Chapter 46
Forty-Six
Vaskel looked between Marina and Malek, backing away until they were both in front of him. “I should have known.”
He fingers ached to snatch his blade from his belt but if Malek had use of his powers, it would be pointless. Besides, he didn’t want them to know he was armed until the last possible moment. Let them be lured into thinking he was more vulnerable than he was.
“You should have.” Marina graced him with a look that bordered on pitying. “I stumbled across your old friend shortly after I arrived at the castle, and we both had so many stories to share about you.”
“I’m flattered,” Vaskel said flatly.
Marina’s smile flickered. “He told me all about you and your friends throwing him in here, so I switched out those awful nerillium chains for iron ones. There’s no point in having a dark mage on my crew if he can’t cast.” She made tsking noises in her throat.
“The Vaskel I knew wouldn’t have been lured so easily.
He wouldn’t have trusted someone who’d betrayed him. ”
Vaskel didn’t know if she was referring to Malek or herself, but he supposed it didn’t matter.
She was right. The Vaskel she’d run with wouldn’t have trusted anyone.
Then again, the old Vaskel wouldn’t have been trustworthy either.
He wouldn’t have given grace because he had received none.
But now he had. Now he had friends he trusted with his life and friends who accepted him, flaws and all.
“I’m not the Vaskel you knew.”
Marina eyed him, considering this. Then she shrugged. “You’re still a hellkin with the power to sense danger and the ability to charm almost anyone. You’re still a valuable asset.”
Vaskel saw no trace of Cali with Marina. He hoped that meant she was safe at the banquet upstairs. Maybe Erindil was getting her out as they spoke. If the elf hadn’t encountered Marina’s hellkin crew, that is.
“Where’s Cali?” he asked once he knew his voice wouldn’t betray him.
“It’s sweet how you care about this new crew of yours.” Marina’s smile slipped.
“I’m here,” he told her. “You have no need for her anymore.”
Marina put a hand to the side of her face and tapped one finger against her cheek. “But she adores me so. It will be hard to let her go.”
Vaskel gritted his teeth, thinking about how the hellkin must have sweet-talked the pantheri, convincing her of her undying affection. He’d seen Marina do it enough to know exactly what she would have said and done. He was only sad he wouldn’t be around to help Cali nurse her damaged heart.
“But you will let her go,” Vaskel said, steel edging his voice. “Or I won’t go with you.”
She laughed. “You can’t fight the soul bind.”
Vaskel touched a hand to his arm. He couldn’t risk a peek, but his skin no longer burned like the marks were writhing to sear their way through his flesh. It was almost too much to believe that Thrain had reached him on time and that the bind was broken, but he wanted to believe it was true.
“I can’t be bound to you if I’m no longer alive,” he snarled.
This made her smile drop and her eyes harden. “I don’t like threats like that.”
“Then you’ll let my friends go,” he said. “All of them.”
Marina huffed out a breath as if he were being a petulant child. “Fine. Your friends aren’t the ones I wanted, anyway.”
“What about Malek?” Vaskel asked. “You’ve freed him.”
Marina flashed a grin at the dark mage. “You’ve been most helpful. I couldn’t have done any of this quite as effectively without you. Your insight into my old friend and his crew was invaluable. I hope you enjoy your freedom from those stifling chains.”
Vaskel’s pulse raced at the thought of Malek going free with Wayside so close. “He’s not joining your crew?”
“Our crew,” corrected Marina. “It’s up to him. Our deal was information for freedom. He gave me what I needed to know about your friends, and I released him from his cell. I would never renege on a deal.”
Something niggled at the back of his brain. “Malek here might have helped you with information, but how did you know he was here? How did you know I was here?”
Marina rubbed her hands together as if savoring the answer.
“I suppose there’s no harm in telling you now.
I encountered the most fascinating character as I was assembling my new crew.
The old man was staying at the tavern where we were, and he was clearly nursing a grudge.
It didn’t take more than a few ales to get the truth from him and discover the source of his ire. ”
Vaskel didn’t respond.
“Silas, I think his name was,” Marina said. “He told me all about the sick laird, the barely defended castle, and the charming nearby village hosting a recently arrived hellkin. A hellkin and his meddling friends who ruined his favorite tavern, if I’ve got the story right.”
Vaskel barely remembered an old man named Silas, but a lot had changed since Lira had come to Wayside and welcomed her friends. Changes for the good, if you asked most folks.
Vaskel attempted a charming smile. “You can’t win them all.”
Marina laughed. “Not my philosophy.”
Marina waved Vaskel toward her. “We should go. The banquet will keep the castle distracted for a while, especially since I’ve plied the guards with plenty of whiskey, but I want to be far away when they realize I’m gone.”
“Why?” Vaskel asked. “What have you done?”
Marina flicked her wrist in a circle. “I promised to cure the laird, but there’s no cure for decrepitude.”
Vaskel flinched at the hellkin’s casual dismissal. “You haven’t changed a bit, Marina.”
She twitched, a sneer replacing her silky smile. “Not everyone wants to change, Vaskel.”
“But everyone can,” he said, more to Malek than to her. “Like my dwarf friend says, every new tunnel forges a fresh path ahead.”
Neither Thrain nor Sass had never actually said that, but it sounded dwarfy enough.
Marina groaned. “Enough with the pointless dwarf wisdom.”
Thrain leapt from the shadows, placing himself between Marina and Vaskel. “What are you calling pointless?”
Marina’s brows lifted ever so slightly. “What happened to your undying love for me? You were offering me gifts not so long ago, little man.”
“I’m no man.” Thrain bristled, a low growl rumbling in his chest. “I’m the hells-cursed dwarf here to tell you that you’re not taking my friend.”
“This is so tiresome.” Marina’s face contorted into something that was more demon than woman. “I suppose I need to show your dwarf friend what happens to those who fight a soul bind.”
She exposed her own wrist, pressing a finger to the flesh and giving Vaskel a malevolent grin.
Nothing happened. Her grin faltered, and she dropped her gaze to her arm.
“What? Where?” She yanked the fabric up to reveal nothing but fiery, unmarked skin.
Then she shot Vaskel a look of pure venom. “How did you—?”
“Wasn’t him,” Thrain bellowed. “Twas me.”
Marina swung to Thrain, and for a moment, Vaskel was certain the hellkin was going to lunge for him. Instead, she ground her teeth and spun on one heel. “Hells take you all.”
“One thing before you go, Marina.” Malek extended his hands, the palms fiery and vibrating.
Vaskel instinctively dove for Thrain, tackling the dwarf and covering his body with his own as a blast rattled his teeth and a blinding light illuminated the entire dungeon. Vaskel’s ears rang as dust and shards of rock rained down onto his back.
When he rolled off the dwarf and pulled Tyrian upright, Marina lay on the ground motionless, and Malek had crumpled to his knees.
“Is she dead?” Vaskel whispered, almost afraid to ask.
Malek twisted his head to lock eyes with him. “No, but her powers are gone, along with any chance for her to bind another soul.”
“Why?” Vaskel asked.
“I’m not so far gone that I didn’t see through her or know she was using me to get to you.
” He swayed as he glowered at the hellkin on the ground.
“I suppose I don’t like it when someone thinks they’ve outsmarted me.
” He held up his pale arms that were scored with black marks.
“And a part of me hoped that if I used my powers for good, maybe there was still hope for me to sever the darkness trying to devour me.”
Vaskel’s neck prickled, a warning that had nothing to do with Malek, who appeared truly depleted as he listed from side to side. It was Marina who pushed herself back onto her feet, her teeth bared.
“You’re a fool if you think you can be redeemed,” she spat out, her gaze shifting between Malek and Vaskel, “both of you.”
Then she whipped out a dagger from her waistband. Vaskel didn’t think before diving for her, his arm knocking hers as she released the blade at Malek.
The knife spun off-course and clanged into a stone wall, drawing a screech from Marina, who rounded on Vaskel. All pretense of friendship was gone, replaced only by a look of pure spite.
“You’ve ruined everything,” she cried, lunging for him hands like claws.
Vaskel snatched her hands with his and whirled her around, curling an arm around her neck and using another to pin her arms to her side. He tightened his grip around her neck as she flailed, holding her until her movements slowed and she slumped in his grasp.
“Is she…?” Thrain asked.
Vaskel shook his head as he lowered her to the ground. “Just incapacitated.” As much as he would have liked to never have to worry about Marina again, he refused to be a killer. Never again.
A part of him knew that if he spilled blood, even for a justifiable reason, he would ruin everything he’d worked so hard to build in Wayside.
“You saved me.” The voice was shaky and the tone surprised.
Vaskel lifted his gaze to Malek, giving the mage a small nod. Just as he refused to let Marina make him a killer, he refused to let Malek make him heartless.
The mage dredged up a watery smile before collapsing onto the ground.
Thrain rushed forward, bending down and putting a finger to Malek’s neck. “Not dead.”
Footsteps echoed in the stairwell, and Vaskel braced himself for the appearance of guards or perhaps more hellkins.
Instead, Erindil emerged from the stairwell, his gaze darting first to the inert hellkin and then to Malek, Thrain, and Vaskel.
Then another figure descended the stairs behind him, and Vaskel’s jaw dropped.
Two elves?