Chapter 17
Masakage entered the stable where Garyn was still being held.
The shifter’s guard looked up in startled alarm. “My lord, what brings you here?”
Masakage kept his gaze on his target. “Might I have a few moments with your charge?”
The troll guard looked about sheepishly. “I don’t know. I’m not supposed to leave him.”
“Believe me, I won’t let him escape. No one will know about this except the two of us.”
Still, the troll hesitated. “I guess if I stay outside, it should be all right.”
Masakage didn’t speak until after the troll had left and he was alone with Garyn.
Garyn’s eyes widened at his approach. “What do you want?”
“Peace among the kingdoms. Meara’s head in my saddlebags and for you to tell me where your friend is.”
“I don’t have any friends.”
“Your lover, then. Whatever it is that Diflyn is to you. Where has the bastard gone?”
Garyn glanced up at the shackles that held him in place. “How would I know? He doesn’t report to me.”
“Not the impression I had when you kidnapped me.” Masakage used his powers to squeeze a certain piece of Garyn’s anatomy until he cried out in agony.
Let the bastard be impotent after this. It was the best for the kingdoms and for whatever poor child that didn’t need this shite for a father.
“Returning the favor, Shifter. You should have shown me better hospitality.”
Gasping, Garyn narrowed a hate-filled glare on him. “We should have killed you.”
“Yes. You should have. Why did you refrain?”
“We didn’t want you dead. Just held so that I could watch over Gisela without interruption.”
The bastard omitted another primary target. “And my brother.”
Garyn looked away, confirming his suspicions.
Masakage pulled the contract out from his sleeve and held it up for Garyn to see. “And what of this?”
His eyes flared as he realized what Masakage was showing him. “Where did you get that?”
“Does it matter? You used magic to extract Meara’s contract from its ataswere. Why?”
“Why does anyone do anything?”
Really? He was trying to be philosophical?
Bad move considering his mood.
“I’m not asking why you chose to eat porridge in the morning. I’m asking why you’d do something of this nature. I know you didn’t care whether the ataswere lived or died. So why would you transfer it?”
“Safe keeping.”
Masakage laughed. “On a sheet of...” His voice trailed off as he realized it couldn’t possibly be written on the back of a regular piece of parchment.
How did I miss this?
Of course, it was enchanted. Indestructible.
Cursing, he blasted the beast with a fireball.
Garyn screamed.
Masakage really wanted to kill him. But it wouldn’t do any good. It might even make it worse. “What magic binds this?”
“You don’t know?”
Growling, Masakage punched him, but it did nothing to alleviate his agitation.
With a grimace of distaste, he left the beast and headed out. “He’s all yours,” he told the guard as he made his way toward the inn and the room he shared with Candara.
Candara looked up as the door to her spartan room was thrown open with force. At first, she feared it might be an enemy. Until she saw the fury in Masakage’s dark eyes. “What’s happened?”
He shoved a document at her.
Frowning, she glanced over it. “It’s a contract?”
“I know. The parchment’s enchanted. Can you tell by what?”
Of course she could. There was no magic in existence that she didn’t know.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. The tangy sweet scent was unmistakable. “Fey magic printed on the skin of an elf.”
He curled his lip. “What? Why?”
“Elves have magic encoded in every part of their being. Like the fey. Parchment from their skin enhances any spell placed on it…rather like an ataswere. Only this is more potent.”
“Would the same be true of the fey?”
“Probably.” She handed the paper back to him. “But I’ve not heard of anyone skinning a fairy and walking away. Not that it was easy to do that to an elf.”
It was rather like taking a unicorn horn while it was still attached. There were creatures dumb enough to try. And sadly, unicorn horns were a treasured magical item that held a lot of power within them.
As did the flesh of creatures born from magic.
She didn’t even want to know what her own skin would be worth. Relic Hunters were a terrible thing. They all should be rounded up and gutted. Especially those who preyed on children.
“How do you break an ataswere contract that was transferred to elfin skin?”
“With great care,” she said. “That is if it can be undone.” She jerked her chin toward the morbid piece. “Burning won’t work. It could even backfire and cause the signers to die. Without knowing the spell, I don’t think I can undo it.”
“A spell you can’t undo? I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Improbable doesn’t mean impossible.”
“What should we do?”
She fingered the lettering. A chill from it shot up her arm and into her mind, she saw the moment the ataswere allowed the ink to flow from his skin to the new document. There was life in that ink.
Life in the parchment.
Strange how that essence had a very particular smell. Like citrus soaked in brandy. Unmistakable. Pungent even. It was how she could track others without her potions. How she trained her potions to seek living creatures.
That unique essence.
“To break this, you’ll have to divide it.”
Masakage arched a brow. “How so?”
“I’m not sure. My guides are trying to tell me, but something is muzzling them.” Her ears buzzed as she tried to push past the interference.
Her brother took her elbow to steady her. “Are you all right?”
“Not sure,” she whispered. And she wasn’t. Something was very off about all this. She felt her eyes flood with heat, which meant they were now glowing orange. “He’s taken money from two monarchs. He was supposed to end the contract. But his goal is to make money.”
She turned toward Masakage. “They intend to kill you and Xaydin. Gisela will be a hostage, and if her mother refuses to pay for her, Gisela will be killed as well.”
“Do you see where his partner is?”
Cocking her head, she let her two shadowy guides lead her through shifting scenes that blurred together.
This was the part she always hated. It was so hard to filter all the information bombarding her.
Images flashed and blurred so quickly that often she had no idea what she was looking at or what her guides were trying to tell her.
“I see him…” But she couldn’t quite hone in on where he was. “He’s strong.”
“No one’s stronger than you are.”
She appreciated her brother’s confidence in her abilities, but it didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t push through the haze. Diflyn wasn’t the fool he pretended to be. His powers were formidable.
“He wants vengeance on Dash.”
Masakage widened his eyes. “Pardon?”
“Diflyn was among your group…but kept outside it. He has a personal grudge against the lot of you. Dash in particular. He feels as if you abandoned him by not allowing him to be an Outlaw. He not only wants to prove himself worthy… He wants to destroy all of you.”
And with that, she had to pull out before she caused herself permanent brain damage. As it was, her head pounded a second heartbeat that pumped pain all throughout her body.
She could barely keep her eyes open against the piercing light that sent shards of agony into her brain.
Masakage swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bed where he gently laid her down. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you ill.”
Grateful that he understood the toll her powers took, she patted him warmly on his arm. “Anything for you.”
He used his powers to summon a bag of ice. “Here.” He gently placed it against her brow. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Watch your back, brother. Diflyn will be coming for you and he could be anyone. He wants you and X dead.”
“I’ll be watching. In all aspects.” Masakage watched as she finally closed her eyes to rest.
Her powers had always amazed him. While their mother was a sorceress of unparalleled power, Candara made a mockery of her abilities.
Even as a child. Headaches had often rendered her unable to function.
Her father had beat her unmercifully over them, thinking she used them as a reason to get out of chores.
But he understood. His own powers crushed him, too. But nowhere near as badly as they did her.
He went to the table near the window where he’d placed his ale. Reaching into his travel pouch, he pulled a tisane out and poured it into the cup. Stirring it slowly, he waited for it to dissolve. Then he took it to the bed.
“I have something for the pain.” He lifted her head carefully from the pillow.
She scowled at him then glanced down to the cup. “Your potion or mine?”
He laughed at her belligerent tone. “Yours, of course. Mine aren’t as effective.”
“No, they’re not.” She took the cup and drank it down, then returned it to his hand. “Thank you.”
“Always.” He waited for her to return to her spot, then he placed a light kiss on her forehead.
Making sure she was fine, he put the cup back on the table and left the room.
Diflyn.
Out of habit, he reached into his bag and pulled out a coin. Five clubs. Conflict. Fighting.
Candara was right. He was out for their blood.
But there was something more. He felt it in his bones. Something neither he nor Dara saw.
It was coming for them.
This wasn’t the time for his powers to be vague. As much as he hated seeing what would come, he hated not knowing even more.
They needed to lay hands on the mer prince as quickly as possible and get this contract broken so that Dash would be able to ratchet up the war with Meara and be done with her.
They all needed to be done with the centaur queen.
Sooner rather than later.
Diflyn transformed into his “normal” form of a royal courtier. Garyn thought himself so proper and prim. Bastard had no idea who or what Diflyn really was.
Not some second in command or flunkey.
He would never be subservient to anyone. The blood of dynasties flowed through him.