22. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
P laying with Esa’s note in her pocket, Imani made her way upstairs.
East Wing. Top Tower. Midnight.
Today, she’d survived despite the weight of the witches’ lives lost, but she anticipated the rest of the assessments would be far more brutal for her. Dominated by physical magic wielders, these Niflheim princes came for blood. By keeping her alchemy, alteration, and shadow magic unused and thus hidden, Imani needed to give herself any advantage.
Which made making a deal with Esa’s contact more attractive.
It crossed her mind to let her magic out, anyway, accepting the consequences. But she hadn’t officially trained to use her alteration magic, and alchemy was practically useless in combat. Not to mention the way Malis’s home had been utterly destroyed, Imani feared the shadow magic would get out of control. It would be a death sentence for her and probably any others in the vicinity when she let it out, and she had her siblings to think about.
The irony of finally having such powerful magic to protect herself and being unable to use it wasn’t lost on her.
She massaged her temples as the constant whispering grew louder, signaling a headache coming on. The shadows speaking to her were growing worse. However, outside of being annoying, it didn’t concern her. Her illusion was nowhere near as powerful as Ara’s had been since her grandmother had sacrificed a life, but it still held firm against everyone so far. Even Kiran.
Servants scurried past as she made her way up the stairs. On the wing’s top floor, several men guarded each end of a long hallway with only two doors. No one spared her invisible form a glance as she quickly slipped past them.
Imani darted her eyes around to be sure she was alone then knocked on the door as softly as possible.
No answer.
She knocked again, louder.
No answer.
Smothering a frustrated noise, she tried to open the door.
Locked.
She took out her wand, but none of the lock-picking enchantments worked, and her temper flared. After this day, her patience had run out.
Unlock it , Imani ordered her shadows.
A black tendril of wispy smoke curled from the Draswood and flowed underneath the door.
A faint clicking noise made a grin tug at her lips.
The wards skimmed over her body as she walked inside, stripping her weaker illusions away, but they let her pass. Imani did a frenzied check to confirm her flesh magic illusions were in place—they were—before making her way further inside.
The decor and furniture were far more opulent than her quarters.
Who lived here?
The hallway flickered with elegant sconces. Faint murmurs drifted toward her from the main room, and Imani padded closer to the orange glow emanating from the fire, forgetting she stood entirely without glamour.
Leaning against the wall, a male stood with his shirt unbuttoned and a much more petite pixie in his arms. His muscular body pressed into hers.
Esa.
A pool of something heavy and unpleasant stirred inside Imani.
“Kiran—”
He cut her off with a kiss. The pixie moaned into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck.
A strange nausea-like sensation roiled Imani’s stomach as she pictured Kiran inside Esa. Heat surged in Imani’s veins, jarring in its suddenness and strength. A sick sort of possessiveness she didn’t understand surfaced. Was she being instinctively territorial over the only other unmated male elf here? Imani had never been around one, so she couldn’t be sure.
Shadows dimmed the room in a rush, teetering close to darkness as Imani’s magic demanded to be freed.
Stiffening from the shift in the light, Kiran and Esa whipped their heads toward where Imani stood rigid with her wand out.
With merely a thought, Imani extinguished the sconces for a few seconds, not caring if they witnessed her magic. Let loose, the hearth flickered from her darkness, cowing at its presence.
“What is the elf witch doing here, Esa? Is she the one you’ve been working with?” He appraised Imani’s tense posture yet made no move to untangle himself from the pixie.
Biting her lip, Esa pushed Kiran away from her. “I’ve spent months ensuring she met every detail. She might not be who you had in mind, but frankly, a rare High-Norn female like her is even better than you wanted. Now”—Esa stood—“I honored my end of this deal. I expect you to honor yours.”
The words out of Esa’s mouth stabbed Imani’s skin. If Imani read between the lines correctly, Esa had taken advantage of her breed and manipulated her for this prince. Exactly why or how, she didn’t quite understand yet, but with Esa’s words, there was no doubt she’d somehow tricked Imani. How could she have considered this woman a friend?
Tears stung the corners of her eyes, but she held them back as best she could. A few stray drops still fell down her cheeks.
The Niflheim prince had been Esa’s source of information about the treaty breach, no question. Imani assumed Esa’s source had ties to Niflheim, but she never imagined such a betrayal—that he would be a Niflheim breed, let alone a royal one.
While she wanted access to Niflheim, being entwined with a prince in the Illithiana family wasn’t what Imani wanted, especially after Ara had been executed for the same treason.
An image surfaced of her shoving Esa away from him and suffocating her with a nearby pillow. She had to grit her teeth to stop herself from acting on it. Despite her possessiveness and anger at being set up, she would take the high road and let the pixie leave without assaulting her.
Stepping further into the room, the heat from the fire lit up the murderous expression on Imani’s face, black scarring and all.
Esa’s mouth gaped at the sight. “Your face … it’s?—”
“Yes, this is my real face. You’re always complaining how I’m hiding something. Well, here I am—the real me.” Imani spread her arms wide with a nasty, unhinged smile. “And I echo the prince’s question—what the fuck am I doing here? I suggest you explain yourself quickly.”
“Don’t act so surprised about this arrangement—an arrangement you wanted, by the way,” Esa sneered. “I’ve never hidden the type of person I am from you, and don’t act like you wouldn’t have done the same for something you desperately want. Just because I lied and manipulated you into sleeping with Tanyl doesn’t mean we both can’t benefit.”
She what ?
Esa had deliberately set her up with Tanyl in a bid to make a deal with the Niflheim princes. At the revelation, Imani changed her mind about hurting Esa. If Imani couldn’t crawl into a ball on the floor and cry in shame, she’d draw blood.
She struck like a predator with her teeth bared, landing a hard punch across Esa’s face. The force knocked the pixie to the ground.
Imani barely paused, wrenching Esa back by the sleeves and yanking the pixie up, only to take another swing, smashing her fist into her face again, and again. Red spots hit the carpet.
Imani grabbed a chair—for a desk or something—and smashed it against Esa’s shoulder, splintering it all over the carpet.
Rage simmered in Imani’s blood. It scared her how aggressive she was, but it felt good , and she didn’t have any inclination to stop. With both of them growing up fighting scrappy, each had a point to prove by not resorting to magic, especially since Esa performed physical magic better than Imani. It would be a cop-out if she used it, and Imani didn’t want to risk provoking her shadows. If they fought with magic, she might be unable to control them.
Traitor , she thought, landing another punch in Esa’s gut. Then another, and another, beating the little pixie bloody. She’d thought this female might be her friend, but Imani had been played—manipulated—and there was nothing she hated more than being made to feel powerless, lied to, taken advantage of, and used. If only she had the Drasil, no one would be able to pull one over so easily again.
She glanced back at Kiran. The arrogant bastard sat as relaxed as ever with a slight smile on his handsome face.
Esa elbowed Imani hard in the side. A perfect hit, knocking the wind out of her.
Groaning, Imani couldn’t help but question again where Esa had learned to fight.
It went on and on, each of them trying their best to kill the other without actually killing each other, fighting and struggling on the floor like savages. Finally, Esa managed to back Imani into a corner and pointed a wand at her. The fight would end soon, with magic or sheer physical prowess.
Imani pretended to hesitate, keeping the pixie comfortable and unafraid while drawing her in. Then, once Esa was close enough, using surprise and speed, Imani slammed her elbow down onto her arm, breaking it. Esa screamed.
Imani gripped the pixie’s throat with both hands, cutting off Esa’s air firmly, then shoved her into the wall.
Black clouded Imani’s vision. Before this, Esa had been careful not to touch Imani for long, but Esa’s death now slammed into Imani’s mind.
Esa stood on the steps of a pyre, letting the wind play with her longer blue hair. With her hands tied behind her back and her wings cut off, she had to walk sideways up the steps. Behind her stood Lore, his hands tied behind his wingless back. Both were resigned, grim, while they were tied to the stakes. The fire started to crackle.
Esa collapsed onto her knees, choking and coughing as Imani dropped her. Green eyes narrowed up at the elf witch, angrier than a storm.
Imani shook her head to get the image out of her mind and glared down at Esa on the floor. “I won’t be so merciful next time.”
Both fell into silence, trying to catch their breaths. After a minute or two, Esa stood.
Despite the catharsis of fighting and winning, Imani silently seethed. The pixie had executed a masterful manipulation, knowing her vulnerabilities and weaknesses as an unmated female Norn. Not to mention her accurate suspicion Imani was hiding something. A small part of her admired Esa, but the risk had been immense. This type of treason—working with the Niflheim royals—was breathtaking. What did Esa so desperately want from Prince Kiran?
“Why me?” Imani’s voice sounded raspy.
“Same reason anyone uses female elves—your magic cunt. Tanyl wouldn’t sleep with me, so I had to pick someone he couldn’t resist. I suggest you learn from this valuable lesson in na?veté and start protecting yourself more.”
Imani made a sound of disgust, but the pixie held up her hand to silence her.
“I am not your friend, but I’m not your enemy, elf witch.”
“Are you willing to throw away our potential alliance for some Niflheim breed?”
“Are you ?”
“If you have an agreement with someone, keep it,” Imani snarled.
“If you’re going to be a criminal, do your homework first,” Esa shot back.
Imani’s wand was already pinned to Esa’s throat. “You utter one more word, and I will slit your throat then drink your blood. You think you know me and what I want, but you don’t. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” Imani reached out and pushed down on Esa’s bruised ribs. An anguished cry tore from the pixie. “Now leave so I can chat with my new acquaintance,” Imani said loudly, pretending to sound confident about the prospect.
The pixie was about to argue but, instead, gave Kiran a slight nod before limping toward the exit, cradling her broken arm.