24. Chapter 24
Chapter 24
T hey sauntered back into the room minutes later.
Imani crossed her arms, grateful for the coverage of her long sleeves, as her true form—minus her flesh-magicked brands—was displayed without the illusion glamour.
“I’m regretting that binding.” Saevel paced around her. Kiran’s spell prevented him from getting close to her.
“Stop stalking her,” Kiran said, his voice low and threatening. He pointed to a chair by the hearth several feet from her. “Sit.”
With a grumble, Saevel gave up and dropped heavily into the chair.
“What do you want from me?” Imani wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.
“A mutually beneficial agreement,” Saevel explained.
Her back straightened. Would they offer to take her to the Niflheim Kingdom without passing the assessments? It would be too good to be true.
She considered her words carefully. “I’m not stupid,” she said evenly. “What are you offering for my access to Tanyl?”
Saevel waved a lazy hand at his brother. “Do you have what you need to finish this up?”
“I don’t, but I will soon.” Prince Kiran’s voice sounded cold. Detached. He pushed off the wall. As he moved closer, she flinched, pulling back from his touch.
“I need you to show me all of your markings,” he said, the tone of someone accustomed to getting their way as a pulse of magic spread around him.
“You saw them earlier when you examined them at the assessment,” she argued.
“We both know you wore an illusion.”
“For my soul draw, like all female Norn,” she hit back.
But Kiran merely waited. “I hate repeating myself,” he added, entitlement embodying his every word.
Imani disliked his lethal, calm tone. The gentle softness and words now only increased his danger.
“You’ve already seen them,” she lied through gritted teeth.
The brothers exchanged a knowing look that batted unspoken words between them.
Her heart rate quickened. Imani was a lying liar. Somehow, he knew because his teasing grin turned wolfish.
A beat passed before he let out a low laugh, mirth dancing in his eyes as he grabbed her arm.
Terrified he’d see through the flesh magic, she jerked back, hissing at him. “Don’t touch?—”
He cut her off by ripping up her sleeve again, this time even further, revealing all her markings.
Imani scowled as a tingle of awareness slid up her arm. Every time he touched her, it happened. Did her body recognize something in him?
Stealing a glance down, she let out a breath. Her illicit brands remained hidden, still invisible under the powerful flesh magic. But Kiran’s gaze narrowed in on the divination one.
She’d tried to hide the bruise-like appearance with a lighter glamour, thinking no one would notice. But without any illusion, it was different than her other marks.
Kiran tapped his finger on the divination brand, the wickedness in his gaze returning. “Hmm, let’s start with the fact that you’re not the High-Norn elf named Meira,” he stated, dropping her wrist and any pretense of gentleness. “Do you mind if I call you Imani when it’s only us, little elf?”
Imani’s heart pounded. “You have me confused,” she rasped, vowing to keep the ruse going until she absolutely couldn’t anymore.
A faint smile tugged at Kiran’s mouth as he gently brushed the hair strands loose from her braid. “While you’re fooling the rest of the sheep, I know with complete certainty you’re Imani Aowyn. You could never be Meira in a million years.”
“How …? How could you know this?” Imani’s voice was a shaking whisper. If he couldn’t sense the flesh magic—and she was still unsure if he could—then he shouldn’t have known her name. They didn’t know each other.
He grinned. “The divination brand doesn’t belong to you, and who do you think your grandmother worked with in Niflheim before she died? It was a guess that you had an illusion over your brands. I doubted you both had the same magic, even if you are sisters.”
Imani couldn’t help but suck in a quick breath. It was him . He hadn’t known who she was immediately, but she’d been familiar, and that was why he had watched her since arriving. He was the prince who had strangled Malis. He was the one Ara had admitted to conspiring with.
“Why are you here, masquerading as Meira?” Kiran’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I suggest you stop lying. Otherwise, I’ll have to sort this confusion out with your brother and sister.”
“If you do anything to my siblings, I don’t care who your father is or how powerful you are—I will end your existence,” she spat, drawing herself up as tall as she could. She wished more than anything she could use her soul draw on him.
Kiran fought an incredulous laugh. “ End my existence ? You’re delightful.”
Her glare darkened, but she dropped the charade, letting the truth spill out with as much venom as she could muster. “Meira would never survive here. The Order would eat her alive, and my grandmother kept my magic unregistered, unlike hers.”
“So, you switched places with her. How noble.” Kiran’s voice was flat.
“What else are you hiding, I wonder?” Saevel said smugly.
Imani lost the little control she had. Wrenching herself away from Kiran, she found a large dagger on the table nearby. It was the size of her forearm, but she didn’t care. She picked it up and flew at Saevel in a rage. “You have your leverage ,” she snarled. “Now, tell me what you want me to do for you!”
“Calm down, darling.” Kiran snaked his arm around her waist, holding her back from attacking his brother again, her back to his chest. “Feral little thing, aren’t you?” He set her down in front of him and grabbed her wrist, which held her wand. “Let me be clear, elf witch. You are mine. You can’t walk away, not with a family relying on you for survival. I reveal you’re a traitor and a liar to your queen, and they will make an example of you. And where would it leave your siblings? Hmm?”
The light in the room flickered as the vision arrived. It was unavoidable after the prolonged touch.
Kiran’s face contorted, frantic, as if he couldn’t breathe. His eyes closed in blatant agony from a pain in his chest. He kneeled on the ground in the forest and, with one smooth motion, shoved a dagger into himself. With a grimace, he pushed harder with the knife, its blade fully lodged in his stomach.
He gritted his teeth but stayed silent, gripping the bloody dagger with one hand before he fell onto his side, reaching for someone’s hand while shutting his eyes in pain. He held it tight, murmuring something she couldn’t understand. Blood ringlets spread everywhere, dripping onto the snow and dirt. Red blossomed across his chest now. He rolled onto his back. Each breath he took sounded labored as he bled out.
A gasp escaped her mouth when it ended. She landed back in the present, trembling. Too many questions. Too much blood. A whirlwind of emotions wrapped around her heart. The other deaths had been different—softer and duller. But his death vision was in full color, and the red from the blood was so bright she whipped around to face him.
Kiran appeared uninjured, aside from the fading cuts on his face. A breath of relief escaped her.
His hands fell to his sides. “What’s wrong?”
It was clear that people had no idea she had these visions, and she wanted it to remain as such.
“Nothing,” she breathed, blinking to get control back. In one smooth motion, she pointed her wand at his chest.
“Going to try to hurt me, too?” The glint in his eyes became slightly wild.
“What would you do if I did, Prince?”
“There’s nothing you could do to hurt me. I have awe-inspiring magic skills. Don’t you agree, Saevel?”
“There is very little magic you can’t do,” his brother admitted.
Kiran gave her a predatory, warning smile. “Now, stop this nonsense, and we’ll explain what we want from you.”
She dropped her wand and shut her eyes, waiting.
“We all know you’re sleeping with Tanyl. Esa set that up beautifully,” Kiran explained bluntly. “So, you’ll deliver me reliable and usable intelligence about Tanyl. In return, we’ll keep your little secret and give you information to prepare for the next two assessments—a trade of sorts.”
“You’ll help me cheat?”
Kiran brushed his thumb over the center of her throat in a slow, soothing pattern. “Call it whatever you want. I’m ensuring you continue providing value as long as possible.”
“You didn’t need to learn my identity to get me to agree,” she seethed. “I would have said yes in exchange for information on passing the assessments.”
“We needed extra assurance you’d keep quiet about our arrangement. After all, you are sleeping with the heir apparent. What stops you from being righteous and double-crossing us by tattling to him?”
She glared. “What information do you want?”
“Anything to do with his plans for the Order and anything you learn about his relationship with his mother. Anything . Understand? Seemingly irrelevant details could be important—where he goes, who he talks to, his moods. If he gets his fucking feelings hurt by his mother, we want to know about it. When your information pleases us, you’ll get the details of the next assessments in exchange. Before it happens.”
“You’re asking too much. I might hear a thing or two, but he doesn’t tell me anything important. You’re essentially asking me to fuck the heir apparent for vague pieces of gossip.”
His mouth didn’t change, but his eyes warmed. “Oh, Imani, darling, don’t act like it offends your delicate sensibilities,” he crooned. “I’ve been whoring in courts before you even understood the word. I know my own kind, and vague pieces of gossip can be more helpful than you know.”
Imani was so angry at being exposed, at being trapped. She wanted to smash his head into the stone floor and tell him she was nothing like him. She imagined herself doing it, over and over, his brain matter sticking into the grooves.
He was right. It didn’t offend her. Not in the slightest. And frankly, Kiran could have said much more with what he had on her and how badly she wanted to pass the assessments.
“You think you know me because you watched me for two days and knew my grandmother?” She met his wild stare with one of her own. “I want a binding,” Imani said.
“Absolutely not.” Kiran huffed a laugh.
“Agree, or I’m walking away.”
More laughter, now from both Niflheim brothers.
“You’re asking me to do all this without a binding? Why should I trust either of you to keep your word?” Imani said.
“Because you have no choice,” Saevel said, still laughing.
Her stomach sank. The three stared at each other for another moment, and she knew when she’d lost.