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After Sigurd had cleanedup and Charlie returned with food, we ate on the sofas in a strange silence, all staring at each other, unsure how to begin with the questions.
Finally, as Sigurd placed his empty teacup on the coffee table, he said, “Margaret Claudia Jenkins.”
I shuddered. His words felt like ice water washing over me, sweeping me away to the dark places of my memories. Zaide squeezed my hand encouragingly, reminding me of the safe place I had in him.
My voice wobbled as I said, “I don’t consider myself a Jenkins since my marriage lasted only a few hours. But somehow, you knew that.”
“Yes.” He bowed his head.
“Can you tell us how?” Charlie asked, leaning forward. “What happened to you last time you were revived?”
Sigurd tipped his head back, and his eyes glazed with memories. “The witches didn’t know that raising me would also raise him, and they died because of it. He killed them and took their magic. Their power gave him the recovery he needed to escape. I was still too weak to follow him. With the war happening, I thought he’d be in the midst of it, reveling in the chaos. But it was years later, in England, that I found him. I had a dream. I met an akari woman who told me she could see the future and knew where he was, what he was doing. In exchange for the information, she asked me to do something. Before I confronted Fafnir, I was to sneak into his home and place a vial of poison and a note in a box in the floorboards.”
An akari woman …
I gasped. “Nisha?” Although I didn’t move my gaze from Sigurd, I could feel the puzzled gaze of my men.
“Little Cat?”Zaide whispered in my mind.
“It can’t be a coincidence,”Charlie mumbled in an accidental projection.
Sigurd raised a brow. “Do you know of her?”
“I met her in a dream, as you did.” I shook my head. “She told you to place the vial? She wanted me to die?” I don’t know why I felt so betrayed, but my heart stung even as I reasoned that she saved me from a fate worse than death.
Charlie narrowed his eyes on me. “This is why we don’t trust women that steal us from dreams.”
“Did you know she’d come back as a familiar?” Zaide asked, staring blankly at the protector.
Sigurd shook his head.
“Did she? Nisha?” Charlie asked.
Sigurd’s gaze darted between us all. He shrugged and sighed. “If she did, she didn’t tell me. I was very surprised to see you alive.”
I nodded but needed to clarify, so I asked, “Nisha told you to make sure I drank it and died? Or just to place it where I could find it?”
His blue eyes softened with sympathy. “She told me to place it there, but after learning of the horrors he had inflicted on his other wives from the diary, I knew she meant for you to use the bottle to save yourself. I confess I didn’t think about why she might have had interest in you. She was an akari seer but saw visions about a human bride and her feared husband? It didn’t make sense but who am I to question the work of the Fates.”
“You knew what he was going to do to Clawdia and were just going to let it happen?” Charlie hissed, his hands shaking with his anger. “Did you hope that she found the poison before he beat and raped her? You weren’t going to confront him? You know, the fucking thing you were meant to do?”
Sigurd’s eyes bulged as he exclaimed, “No! No. I couldn’t leave. I waited outside, and he came home with a malnourished, dazed, and frightened bride.”
My stomach dropped as I made the realization. “You knocked on the door.” Flashes of the past slapped me like the belt that gouged my back that evening. But I was saved by the knock on the door. Saved by Sigurd.
“I did.” He gave me a small smile, and his eyes brightened. He chuckled and rubbed his chin. “It wasn’t well planned but I could hear screams. I wanted to give you time.”
If he hadn’t knocked when he did …
I frowned and blinked through the memories. “He came back and got his coat,” I whispered.
Sigurd nodded and explained, “I left a pin on the doorstep. A pin that belonged to his father. He died with it, and I took it from the grave. He knew I was out there.”
“That made him grab his coat and leave?” Charlie asked, his brows drawn together.
“There’s nothing Fafnir loves more than attempting to kill me.” He smiled ruefully. “Our rivalry runs deep. He can’t miss an opportunity to attack me when I’m so close.”
