Page 22 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

Somehow, I had managed to pull away from her before committing to my thoughts.

Chapter six

Sage Zinnias

Thora

My fingers were sore from the number of arrows I’d shot. The torches lining the temple altar that led to Krig’s statue stirred when I shot another one that etched right on his left eye, cracking the old stone.

Skadi clicked her tongue at the number of arrows already piling around the castle temple where no one but me was allowed to enter.

A small whine leaked out of the man tied in front of the sculpture—in the front of the God that would abandon him at my hands. Iskyla’s husband had soon run out of curses and was now on the last leg of his fate—begging. But I was no god. At least he’d said so. That meant begging wouldn’t work on me, unfortunately.

“Look at that. I missed again,” I said, nocking my last arrow back and aiming it right between his eyes.

He shook his head hard, moaning and groaning as he struggled against the binds containing him.

“You’re going to anger her by keeping him here any longer,” Skadi said, settling against a wall.

“Why for?” I asked, releasing my bow. When the arrow hit just a hair away from his brains, I gave Skadi a grin. “An eye for an eye. Why would she be upset?”

“Your wolves raided her village searching for him. You breached her territory.”

I’d waited and anticipated her attack on Tenebrose that night. I had been waiting for a reason to enter her land and she’d given it to me. “She breached first, and my ladies hurt no one,” I said, placing my bow back on its quiver and bending to give my wolves some scratches. “Not a single person. They didn’t even hurt him. I'm playing by the book.”

“How long do you think you can cheat the rules for?”

“I didn’t cheat. Those rules were put by me. They can also be void when I decide so.”

She shook her head and made her exit. “You have a guest.”

Moriko looked around the temple and frowned, just not at the man I’d tied and gagged. When she finally gave him some of her bored attention, she said, “I’ve never seen a man tied up with silk before.”

“It’s pretty,” I said, leading her outside the temple grounds and onto my private gardens, offering her to sit down on a table already laid with drinks and snacks. “Like a little present.” Silk soaked the blood better and left barely any marks on the skin if I wanted to be discreet. Silk was gentle, soft, yet one of the toughest materials to exist.

“He is still breathing.”

“I have a feeling his death has not been written yet. My mark keeps missing.”

“Or you’re just planning to use him for something and are wearing his poor soul down first.”

“Ah, but you’re making it seem like I’m torturing him.”

“Aren’t you?”

“I don’t know. He’s never said anything against it.”

“That might have to do with the fact that you’ve gagged him.”

“Semantics. Tea?” I asked, picking my special porcelain tea set that Nia had gifted for my engagement to Erik. She knew my taste well. It had been too pretty to not use.

“I’m sure my advisors would strongly suggest I say no,” she muttered, but pushed her teacup for me to fill. “I thought you would have released him back to her by now.”

“Are you here advocating on Iskyla’s behalf?” I sipped my warm tea. “That would really upset me.”

She sighed the same type of sigh she usually sighed at my sister. “I’m here about the White Veil. There are rumours of its sighting circulating in Hanai now, too many people are talking. Different from Isjordians, my people seem to believe that the odds might turn, that we could possibly be facing the anger of the gods yet again.”

“I hope you’ve put those doubts and fears to rest.”