Chapter 66
The instant the door was shut, Raye released Sybil and spun back to the door, slamming down the bars, fastening the latches. Making sure there was no way in, and no way out.
Outside the door, the men were already loudly shouting, banging on the solid wood, but Raye ignored them as she spun to face her quarry again.
Sybil was gasping and sputtering with pain, clutching at where Raye had pulled her hair — but it didn’t matter, because what had Gaelfr taught Raye to do next?
To look for weapons. To make sure the enemy was unarmed.
Raye swept her eyes up and down Sybil’s body, and yes, that was a small knife in her belt, not unlike the one from the portrait — and with another swift lunge, Raye lunged forward, plucked away the knife, and hurled it across the room into the fire.
“What,” Sybil gasped, staggering back from Raye, scrabbling for where the knife had been. “What the fuck! Where’s Kalfr? And who the hell are you?”
Her voice rose, her eyes frantically darting around the small room, and Raye used the opportunity to shove herself between Sybil and the door, blocking her escape. “I’m Kalfr’s mate,” she said, in a voice that didn’t sound like her own. “And Kalfr isn’t here.”
Sybil was still staggering, groping at her hair, but Raye could see her eyes sharpening, her awareness returning. “What do you mean, Kalfr isn’t here?” she demanded. “Our best outriders and dogs tracked him here. And those louts saw him coming in!”
She waved a furious hand toward the door, toward the men who had been her trusted guard only moments before, and who were still loudly banging at the door, demanding to be allowed in.
But Raye shifted closer before the door, facing Sybil, gripping at her sword hilt, preparing for whatever would come next.
“Your men were mistaken,” she replied, clipped. “They were too far away to see clearly. It was a trick, all this time. It was me.”
It came out utterly certain, and Raye didn’t miss the way Sybil flinched, her lovely face pinching. “It couldn’t have been you,” she shot back, though it was less confident than before. “We followed Kalfr’s scent.”
“Yes, because I dragged around his clothes with me,” Raye countered. “You should know how that works, shouldn’t you? Seeing how you’ve been using his clothes to hunt him, all this time?”
Sybil’s mouth opened and closed, while Raye’s lips pulled into something like a smile. “Also, as my mate, he’s been fucking me for years,” she continued flatly. “That definitely helps with the scent, too.”
Something stark and furious flashed across Sybil’s eyes, but it cooled as she shook her head.
“You’re lying,” she said. “I knew he was coming here. The real trick” — her mouth thinned — “was him pretending he was going to stay put, where he might finally need to face the consequences of his actions, and keep the promises he made to me! He’s been running and hiding for months, avoiding me like a fucking coward, pretending he feels nothing for me, and now —”
Her breath heaved, her eyes blinking, while the cool distance again spread across her face. “I knew he was coming here,” she insisted, her voice carefully neutral again. “He has to be close. This is a trick. It has to be.”
Raye stared at Sybil for a long, bewildered moment, ignoring the ever-increasing banging and barking at the door behind her.
“No, he’s not here,” she snapped. “And this morning, he went straight out to meet you, just like you’ve been wanting him to!
He wanted to face you, and come to terms with you, and try to find a peaceful resolution to — to whatever the hell this is! ”
She waved irritably toward Sybil, toward the men still banging behind them.
“You’ve been the one hunting Kalfr,” she continued.
“You’ve been the one taunting him and mocking him all this time.
You’ve been the one refusing to face the consequences of your own actions!
You tried to kill him and his people, and you still fucking are!
Why the hell would he ever want to see you again?
Especially when he did nothing to deserve this! ”
The fury again flared across Sybil’s face, narrowing her eyes, contorting her mouth. “He did nothing?!” she echoed. “That sick bastard made promises to me. He made love to me. He swore he would do his best for me, and try to help me! He made me believe his shit, and then he betrayed me!”
Her voice rang through the air, her face flushed and blotchy, her mouth trembling.
“He pretended like he was better,” she spat.
“He pretended to be so sweet and generous and trustworthy, so different than all the rest. But deep down, he’s really just watching and plotting and testing you, manipulating you into trusting him, so he can control you, and ruin you! ”
The words struck at something in Raye’s chest, hard enough to crush the breath from her lungs.
And for an instant, she could only stare at Sybil, while those claims rattled around in her skull.
Deep down, he’s really just watching and plotting and testing you, manipulating you into trusting him, so he can control you…
Because… Sybil was right. Wasn’t she? She was right that Kalfr was always watching and plotting, testing those around him. She was right that he wanted control. Maybe he even needed it.
But instead of the alarm and condemnation Raye perhaps should have felt, there was only commiseration, and a quiet, startling affection.
Yes, Kalfr was all those things — but maybe she was, too.
And maybe Gaelfr was right there beside them.
Watchful, careful, jealous, controlling.
Demanding fealty and sacrifice from those closest to you.
But also… generous. Faithful. Brave. Freely offering fealty and sacrifice in return. Making vows you would raze the realm to keep. Giving whatever it took to keep your loved ones safe, no matter the cost.
They were… Bautul.
Sybil was watching Raye closely, as if sensing her hesitation, her weakness, and she came a step closer. “You know it’s true,” she said, her voice rising. “You know I’m right about him!”
Raye couldn’t deny it, and twitched a shrug, and a small smile. “I know,” she said simply. “But I love him anyway. I… I trust him.”
It should have been a ridiculous thing to say, utterly indefensible — but it was true. Wasn’t it? Raye loved Kalfr, and she was choosing to trust him — and Gaelfr, too. Even in this moment, she was keeping their enemies here, focused on her, knowing her mates would come, and save their son.
Sybil scoffed, and the rage flashed across her eyes again, this time tinged with cold mockery. “Well, you shouldn’t trust him,” she snarled back. “Because he’s still attached to me. He’s still bound to me, forever!”
Bound to me, forever. Something cold and slimy crept up Raye’s spine, her eyes searching Sybil’s face. What the hell did she mean, Kalfr was bound to her? Forever?
“Because how do you think I knew he was coming here?” Sybil demanded, bitter and triumphant. “How do you think I’ve been tracking him, all this time, no matter where he goes? Do you really think my dogs are that good? Or these bands of fools?”
She jerked her head toward the door, where the men were still uselessly yelling and banging, but Raye scarcely heard them now, over the erratic thumping in her chest. No. Sybil couldn’t mean, she couldn’t…
“I can feel him,” Sybil spat. “I can feel that lying bastard, no matter where he goes. He did some kind of” — she flailed her hand at her body — “some kind of fucked-up orc magic on me! So I’ll never stop feeling him, or wanting him! As if I haven’t already suffered enough?!”
Raye couldn’t stop staring at Sybil, feeling her heartbeat rage and wail against her ribs. Kalfr had — he’d built a mate-bond with Sybil. Just the same as the bond he’d built with her and Gaelfr.
And had Kalfr… told them that? He hadn’t, had he? And goddess, what had he said, when Gaelfr had asked if he’d built a bond with Sybil? He’d said… no. He’d denied it. He’d said that it took more time and effort to build a bond when you already had one, let alone two.
Had Kalfr… lied? Lied to Raye, and to Gaelfr?
Surely Sybil had caught Raye’s uncertainty, her eyes again flaring with triumph, with glee, with stark vicious fury.
“Fun, isn’t it?” she hissed. “Knowing that lying bastard is fucking his way across the realm, infecting other women with his fucked-up magic? Wanting us all to throw over all our plans, all our goals, so we can slink around after him, and beg him to notice us?!”
Raye still couldn’t stop staring, couldn’t think, couldn’t draw the pieces together. Kalfr had a bond with Sybil, Kalfr had lied, and now…
“I just want it gone,” Sybil said, her voice cracking. “I just want to find him, and find a way to be finally free of him, so I can live my fucking life again.”
Raye’s throat convulsed, as all this chaotic mess began lining itself up, into one neat row after the next.
Kalfr had built a bond with Sybil. And this entire time, Sybil had been feeling that draw toward Kalfr, that longing, maybe even that miserable helpless sickness Raye had felt.
And Sybil had been hunting him down, trying to… to…
“So were you actually trying to kill him?” Raye asked slowly. “Or to capture him? Or did you just… want him back?”
That drawing of Sybil’s naked body flared behind Raye’s eyes, and real-life Sybil shrugged, barked a laugh.
“Any of it, I don’t care,” she said. “Whatever it took. And when he finally stopped moving, hunkered down in that little fortress he built, I thought I could finally gather some reinforcements, and trap him there, and finish it.”
More comprehension slammed through Raye’s thoughts, heaving the breath from her lungs.
Goddess, that explained so much, didn’t it?
It explained why Sybil had been so determined.
Why she hadn’t been willing to negotiate.
Even why she’d sent that letter, that ridiculous portrait.
Just needing to get at Kalfr, in any way she could.
“And you couldn’t have just — explained?” Raye asked. “You couldn’t have just written to Kalfr about the bond, and asked for his help fixing it? Or arranged to ask another orc, somehow?”
“I did arrange to ask another orc,” Sybil replied, her voice flat.
“And I was told every orc knows there’s no undoing this horrid bond magic.
I can either wait for it to fade, for gods know how long — or I can move far away, or I can kill the bastard I’m bonded to.
Or, best case scenario” — she barked a bitter laugh — “I can find him, and start fucking him again.”
Even the thought churned in Raye’s stomach, and she fought to focus, to think. She was brave. She was strong. She was Bautul. She would keep trusting Kalfr, please, goddess, please…
“Look,” she said, on a deep breath, holding Sybil’s eyes. “I’m sure there’s a way we can — help you.”
Sybil blinked, astonishment flaring in her eyes, and Raye took another breath. “I lived apart from Kalfr for a long time,” she continued, “even while we had the bond, and I made it work. And maybe there are other ways your orc contact didn’t know about, too.”
Sybil blinked again, and took an uncertain step backwards, shaking her head. “You’re lying,” she said. “You wouldn’t help me. Especially if you’re really — his mate.”
Her lip curled on the word, the jealousy again flashing through her eyes, and Raye sent up another desperate prayer to the goddess.
“I would,” she replied. “I know what it’s like to be afraid and alone.
And I know, if Kalfr really promised you he would help you” — she swallowed, tried to smile — “he would do everything within his power to keep his vow. And he would want me to help you, too.”
Sybil kept shaking her head, staggering another step backwards. “You can’t know that,” she countered. “He lied to me. He betrayed me. He hates me.”
Raye shook her head, too, and gave Sybil a sad smile. “Kalfr is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met,” she said thickly. “He’s been so good to me, and to all his kin. I know he’d be good to you, too.”
She meant every word of it, even as the jealousy cramped and rebelled in her gut.
Could she handle Kalfr being good to this beautiful woman who had shared his bed?
Could Raye really trust him, in something like this?
Could she be sure he wouldn’t end up deciding to help by fucking Sybil just the way she wanted?
But Raye didn’t take it back. Just waited, holding herself upright, trying, trusting. If helping Sybil could end all of this mess for good, and keep her family safe — she would do it. She would.
And Sybil was considering it, rubbing her hand at her mouth, closing her eyes. Looking exhausted, defeated, and…
And then she lunged for the fire, whipped up her dagger, and charged straight for Raye’s throat.