I can move far away, or I can kill the bastard I’mbonded to. Or, best case scenario” — she barked a bitter laugh — “I can find him, and start fucking him again.”
Even the thought churned in Raye’s stomach, and she fought to focus, to think. She was brave. She was strong. She was Bautul. She would keep trusting Kalfr, please, goddess, please…
“Look,” she said, on a deep breath, holding Sybil’s eyes. “I’m sure there’s a way we can — help you.”
Sybil blinked, astonishment flaring in her eyes, and Raye took another breath. “I lived apart from Kalfr for a long time,” she continued, “even while we had the bond, and I made it work. And maybe there are other ways your orc contact didn’t know about, too.”
Sybil blinked again, and took an uncertain step backwards, shaking her head. “You’re lying,” she said. “You wouldn’t help me. Especially if you’re really — hismate.”
Her lip curled on the word, the jealousy again flashing through her eyes, and Raye sent up another desperate prayer to the goddess. “I would,” she replied. “I know what it’s like to be afraid and alone. And I know, if Kalfr really promised you he would help you” — she swallowed, tried to smile — “he would do everything within his power to keep his vow. And he would want me to help you, too.”
Sybil kept shaking her head, staggering another step backwards. “You can’t know that,” she countered. “He lied to me. He betrayed me. Hehatesme.”
Raye shook her head, too, and gave Sybil a sad smile. “Kalfr is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met,” she said thickly. “He’s been so good to me, and to all his kin. I know he’d be good to you, too.”
She meant every word of it, even as the jealousy cramped and rebelled in her gut. Could she handle Kalfr beinggoodto this beautiful woman who had shared his bed? Could Raye really trust him, in something like this? Could she be sure hewouldn’t end up deciding to help by fucking Sybil just the way she wanted?
But Raye didn’t take it back. Just waited, holding herself upright, trying, trusting. If helping Sybil could end all of this mess for good, and keep her family safe — she would do it. She would.
And Sybil was considering it, rubbing her hand at her mouth, closing her eyes. Looking exhausted, defeated, and…
And then she lunged for the fire, whipped up her dagger, and charged straight for Raye’s throat.
67
It was only Raye’s training that saved her. Only the hundreds of times Gaelfr had rushed straight toward her, saying,Strike me, sæta. Harder.
And when Sybil rushed at her, that knife pointed at her throat, Raye’s instinct flared on its own, before she’d followed it. Her leg snapping up fast and hard, striking straight for Sybil’s bollocks.
Despite Sybil’s lack of actual bollocks, the kick still landed with dizzying force. Hard enough that Sybil shrieked and staggered forward, her blade jerking — and instead of stabbing Raye in the throat, it caught sharp and white-hot on her collarbone, and cut down toward her heart.
Raye choked at the sudden blast of burning pain, and she kicked up again, swinging both arms up, too. Striking Sybil off balance, and knocking the knife back hard enough that its pointed tip nearly jabbed straight into Sybil’s eye.
“You fat fuckingcow!” Sybil screamed, hurling the knife sideways — and only then did Raye scent the burning flesh, from where Sybil’s hands had gripped the knife in the fire. “How fuckingdareyou!”
She staggered toward the barred door, clutching at the latches with her burned hands, the skin already blistered and blackening. And after Raye’s brief glance down at her own wound — it was still stinging and bleeding, but it looked shallow, at least — she lunged toward Sybil, and dragged her away from the door. “Don’t touch it, you fool!” she barked. “Don’t make your burns any worse!”
Sybil kicked and flailed against Raye’s grip, but her movements were surprisingly weak, and perhaps she’d begun to feel the pain, because her face looked pale and sweaty, the whites showing all around her eyes. “Help!” she screeched, toward the door. “Help me, you fools! She’s trying to kill me!”
The men’s thumping behind the door hadn’t ceased, and now their shouts rose higher, and one of them hollered for the others to run and get an axe. Spiking cold panic through Raye’s already-howling thoughts, because that would be one surefire way they could get in, wouldn’t it? Apart from setting a fire? And curse it, even if she turned and ran this instant, shot straight for that tunnel in Svein’s bedroom, Sybil would still alert the men to the tunnel. And they would send their dog out to find the entrance, and secure both ends, trap Raye inside…
“Help!” Sybil hollered again. “She’s got a sword! She’s trying to kill me!”
She lunged for the door again, shoving the backs of her burned hands against the heavy steel bars, and Raye bit out an aggravated groan as she lunged forward and hooked her arm around Sybil’s neck from behind, yanking her squealing body into one of Gaelfr’s favourite holds, while also glancing desperately around the room. Apart from the bars on the windows and doors, there was no obvious place to bind Sybil, no options to get her out of the damned way — and Raye couldn’t risk stashing her in Svein’s room, either, where she would see the tunnel, and call it out to the men. And thanks to Raye’s ownthoroughness, there was no other exit out of the cottage, beyond the tunnel and the door. And what could she do, how could she possibly escape this?
