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I swallowed, my skin prickling. I had the creeping feeling that I would never see the man again.
Just like that.
“Enough of this!” a voice shouted from the other side of the harbor gate, just loud enough to be heard. “Return my wife to me at once!”
My brow shot up. I knew next to nothing about the Good Port politics behind the spy conspiracy, but I knew enough to know that if the Arzumanyan family had come to the gates of the Hakobyan family, there was about to be hell to pay.
As if to confirm that thought, Lord Vikhrov turned away from Magnus and shouted, “Bloody hell, what now?” He faced Magnus again with a scowl and roared, “Alright, let them in. Bring a war down on our head, for all I care.”
Lord Vikhrov marched away from Magnus and the boat gate, looking like he would throttle his daughter for causing such a scene.
Olympus, Lefric, and Billie jumped out of the way, giving Lord Vikhrov a clear path to walk up to his daughter and the gate. Zendaya tried to shake out of Patrius’s and take a step forward to meet him, but was held back.
“You are no father of mine if you treat me this way,” she shouted anyhow.
I was astounded at her boldness, particularly since I had a feeling her game was up and she’d been out-played.
But that wasn’t what snagged my attention.
The boat gate was opened, and Jorgen Iceblade and Hati, along with half a dozen other men, including two young ones who must have been the pups Sebald had told me about on the boat, walked through.
“Who are they?” Hayk asked. I could tell from his tone and his expression that he liked the look of Jorgen. Hell, everyone liked the look of Jorgen Iceblade, even me.
“That’s Jorgen Iceblade and his mate, Hati, and those are probably their pups and attendants with them,” I said, then added, “Don’t get any ideas. That bed is already crowded.”
Hayk laughed, but I only barely heard it. The report that afternoon had been that Jorgen and Hati wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow. They must have pushed to get there in the middle of the night.
“Well, so far, I don’t think much of Good Port,” Jorgen said, stepping forward to shake Magnus’s hand.
Magnus leaned in and said something to him too quiet for me to hear, then nodded to the other gate.
That was where the real drama was underway.
“Unhand me at once,” Zendaya shouted. She was still trying to get away from patrius when Hayk and I turned to watch. “And I demand you let Kendrick in, Father. He is my husband.”
“And he is very likely a traitor to Good Port and all of the frontier,” Lord Vikhrov shouted right back, every bit as irate as his daughter. “You are too, for all I know.”
“Me? A traitor?” Zendaya shrank away from her father, her eyes wide.
Even in the torchlight, it was clear the accusation had taken her by surprise. Whether it had done so because she had no idea what the Arzumanyan family was up to or because she was in a panic over being caught, I couldn’t tell.
Lord Vikhrov surprised me even more by bellowing, “Fine! If you want to bring traitors into your father’s estate, we’ll open all the gates and let everyone in. Open the gate at once.”
The order startled even Magnus, who heard it as he continued to murmur greetings to Jorgen and Hati and their entourage. Magnus whipped around to glare at Lord Vikhrov, but he couldn’t do anything as Lord Vikhrov pushed his way through the cluster of his family and their guards at the gate.
“What in the name of the Goddess is going on?” Hayk murmured, stepping closer to me.
“I have no idea,” I said, “but I have a feeling it’s not going to turn out the way Lady Zendaya and her husband think it is.”
No sooner had I finished saying that then one of the guards unlocked the gate. It flew open as though pushed hard from the outside, and the guard was knocked over.
“How dare you barge in here in such a manner and injure my guards?” Lord Vikhrov demanded of the man who led the group that flooded into the estate.
“How dare you keep my wife from me?” the man said.
I assumed he was Kendrick Arzumanyan. He wasn’t at all what I expected. He was short, for one, with reddish hair and a swarthy complexion. Lady Zendaya moved to stand beside him, and the sight of two people who were so mismatched physically almost hurt my eyes. Zendaya was taller than her husband, but Kendrick’s size didn’t stop him from throwing himself around as though he believed he was the most powerful man there.
Lord Kendrick was far from the only person to enter the estate. Ox and Katrina pushed their way past the cluster at the gate and made straight for Magnus. Ox in particular looked as though she were escaping a horde of some sort, and when I glanced back to the gate to see a tall man with dark hair who looked a great deal like Ox, I assumed it was her father, Lord Ivor Lobe. Ox hadn’t been able to avoid her family for the duration of our stay after all.
