12. Jörmungandr
Jormungandr
Rumor Malefic
My invisible spider, my shadowy and painful companion, clung to the side of my face in a dull ache as I regained awareness.
Had I fainted or had my captor bespelled me unconscious?
My vision cleared and I took in the wet stones of the walls around me.
A trickle sounded behind me, but when I turned, my wrists pulled against my back.
I was bound to a chair.
Pale light filtered in through an above window I could not see. Something squeaked, and I yelped, trying to push backwards as a rodent scurried across the ground.
Great, just perfect. I’d snuck into the Blackthorne Castle to be immediately caught and thrown into a dungeon to rot. Just my freaking luck.
A spell sprang to mind from my childhood.
A spell my matri taught me for untying knots when we’d check the hunting traps.
How’d it go? It’d been ages since I’d hunted.
After Matri and Mother were taken, and the raptures became a common horror instead of a far out dread, and the monsters in the woods became more and more bold because of our weakened numbers—it hadn’t been worth it to risk going in the forest for meat.
Though the hunters of Willowspire were few and far between, mainly the Viper Brothers supplied the town’s meat, so there was no reason to wander too far away from Prism. Plus, the forest only made me miss Matri.
Her words stirred somewhere within me as I closed my eyes, fighting to recall the magic.
“Break the binds, find the?—“
A dark chuckle rumbled from somewhere in the damp darkness.
The man with long white hair stepped forward, his footsteps imperceivable.
His crisp button-down shirt sat rolled up over his thick arms as he stood tall and lean over me.
His hair was white, but his face betrayed no signs of age.
There was something so unsettlingly perfect about how handsome his features were.
It reminded me of the tales the coven would share about the fae princes in the woods.
How they’d lure their human maidens to them with their chiseled perfection.
Though this man didn’t have pointed ears, so he wasn’t a fae.
My words froze in my throat as fear gripped me. I was trapped and at his mercy.
The man maintained piercing eye contact as he turned his chin to speak over his shoulder.
“How’s that one go? Break the binds, bury the lies, kiss her wrists and untie the mind.
” His voice was sing-songing the spell as if it were a nursery rhyme, nevertheless, my heart sank into my gut as my binds went slack and dropped to the ground with a thud.
“It’s been ages since I’ve heard such an elementary incantation. ”
“Are-are you a witch?” I croaked. Did the Blackthorne Boys have witches for guards? Why hadn’t I considered that very terrible possibility?
“Am I a witch ?” The man raised his eyebrows in animated surprise and laughed manically again. “That’s like asking if Jormungandr is a snake .”
I rubbed my wrist and noticed I was trembling.
“I don’t know what that means.” The slight tremor in my tone betrayed my fear as my heart pounded in my chest. Normally, a strange man wouldn’t scare me.
Maybe it was the setting, or the way his eyes felt like daggers as he cocked his head and assessed me with a too-relaxed and amused smile.
Or maybe it was the prickle of magic that danced down my spine as he neared.
Dangerous.
He was dangerous.
The man spoke over his shoulder again. “How did such a frail, sickly looking little creature make it past the wards?”
Blessed anger sparked within me, quieting the fear.
I loved when anger did that. I sharply avoided his gaze, knowing no good could come from letting this man, this guard, see my eyes.
Sitting up straight, I held the seat of my chair to steady my shaking limbs.
“If anyone in Willowspire is sick, it’s because of the foul men who hide within this estate. ”
Tilting his head back, the white-haired captor let out a long chuckle before grabbing onto the back of my chair, his face inches from mine. Instinctively, I pushed away from him and shut my eyes tight as I resisted the urge to scream.
“We’ve caught a lively little rat, haven’t we, brother? But why won’t it look at me? I do believe myself to be quite dashing. I mean, look at me. I’ve dressed for the occasion of catching a thief.”
“I’m not a thief,” I said through gritted teeth, pressing my eyes shut so tight they burned behind my eyelids. “I don’t want anything to do with this goddess forsaken house of bones.”
He shook the chair then, alarming me with his strength, but I didn’t dare look at him and lose my resolve.
Another deeper voice sounded from the corner of the room.
A voice so deep it rumbled in my blood and invited a new wave of fear within my body.
“She won’t look at your eyes, Riot. Clearly the girl follows old mage law.
Outdated, weak, pitiful. Probably passed down from some old crone.
” While this white-haired man, Riot , had a tone of manic amusement, his counterpart sounded bored and disinterested with a touch of disdain.
I couldn’t decide which voice was worse.
Though my throat cracked, I hissed. “Take the title of crone out of your mouth or I’ll kill you.”
There was a beat of silence, and I felt the man’s presence let go of my chair and stand back. I slowly opened an eye to confirm.
Riot rubbed his jaw. “Perplexing how so much rage can fit into such a tiny, dirty little body.”
A spark of annoyance caused my fists to tense. “I’m just as dumbfounded by how much ego can fit into such an ordinary looking man.”
The presence in the corner snorted and muffled a laugh as if they’d covered their mouth to try to conceal it.
I peered past Riot’s indignant glare and made out the silhouette of the second man.
He was just as abnormally tall as Riot, only broader and without the long hair, though I couldn’t see much of him through the darkness.
The surly, offended brother turned on his heel and said something I couldn’t make out to the other man.
The glint of the shadowy man’s eye caught in the light and a different feeling of magic scraped against my skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake.
Both were magics I’d never felt or encountered before.
Somehow, both felt ancient and more powerful than their youthful bodies and voices portrayed.
What kind of guards were these?
I stood then, smoothing my dress. If they were going to kill me, I at least would prefer it happened sooner rather than later.
Men were easy to anger, as proven by the white-haired guy’s reaction.
They were the same as the Vipers, just… larger and prettier.
“Well, if you don’t mind, I have places to be.
” I made to walk past them to the door. With another chuckle, Riot leaned casually against the door, keeping it shut despite my pull on the knob.
“Sorry, my huge ego must be in the way. Where are you off to, little thief? You think we’re just going to let you run off to wreak havoc? No, I fear for the candlestick holders.”
“The ones with the little mice engraved on them?” The other man asked with a hint of jest in his tone.
“You know I’ve always been so fond of them. I’d hate for this sorry excuse for a burglar to steal my beloved trinkets.”
“They aren’t real gold, you know. They’re brass with gold plating.”
“You don’t say?”
“Again, I’m not a thief.” I gritted my jaw and gripped the door handle, refusing to back away. He’d untied me, and they hadn’t harmed me—yet.
I had room to negotiate.
“Then what do you want?” the deep voice rumbled.
Riot smirked down at me, and goddess, his scent hit me then.
Bergamot, cedarwood, and clary sage. He smelt like a wilderness under the stars after a summer storm.
I hated that he smelt so good, especially after he called me dirty.
Like he was so much better than me as a lowly castle guard for the crotchety old lords of the house.
“Yes, tell us. Spade and I are dying to know.”
Spade .
Riot and Spade.
I sucked in a steadying breath. The combination of both of their attention and the magic emanating from them both was scraping and prickling all over me at once, causing a sensory overload so intense it was hard to stand without swaying.
“You will take me to them. That’s what I want, and I want it now. ”
Riot arched a pale brow and the corner of his mouth upturned. “Take you to whom?”
“The Blackthorne Boys.”
Riot smiled a full, menacing smile then. His smiles, his happiness, his laugh—they were all as eerie and unsettling as the prickling I felt trickle down my arms. “Oh? And what ever shall you do when you find them?”
There was no use lying. In fact, with the power I sensed surging off of the pair of them, I suspected a lie would only serve to put me in more trouble than the truth. They knew I wasn’t marching into the castle for tea and scones.
“I’m going to hex them, punish them, and kill them. So, if you don’t mind, do your jobs as guards and take me to the Blackthorne Boys.”
Riot’s smile widened before pressing his lips together.
The man in the corner stepped forward and I fought not to step backwards at the sight.
Black short hair brushed back and tinted blue in the light.
His dark brows were downturned in a way I imagined he always looked menacing even when resting.
His shoulders were broad and his skin tan.
He was the perfect deadly counterpart to the man in white next to him. Light and dark.
One smiled.
The other scowled.
Spade answered as both men stared down at me. “Mission accomplished, witch. Here we are. The Blackthorne Boys… hex away.”