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“You remember what I told you then? To slice at Sabain, all you must do is make him think you see him as a weakling. You will earn his temper. Hit your marks, Malin. I beg of you.”
“Consider it done, Nightrender.”
Kase had kissed me. He’d stripped me bare. He’d loved my body hard and soft, gentle and fierce until the sun broke over the hills.
* * *
I watched,unmoving as two skydguard quickly tethered my wrists behind my back and bent me over a stone block, rendering me immobile.
They could do anything to me. Perhaps they would. It was the risk we knew was always there. After capturing me, the way folk could batter me as long as a magisk collar was on my neck was always one of the darkest risks.
“Touch her,” Ari’s rough voice rang out in the cell next to mine, “and I will see to it not only my king, but the Malevolent you all fear so much will find you, take your wives, and slaughter your children in front of you.”
“You have no room to speak, fae,” one guard said. “You are behind bars.”
“For now. But you know as well as I, your new king will wish to make alliances with the North. Who better to speak for the North than the royal ambassador? But I assure you, King Valen and Queen Elise do not take kindly to men with such weak manhood that they must force themselves on a woman.”
The skydguard held my wrists, but both snorted their disgust.
“We aren’t going to touch under her skirts,” a guard muttered. “But I’ll keep the bitch contained any way I like.”
With that he tugged, harder than necessary, until the queen’s ring was removed from my finger.
Mark two.
Once the ring was gone, they tossed me to the ground and slammed the barred door behind them.
I scrambled to the bars, breathing heavily, and reached an arm out for the guards. “No, wait. You don’t understand the power of that ring. You don’t know what it can do. Return it to me, gods, please.”
Cruel, deep laughter echoed through the dungeon corridors. From the shadows, Niall emerged. A thick, bear fur cloak draped his shoulders. More runes had been inked on his cheekbones. His hair was kept shorn on the sides with a long braid down the center of his head like a fin.
Niall had grown broader, angrier, and more arrogant. Clearly, from the gleam in his eyes, he knew he’d won.
“I do love when a woman begs.” Niall plucked the queen’s ring from the guard’s fingers and studied it. The runes glowed faintly as he crouched in front of me.
“Do not wear that ring, Niall,” I whispered. “You know what became of your father.”
“Yes, I do. And I promise you, Malin Strom, I am not the fool Ivar was. The reason I sent him away. I could not tolerate such weakness. I have a great many plans for this ring and how it will grow my kingdom. You have a grand role to play.” Niall handed the ring to a wizened old man who looked like he’d started to rot in his worship robes. The holy man took the ring with a cloth and folded the glow of the runes beneath it. Niall rose, staring down at me in the dark. “I had planned to keep you in one of the royal chambers in the palace. I thought our talks of peace might go better after you’d rested comfortably.”
“I doubt it.”
“Yes. Now, I agree. I am told you have been, and will be, nothing but trouble.” Niall curled his fists around the bars. “But consider this, Malin. If you misbehave, if I return and find you have fought at all, thenshewill pay the price.”
A door clanged open, and guards dragged a whimpering Dagny into the light.
“Dag! No.” I made a desperate reach for her.
“I could use a concubine,” Niall said. “It is a pity your folk send so many of you out into the forest unaccompanied and unarmed. I thought my foolish brother cared for the woman.”
Dagny cried out in pain as the skydguard forced her to her knees.
“Leave her, you bastard.”
Niall leaned close to me, close enough I could feel his breath on my face. “Behave, or Dagny will live her life on her back, tied to my bed, until I take her body so much her heart gives out.”
I trembled, fists tight at my sides, but I relented. I gave in and nodded mutely.
“Good girl.” Niall clicked his tongue and strode past Dagny.
