Page 46 of Winter Gods & Serpents

“Why did you have to go this far?” I asked. Why did I ask? Did I not know who she was and what she was?

Her tongue swept over her top lip and she smiled. “Catharsis? It appears to be achieved one scream at a time.” She threw me a wink and then the bloodied handkerchief before backing away, turning to leave.

I stared a long while at the red soiled white square of cloth before turning around to Nesrin. “You knew her?”

She’d paled, clutching a hand over her chest. “Yes, but I never knew she was the princess.”

“That was the spawn of all evil? She is just as vile as they have made her, the sick bitch,” Grey spat looking towards the closed doors of the Zone of Peace.

I felt the nerve jump in Mal’s head and I prayed to gods no one ended with a broken nose.

“That sick bitch caught four Adriatians trespassers, and captain your skills might not be as great as mine, but we all saw the shadows on that man,” he spat as predicted.

“They only crossed the wall, they did not murder younglings,” countered Grey in a disgusted expression at my brothers reaction.

“No, but we did, and for that this wall rose and they became criminals and then dead. Do you need to be sent to preparation school again? Is this who you appoint captain, Kil?” he reached an inch away from Grey’s face who also seemed on edge, just the other edge.

“Calm, Malik,” Nesrin interfered getting between them. “We can see there is no right in this situation, but she chose to show too much evil for us to take this lightly.”

Mal laughed imperceptibly. “I am calm, Nes, but if I had been her,” he sneered pointing towards the gates, “I’d fucking lose it too. So how about you stick to dotting on my brother and stop playing saint. Was Stregor not in the attack twelve years ago? Maybe your father is the one who killed her mother too, we’d never know, but he has such fond heart in torturing the weak.”

Nesrin stepped back in disbelief, her eyes dropping to the ground, her shadows embarrassed and angry but no guilt.

Mal laughed all distaste noting it too, the disregard many had for what was done to her.

“Enough, Mal,” I interfered at his rudeness.

He rose his brows in challenge. “Why brother, did I say something wrong?”

I tilted my head in warning, but he had no intention of backing down so I said, “Maybe Sitara will make you figure it out.” He was not a child to be punished, but he was also a grown up to behave so hot blooded.

“Maybe, maybe not. I am surrounded by enough beasts in here it won’t be much change in scenery, they stink as foul as your attitudes,” he added, before turning to leave.

Grey’s eyes followed him intently with a glare till he left. “He always has a soft spot for the oddest creatures, didn’t expect him to caress the emotions of that ybris too, as if one can have any.”

I pocketed the bloodied handkerchief. “That is because he understands people better, not just as an Empath.”

He was particularly sensitive when it came to the attack twelve years ago, never rested pointing the consequences of it. It satisfied him when the council would go silent at the mention of their mistake.

“Are you saying he is right?”

“No,” I responded, planting a hand on his shoulder. “But it’s in his nature to be compassionate and with that I cannot argue. He will aid you in Sitara till the villagers have returned to their houses.”

At the mention of the sealine city Grey blanched. “It might take us a while. It was a colony of basilisks and they’d laid eggs a few villages west as well.”

“I don’t understand, are gods mad at us?” Nesrin jumped, her voice soft in worry. “Eudemons have never left their underwater sanctuaries; they hate land and they’re sick at the taste of human flesh. Why are these creatures washing up on our shores?” She scowled in concern. “We have been plagued, our lands sick for months and now this—last thing we needed was her.”

I clutched the handkerchief on my pocket tightly. “She is to bring our salvation, the last misfortune is not Adriata's to carry, it is the king's.”

Chapter 12

Prices and Payments

Snowlin

The pregnant woman kicked, screamed, and cursed almost all of the way to Tenebrose. I did not know how the Winter court would react to me bringing an Adriatian back to their lands, but that did not worry me as much as my father's reaction to killing Esbern Kirkwall.

The evening had grown cold, our horses tired and having a pregnant woman slowing us down did not help. We stopped and camped for the night as hours awaited ahead before arriving to the castle. We wasted most of the time afternoon rampaging through Kirkwall for evidence related to the crossings and helping Sebastian, the soldier we left in charge, adjust to his newly appointed duties.