Chapter 7 #3
“Because he’s lying. I don’t even need my powers to know that.” Masakage manifested his staff out of thin air. The stone at the tip of it shone a deep, dark purple that lit up the stable and bathed them in a soft amethyst glow.
“I didn’t know what they had planned or what the contract on your life said. I was told to notify Sigurd whenever you showed up again. I had no idea they were going to attack you.”
Xaydin rolled his eyes. “What did you think he planned? A birthday celebration?”
Masakage tsked. “He knew what they would most likely do.”
Athgar glared at him. “What are you? A fucking mind reader?”
“Yes.”
That made the ataswere go pale as he turned toward Gisela.
But she wasn’t swayed by his pleas any more than the men were.
“I don’t have to read your mind. Guilt is written on your face more plainly than the contracts on your body.
” She met Xaydin’s gaze. “You don’t really have to kill him to break the contract, do you?
Can’t you just cut off the limb where it’s written? ”
“Never considered that before. Killing them was just too much fun. Guess we could start dissecting Athgar and see what happens.”
Athgar turned to run, then froze as if an invisible hand had caught him and held him in place.
Gisela arched a brow as she looked at Masakage. “You?”
He smiled. “One of my more favorite abilities.”
“I have the best friends.” Xaydin narrowed the distance between him and Athgar who kept struggling against Masakage’s powers.
“You’re wasting your time. I’ve been where you are, and it’s annoying as shit.
That being said, I do know the one and only way to break free of that unholy grasp. Bet you wish I’d share it.”
That only made Athgar more nervous. “What are you going to do with me?”
Xaydin met his brother’s gaze. “What do you think?”
An instant later, Athgar vanished…at least in his ataswere form. Where he’d been standing, a mouse stood frozen in the straw.
Gisela gaped. “Is that…”
“Athgar. Yes.” Masakage snapped his fingers and the mouse ran off.
Xaydin shook his head. “That makes questioning him more difficult.”
Masakage laughed.
Gisela wasn’t so easily amused. “Anyone have a clue about what happens to his contracts now?”
Xaydin scratched at his cheek. “Good question. Did that nullify them?”
Masakage shrugged. “Why ask me? I have no idea. You’re the ataswere expert.”
“Not on this, I’m not.” Xaydin sighed heavily. “Oh well. Maybe he’ll get caught in a trap, and that’ll end them for sure.”
While Gisela understood the sentiment, it did make her a bit wary. Xaydin had no remorse or compassion for what they’d just done. Not that Athgar didn’t deserve it for his betrayal.
Still, it made her uncomfortable. It was too close to the injustice her mother meted out on whims. Having suffered under that cruelty for the whole of her life, she wasn’t keen on dealing it to anyone else.
You’re an assassin. What do you care?
She shouldn’t. And it made no sense for her to care. She was the first to admit that. But at least it allowed her to know that she hadn’t lost her soul. While her mother had taken most everything else from her, she hadn’t lost all her humanity.
Grateful for that small mercy, she watched as Xaydin retrieved his saddle. “What’s our plan now?”
He pulled one of Candara’s bottles from his saddlebag, then glanced about. “What should we put this on?”
Masakage created a glowing ball. “How’s this?”
“That’ll work.”
She had no idea what they were planning. Not until Xaydin broke the wax seal on the bottle, then poured the thick green liquid over the glowing ball. That caused it to turn even brighter. Their saddles vanished from their perches and then appeared on their horses.
Gisela shivered at their use of magic. “Isn’t there supposed to be a cost for magical powers?”
“Not this.” He indicated the saddles. “These are parlor tricks.” Xaydin handed her the reins of her horse. “Candara’s potion…is another story. Those are unpredictable. I have no idea what the payment might be.”
“But you’re using it anyway?”
“I’m stupid like that.” Effortlessly, he mounted his horse.
Masakage snorted. “At least my brother knows his fallacies.”
True. It was actually quite refreshing given the dandies she met at court who thought themselves superlative in every way. The idea of being self-deprecating never occurred to them. They were always too busy preening and bragging.
“You’re not like any prince I’ve ever met,” she said as she mounted her own horse.
“You should get out more. Most of the kings and princes I know are decent…enough.”
It was the enough part that concerned her.
And as soon as Masakage was situated on his mount, the ball began to hum. It swam in a circle in the middle of the air between them before it darted out of the stable.
“Hyah!” Xaydin kicked his mount forward, rushing to catch the ball.
She waited for Masakage to go next, then she rode in the rear. Mostly because she didn’t like for anyone to be at her back. This felt safer. Not that she thought they’d do anything. She was becoming more accustomed to them.
Especially Xaydin, and she didn’t know why.
Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Even now, she saw the way he’d moved in to protect her. No one had ever done that for her before.
While she didn’t need it, it was refreshing to have someone care.
He doesn’t care, you idiot.
She swore that was her mother’s voice in her head. The same voice that had told her, her entire life that she wasn’t good enough. Smart enough. That she didn’t deserve love.
Or even kindness.
Xaydin wasn’t like that. He had a soul inside him. One that was warm, and it drew her in despite her fears and reservations.
And now we’re chasing after a ball…
Truth be told, she felt a little ridiculous. Would this even work?
“How does it know where to go?”
Masakage looked at her over his shoulder. “No idea.”
“Then why are we trusting it?”
Xaydin smiled at her. “Candara’s potions are flawless. They never fail.”
Until they did. There was always a first time.
“I heard that,” Masakage said to her.
Heat suffused her cheeks at Masakage’s playful retort. “Sorry. I was born negative.”
“With your mother, I can’t blame you.” He slowed down a bit so that he could ride beside her. “So who’s your father?”
She quickly forced her mind to go blank. That was the one secret she’d never let out. Mostly because she had no idea how they’d react to it.
How anyone would react. The one thing her mother had impressed upon her most was that she was never to breathe one single word about her father. The only reason she knew was because her mother had slipped up and told her during one of Meara’s more stellar tantrums.
Even now, she could see the shock on her mother’s face as it’d slipped out.
Eyes wide, Meara had stormed at her with so much rage that she’d been sure she was going to die.
Her mother had grabbed her by the neck and slapped her hand over Gisela’s mouth.
The pressure had been so intense that she’d feared her mother would suffocate her.
“Tell no one! You ever repeat that name and the gods as my witness, I’ll cut out your tongue, nail it to your forehead and have you skinned alive. Do you understand?”
Gisela had nodded while the name spun through her head with shock and alarm.
In that moment, she’d known what her mother had. No one ever needed to know who had sired her. No good could ever come from it.
So she glanced over to Masakage. “Does it matter?”
“You’re hiding a lot of pain from me.”
Interesting bit he just confessed. “Does that mean I can block you from my thoughts?”
“Of course. X blocks me constantly. And I’ve never been able to read Candara.”
Good to know. She didn’t like the thought of someone digging through her mind.
“Kage!” Xaydin snapped. “It’s turning blue.”
“What’s that mean?” she asked.
“We found him.”