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He cupped her chin. “These are our enemies, and they hold a power that gives them an advantage over us. This is our way to claim this battle, a way that two born of Elven blood will hold thrones and is for the benefit of your kin. You must understand there is pain that is used for a greater good.”
Skadi shook her head, whimpering.
Fione moved in front of me. “Expose her heart.”
Larsson didn’t hesitate before slicing a small knife down the neckline of the nightdress until the swells of my breasts and tops of my nipples were exposed. “No wonder my brother kept you all to himself, Lady. Lovely.”
Fione huffed and hurried to add her pungent herbs to her bowl. The same knife carved down the cleft of my breasts. I screamed and tried to pull away without causing the blade to shift and stab my heart.
“Arion, do not allow this on our lands! Do not bring hatred here!” Skadi cried.
“Do it now, or I take this isle by force, Skadinia.”
“And you will destroy the bonds of trust and kin,” she seethed. “You will be a wretched king from the start should you take the shadow clan before the proper time.”
Arion tightened his grip on her chin, voice low. “I will do everything it takes to secure my birthright. You understand?”
“You cannot harm—”
“If I am victorious, what will it matter if he lives or dies?” Arion shouted. “I will, by blood, have earned the position of sovereign of both clans; I will have you.”
“I’ll never agree.”
Arion sneered. “I will be your king; you will not have a choice.But refuse to aid me and my kin in this battle, and I will not soon forget your resistance to your future king.”
The prince had someone he was using against Skadi. Clearer than ever, the woman was a prisoner in her own realm.
“Hesitate longer, woman,” Larsson said, “and you will be marked a traitor against us. Find the bond and take it.”
Fione stroked a delicate finger down my cheek. “It is time to tear that heartbond from your body.”
No. Death did not await me here. They were after mybond.
“I detest you,” Skadi said, but around her shoulders, billows of satin mist coiled over her fingers and the blue of her eyes flashed like silver caps on a night sea.
Cruel hands wrenched me to the side. My bare chest was hovered over a mortar, blood dripping onto the clay.
Fear throttled my airway.I am Livia. . .I am Livia Ferus. . .
Cold, harsh and consuming, dug into my skin around the wound.
“That’s better,” Arion said.
Through the blur of tears, I could make out the red of his hair hunched over a weeping Skadi. Black mists slithered over the tiles like the ghosts of fallen serpents until their chill coiled around my arms, my wrists, then dove into my heart.
Fione added a thick, tar-like substance to the bowl and my blood, chanting a strange spell that guided the darkness to scoop blood into the mortar.
“Steal it away, elven,” the sea witch said. “Then I will ensure no new bond from the House of Kings can be fashioned.”
Gods, I hoped Erik knew how fiercely I’d loved him. So short a time, yet he’d been the center of my existence. I hoped he would not lose himself when this was over.
More blood was dragged from the wound. More mists tugged and yanked at my sinews, like cold fingers massaging my heart.
I writhed and thrashed until Larsson cursed me again and gripped my hair to the roots, holding me steady.
“The pain will be over soon, Lady,” he crooned. “In truth, I doubtyou’ll feel much distress over Bloodsinger at all after this. You might even want me to end him for what he did to you.”
Tendrils of darkness dug into my breastbone. Whimpers and sobs followed from across the room. Murmured apologies, mutterings of fear. Skadi did not want this. The shadows threaded through bone and flesh, dark needles and thread.
