34. The Mist Thief
Chapter 34
“Highness . . . sorry.” I swallowed when Kase shot me a darkened look. The king was crouched on a stone ledge that ran below the eaves, wide enough for a man to walk carefully along the edge without spilling off the side. I was still at least fifteen paces away, trapped on one of the heavy beams. “I don’t know if this is right. Maybe if I knew a little more of why we were doing this.”
“In schemes you get to know when it’s time for your mark, lovey,” Raum said, crouched below us in one of the palace alcoves, a cowl over his head. “We’ve all jobs to do, and it’s not your turn yet.”
If I did not know Raum was there, I would never have seen him.
Kase used his mesmer magic to thicken shadows, creating deep empty holes in the rafters, corners, gabled windows.
I clawed along the thick rafter, sprawled out on my belly, loose trousers borrowed from Jonas’s wardrobe on my waist. Every pace or so, I’d embrace the wooden beam, convinced I was about to tumble, then wait dozens of moments to catch my breath.
The Kryv who were summoned to whatever scheme the king was plotting moved like wraiths dancing across the ceilings. Steps so light, they never seemed to touch. Dressed all in black, when they drifted into the king’s shadows, they disappeared into nothingness.
Once in Natthaven, an elven troop of court performers danced and leapt across the great hall. Acrobats swung from satin ropes, flipping and twisting.
The Kryv and the alver king moved with more skill than them.
Lynx tugged my own dark hood over my bright hair.
He held a finger to his lips. “Feather steps, just like we showed you.”
Good hells, they couldn’t expect me to walk on this beam.
“Feather steps.” I clenched my eyes, clinging to the thick wood. “You mean the slow walk you taught me for mere moments!”
“That’s the one.”
“No.” I shook my head briskly. “No, no. I think, it’s best to leave you lot to whatever this is.”
“A heist.” From the back, Isak peered out beneath his hood.
“You’re afraid, girl.” Kase didn’t turn around.
“Oh, I don’t think you need fear magic to know that.”
“I thought you were a feral child.”
I huffed. “Turns ago. I’m rather out of practice.”
“Turns are merely passing time,” Lynx said, voice low. “Once wild, you’re always a little wild.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder and gestured toward the lot of them, toward a damn king robbing his own palace.
The bite of fear all at once eased, like a slow bleed, a soothing sort of comfort filled my heart. A bit of trust. This was Jonas’s father, these were members of the inner court who’d helped raise him. How foolish it was of me to think they would let me fall.
No doubt, Raum was on the ground for that very risk. Stupid of me. Of course, he would catch me should I stumble.
I blew out a long breath, gave Lynx a quick nod of thanks, and leveraged to standing. Arms out to balance my steps, I walked—heel to toe—across the beam.
But with each step, the fear returned. Chaotic thoughts strengthened the more I imagined my neck snapping and bones splitting through the skin should I fall.
I wobbled on the beam, nearly shrieking, but in the next breath, a hand pulled on my wrist. Kase tugged me onto the wide ledge that wrapped around the top of every wall in the palace.
“Well done.” He grinned through the shadow of his cowl.
“Thank you. I was so certain at first, then lost confidence rather quickly.”
“Because Lynx’s mesmer wore off the more distance you put between you.”
I shot a look over my shoulder. Lynx waved his meaty fingers with a bit of smugness.
He could calm the mind. He’d chased away my fears and I hadn’t realized.
Damn alvers.
“Skadi.” The king faced me. “Are you ready for your mark?”
I kept one hand hooked over a narrow beam above my head and carefully lowered to a crouch next to Kase. Below was a wide, circular hall. Two guards in dark tunics with a pair of blades each, stood watch on a set of heavy, black oak doors.
My mark. All the king explained was they would need my help getting through the doors. I thought I might have to steal a lock perhaps, but there was nothing said about guards.
“What am I supposed to do?” I whispered, breaths too heavy to be sly. There would be few doubts who had become the weaker part of this ploy.
“There is something important I need to retrieve in that room.”
“Then why not simply go inside? You are the king.” My palms grew sweaty. I looked over my shoulder. “I know you hate to admit such a thing, but you do have a voice of authority in this palace.”
“I’m aware,” he said, a jest in his dark voice. “Trouble is one voice has more influence on those sods down there. They’re rather inclined to listen to my wife.”
“The queen!” My voice was small, but squeaked and cracked. “We’re scheming against the queen?”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing.” Kase shifted slightly, making room for me to see the doors a little more. “Whatever Malin has in there she has kept from me with intention, and I cannot let that stand.”
Jonas’s father or his mother. Would I die by my deepest fears or forget how to bleeding exist? Perhaps the queen would have a bit of mercy on me and let me keep my memory on how to breathe.
The king let out another chuckle, shaking his head. “You’re worrying for nothing.”
“Nothing?” Another squeak. “I’m stealing from the queen.”
“No. I am stealing from the queen. You are removing the guards. Ready?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Perfect. It’s best to act without overthinking too much.”
Before another protest, darkness coated the hallway. Like the walls wept in black ink, sunlight was blotted out, gray stone was soaked in his mesmer.
Somewhere in the shadows I could’ve sworn one of the guards muttered something like not again.
“Go, go.” Kase handed me a rope they’d fastened earlier to the rafter, and spilled it over the edge.
Leather gloves with the fingers cut out covered my hands, sturdy enough I could grip the rope, but slick enough scaling down was hardly a trial. The moment my boots struck the stone floor, Raum was there, holding tightly to my wrists, guiding me through the suffocating dark without trouble.
When we reached the doors, a hazy image of the two guards revealed they’d retrieved their blades and shuffled in front of the doorway. They’d literally chained their damn arms to the door.
“Ah, they’re growing rather clever,” Raum whispered. “All right, lovey, we need them gone. They’re not going to go down without a fight.”
“He’s the king.” I didn’t understand this.
Raum beamed. “What does that have to do with anything? Take them for us, won’t you?”
My mists. They wanted me to swallow the guards. It was cruel. They were only doing their duty.
I’d kept my affinity doused here, only showing a bit during the spar, but everyone had used their magics then. Still, the staff of the palace didn’t look at me in horror. They didn’t fear me. I was merely the elven princess who loved honey cakes.
Already, I could feel the urge to fall into the shields of apathy. Fearful glances and painful words would not touch me there.
“Skadi.” Kase was there. I hadn’t even heard him approach. “Pieces of you do not need to be hidden.”
Cold bloomed over my palms. Mists mingled in the shadows of fear. My affinity wrapped around my arms like iridescent snakes.
With slow, careful motions I raised my hands. “If the queen takes my memory, tell Jonas he was a good husband while it lasted.”
“I’ll pass on the word.”
I wasn’t cruel. I wasn’t going to hurt them. I was merely taking them away for a bit. I wasn’t cruel. I wasn’t monstrous.
Eyes closed, I repeated the thoughts over and over in my mind. A battle between falling into the icy indifference—to hide—and standing boldly beside a strange group of royal thieves who did not flinch beside the power in my blood.
The more my mists crept forward, the more shadows retreated. When the darkness of the king thinned, the guards lifted their chins.
One of the men crossed his sword over his chest. “No. Not this time, Kase. We’re under strict orders not to move.”
“I admit, I’m impressed by all this new boldness,” the king said in a voice so easy he almost sounded bored. There was a strange sort of confidence in his tone, like he wanted them to be at ease, but in truth he had them exactly where he wanted them.
“Wearing talismans to ward off mesmer,” Raum murmured. “That’s a Niklas addition. Our Falkyn has switched sides.”
“Think I can’t touch you because she poached the Elixist?”
“Not this turn.” The guard stiffened.
Gods, he’d done this more than once.
The king laughed—it wasn’t kind, more a deranged sort of delight. “But we’ve made a few changes ourselves.”
With a gesture, the king summoned me forward. It took a few breaths of the guards gawking at the mists spilling from my palms before they realized.
“No.” One guard tried to unfasten the tether linking him to the doorway. “No, dammit.”
A skein of mist curled around his shoulders and pulled him toward nothingness. Terror was there, but also a bit of annoyance that they’d been duped.
I wanted to shout apologies, but bit them back, realizing the curses of the guards were aimed at the Kryv, even toward the king. Words like shameless bastard, didn’t fight fair, all manner of insults that faded until both guards were engulfed in my magic.
Whenever I held matter in the Nothing, my blood grew heavy. The urge to toss them aside, or fade them into oblivion was there.
I blew out a few breaths, concentrating on merely keeping them tucked in darkness.
On lonely days in my childhood, I learned to play games in my chambers. Mists would gather items in my room, then toss them, striking a mark on the wall to practice my aim and speed.
Sometimes I would practice holding them, like a rain-filled cloud waiting to burst. I focused on those moments, those days.
The king signaled to his men with his hand. Isak moved forward, knelt at the lock, and with impossibly swift motions had a whalebone pick clicking the lock free.
“All right?” Kase asked as Lynx and Raum tugged the heavy doors open.
I nodded. “They’re still there.”
“I know. They’re both a little terrified. Serves the bastards right for siding with?—”
“With whom, Kase Eriksson?”
I did not think the alver king was a man taken by surprise often, but at the voice, his eyes went wide and he spun around.
There, standing in the middle of a narrow room with towering walls of shelves was the damn queen. Malin had her crimson hair a little tousled over her shoulders, a dark cloak shielded her body, and her mouth was pinched in a tight line.
All around were shelves of scrolls, pouches of coin, fine jade, gold. Good hells, this was the treasury safehold.
Kase cursed. “How?”
Malin took a step to one side. “Do you know me at all?”
“I know you inside and out, Mallie.” Kase stepped in the opposite direction.
“Then you know I’m not above corrupting your crew.” She glared at Raum. “You don’t even remember it, of course. Very clever plan, though.”
“Mal, you didn’t.” Raum let his mouth part in stun. “You took the scheme from me?”
“Oh, I did.” She snickered. “Right out of your thoughts.”
Raum jabbed a finger at me. “And this is exactly why we don’t share moves in a scheme, not when traitors steal the memory of the plan from your mind. We only worked it out this morning, Mal!”
“And your love of embraces did not serve you when you bid us farewell.”
Raum gasped in a bit of horror. “You violated my mind when I was showing affection. Devious and inspiring.”
Kase looked utterly perturbed. “You took Niklas from us this turn.”
“Oh, I took him. He made those talismans mere weeks after last turn’s attempt.” Malin narrowed her eyes. “How dare you put poor Skadi in such a position.”
“How dare I? I think that’s envy in your tone, Mal. Annoyed you didn’t ask her first?”
I still didn’t fully know what to make of this. The king and queen practically prowled each other like they were about to engage in battle. They spoke harshly, but they both seemed to be biting back grins.
“Skadi.” Malin looked over Kase’s shoulder. “You can let them go. Poor Rolo and Borg. They’ll never trust you again, Kase.”
All the king did was shrug.
I swallowed and imagined the coldness around me splitting, like an unstitched seam. The two guards fell the short distance, landing in a heap on the floor. They groaned and muttered about how they wanted to be reassigned as they staggered back to their feet.
I anticipated their fear, their avoidance of me. Neither man pointed any ire my way, instead it was all leveled at their king.
“We guard all this for you and this is how you repay us.”
“I pay you in penge,” the king grumbled.
“I think I might go to the Southern Kingdom. Perhaps to the Night Folk. No worrying you’ll be ambushed by your damn king there.”
Kase waved them off and turned back to his queen, a smirk in the corner of his mouth. “All right, you win, Mal.”
“I win?” She tilted her head to the side. “I don’t believe you finished that statement, Husband. I win again. How many turns is this now? Ten? Fifteen?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Someday you will know when you scheme, I will be scheming even more. At least when it comes to this. You’re never going to find it. Not until the actual day, Kase Eriksson.”
The king was in front of her in two long strides, his arms around her body, the queen pinned to his chest. He kissed her for a breath. “One look, that’s all I want.”
“No.” She pinched his side. “You can wait patiently like the rest of us do on our own birth revels.”
My lips parted. “It’s nearly your birth celebration?”
Malin snorted. “Kase always tries to find out what I’ve gotten for him, and every damn turn he gets more annoying with his attempted heists.” She pinched him again, shrieking a bit when he kissed her.
“A gift.” I wasn’t certain if the laugh that slipped through was amused or hysterical, but it came through all the same. “That’s what this is about? Finding your gift?”
“I don’t like surprises, and I’m impatient,” Kase said as though it were nothing.
I held a hand to my head, laughing, maybe sobbing a bit, and slid down the wall.
“Look what you did to her,” Malin scolded. “She’s not used to this, Kase.”
“She was perfect,” he insisted. “Rolo and Borg will be talking of her for turns.”
I looked back at the two guards, a furrow to my brow. “I’m sorry, I . . . shouldn’t have kept you in there that long.”
“Princess, it was utterly terrifying. Terrifying.” One of the guards frowned. “I have never been more impressed by a magic. Yes, even more than the damn king.” He shot his annoyance back at Kase.
Impressed? I looked around the treasury. Folk were arguing and laughing, but no one was backing away from me in fear. No one was horrified that I could devour them whole if I wanted. It was as though it was merely . . . part of the plan.
“Daj!” Jonas’s voice echoed through the room, stopping everyone’s chatter. The prince strode inside, beelining it to me. “What is this I’m hearing of you forcing Skadi on a heist?”
“Sounds like you know exactly what happened, boy.”
Jonas took hold of my hand, urging me back to my feet. “All right?”
Was he disappointed? “I-I didn’t really know what it was at first, but your father said he needed my affinity, and I shouldn’t hide it, so I thought if the king is at the lead, maybe folk won’t fear me and?—”
He silenced me with a quick kiss. “I’m wholly jealous.” He shot a glare at his father. “You haven’t let me in on the birth heist for the last three turns.”
“You give in to your mother too easily. You’re a liability.”
Jonas blustered a bit. “Well, maybe because she includes me.”
Malin pressed a hand to her heart, like he’d given her the sweetest praise.
“I’m away for a few clock tolls and my wife turns into a Kryv.” Jonas muttered as he brushed dust from my shoulders. “Did you enjoy yourself at least?”
I blinked, still in a bit of a stun, then, unbidden, a laugh broke out. “I stole the guards from their post. That was my duty. I stole them and . . . it wasn’t kind, it was a little devious, and . . . I didn’t go into the dark. Pain, greed, cruelty, when I use my affinity in such a way, I fade. I felt the pull, but . . . I’m still here.”
Gods, I was rambling.
“I imagine you’ve been told your whole damn life the power in your blood is wicked.” The king had his arm around his wife, stern expression in place. “You’ve been told to be ashamed of it. I’d wager you even believe you should be.”
How can we build a life when there is such evil in you? You know what your curse has done before. If you want it gone, prove it.
I closed my eyes against the memory of a knife, of blood, of tears, and twisted praise.
“It is dangerous and evil,” I said, voice soft. “My affinity has hurt people.”
“All magic has harmed, girl. It is the intention behind it that creates the monster. If you think Malin has not slaughtered folk with her mesmer?—”
“Me?” The queen’s lips parted. “You’re one to talk.”
“Fear feeds my magic.” He looked back at me. “I’m literally called a Malevolent alver. What is lovely about that? Nightmares feed my sons’. Do you think us dangerous and evil?”
If he knew who had been harmed by my hand, the king might think differently about the woman vowed to his son.
Still, I shook my head. “Dangerous, likely.”
“I’ll accept that.” Jonas nodded as though considering the word.
“Evil? No.” I stepped closer to the prince, but spoke to the king. “I don’t know how else to see my affinity.”
“Useful,” the king suggested.
“Impressive,” added Raum.
The queen grinned. “Powerful.”
“Beautiful,” Jonas whispered for me alone.
“Use your affinity without fear here.” Kase laced his fingers with his wife’s.
There wasn’t a sliver of jest in the room. The Norns had never been kind to me with the twists of my fate, but in this—a vow I believed was wretched—I managed to slip into a realm where the darkest edges of folk were accepted, where fear was a constant, where folk loved fiercely through every shadow of their own villainous power.
The alver kingdom felt a great deal like a warm hearth after a cold night searching for a place to rest at long last.
“Daj, if you’re finished corrupting my wife, we have a great deal to prepare before we leave for the fading isle in the morning.”
The king and queen waved us away, chatter on Kase’s failed scheme following us into the corridor.
“Overwhelmed, Fire?” Jonas asked when we returned to our chamber. “Games with the Kryv—no matter how small—have a way of feeling like lives are at stake.”
“During, I was a whimpering fool, and I would’ve embarrassed you.”
“Doubtful. You should’ve seen me on my first heist. I think I asked my father at least a hundred questions and Lynx had to calm my mind until I fell asleep. I woke after it was over.”
“I’m not certain I’ve ever felt this way.”
He looked at me, confused. “Meaning?”
I hesitated. “Peaceful.”
Jonas didn’t respond. For a breath, he held my stare, then took my hand in his and kissed my knuckles.
Peaceful. Strange to realize, days since the death of my parents were locked in fear—fear of my own affinity, fear for my life, fear of never feeling loved again.
There was always something to prove to Natthaven. Prove I wasn’t a monster, I wasn’t dangerous. I could be a good princess. I could fight. I could defend them.
In this moment, there was no worry for using my magic. Thoughts weren’t racing, wondering if this would be the day I proved to be too wretched and banished once more to be alone for good.
“Skadi.” Jonas took my face in his palms, thumbs running along the ridges of my cheeks. “You belong here. You have made this palace, this kingdom, my life, better. Don’t ever doubt that. And I hope—gods, I hope—I might do even a little of the same for you.”
I cupped the back of his neck, drawing his lips to mine. The kiss was slow, steady, a new constant I loved.
Here, darkness was beautiful.
Here, we schemed.
Here, family didn’t mean blood.
Here, was home.
I woke in Jonas’s arms, a vicious sort of gleam in the green of his eyes. “We should’ve been doing this from the start, Fire. You are my favorite sight in the morning.”
“And you are a liar.” I buried my face in the pillow, hair in tangles. “I know exactly how I look in the morning and the word you seek is frightening.”
“I mean exactly what I said.”
I peeked up at him. “We’re to go today.”
“Off to Natthaven.” Jonas tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Are you looking forward to returning home?”
“I’m looking forward to showing you some parts of the isle. I’m not looking forward to Cara’s insistence I’ve become a feral royal by the looks of me.”
Jonas leaned in, kissing my jaw, the corner of my mouth, his palms teasing the heavy curves of my breasts like a true villain who planned to torment me.
“I like you feral.” He pecked my lips then leaned away again, tracing one of the coils of feathery ink that curved around one side of one breast. “Do they mean anything?”
“That words and actions of the past do not need to remain in my sights or my life.” I took hold of his hand when he traced a scar. “I know you wish to know, but I don’t know how to speak on it. I’ve never spoken of it.”
He pressed a kiss to one tattoo. “Then it is a good thing we have endless turns. When and if you wish to, I will always be here to listen, Fire.”
“What do your symbols mean? I know the Kryv motto.” I touched the ink of fight to the end. “But these are images. Flowers and such.”
Jonas sat against the pillows and started near the top of his ribs. “Blades for each of my parents. They are the strongest warriors I know.” He pointed at the symbol of wisdom right below. “For Sander. He’s viewed as the innocent twin, but he’s damn clever and devious when he wants to be. A moonvane blossom from the north for House Ferus—Livia’s and Aleksi’s house. But my other uncle is consort to their aunt, so we share cousins and family. House Ferus was a second home to me and Sander. As was Mira’s, the raven. It is their house symbol. A quill for the fate king and queen. They do not leave their palace much, now even less since their little was born a few months ago.”
I looked at each image, following the edges, how they were all connected through vines and briars. “Everyone you love. It is quite a tribute.”
Jonas merely hummed and looked to me.
“Are you sore at all?” he asked after a pause. “I bent you up last night.”
The way Jonas had my legs twisted around as he slammed into me until I could not even shout his name was a moment I wouldn’t forget. “I have never felt better, Nightmare.”
Jonas pinched my side until I shrieked and rolled into him. “What did you call me?”
“Nightmare.”
“You gave me a lover’s name. A horrible one, but I’ve never had one before.”
“It’s not horrible. You are my nightmarish prince.” I pecked his lips. “And it is one of my favorite sides of you.”
“Do explain.”
I bit down on my bottom lip, ignoring the frenzy of my hair and leveraged over the top of him. Jonas drew in a sharp breath when my thighs settled on either side of his hips. Beneath my center I felt the thickness of his cock hardening.
“I might’ve pretended to care for nothing the day we left Natthaven, but when your magic took hold of your eyes and you lashed your words at Cian, if you’d have asked, I might’ve devoured you right there.”
The inky center of his eyes flared. “Princess Skadi, such scandalous words. Your grandfather was present.”
I leaned forward, smiling against his lips. “That was the moment I knew you could devour every bit of me if I allowed it.”
He cupped the back of my head. “And will you allow it?”
My pulse quickened. Was I bold enough? I scooted down his legs, my fingers trailing over the hard surface of his stomach.
Jonas watched me with a look of stunned heat.
My palms settled on his thighs. “I might be able to answer better, but . . . I think I need a taste of you first.”
Jonas took hold of my wrist. “Skadi, you don’t have to.”
“And that is why I want to.” One hand stroked him once from hilt to tip, my thumb running over the sensitive crown.
“Dammit.” Jonas gritted his teeth, hips bucking on instinct.
He parted his lips—to argue or have the last word no doubt—but whatever words he planned to say choked off when my lips surrounded the head of his cock. A deep, throaty groan broke over his tongue. He propped one leg, knee bent, and draped an arm over his eyes as though the rush had come on too swiftly.
I dragged my tongue along the underside of his length until he looked down at me with hooded eyes. “Fire . . .” He drew in a few sharp breaths. “Don’t stop.”
I took him in deeper. The taste of his skin and musk pooled heat between my thighs. My tongue curled around the tip of his length. What I could not take in, I covered with my hand, stroking in tandem with my mouth.
Jonas’s breaths were rough, heavy. He wove his fingers through my tangled hair, his head fell back. One glance, and my core throbbed watching the heady pleasure written on his face.
There was a powerful delight that came from knowing I brought those breaths from his lungs, it was my name whispered on his lips.
Jonas moaned when I moved faster. He thrust into my mouth, drawing out a cough when he went deeper into my throat.
I licked and kissed until breaths turned to sharp, staggered pants.
“Skadi, I’m going to come.”
I held firmly to his hips, holding him in place until he groaned and spent his hot release over my tongue. When it ended, I pulled back, smiling and wiping my lips. Jonas reared over me, pinning my back to the bed.
He kissed me, doubtless tasting himself on my tongue.
Dark desire still coated his eyes when he pulled back. “What is your decision, Fire?”
“Decision?”
“Will you allow me to devour every piece of you?”
I tugged on his bottom lip. “I’ll consider it.”
A shriek followed his swift movements. In the next breath, Jonas had one of my knees hooked over his shoulder, the other he kept pressed open on the bed with his palm. He fitted his body between my thighs. “I think there might be more tasting to be done before decisions can be made. Don’t move, woman. I have you exactly how I want you.”
He was wholly villainous. Impossible not to move beneath Jonas Eriksson’s cruel mouth. No mistake when I shattered under his tongue, the entire Black Palace heard my cries.