Night of Masks and Knives (The Broken Kingdoms Book 4)

I kept slipping on the stairwell to the boathouse, every step was covered in dirty ribbons and bits of fabric. Damp air wet my mouth with a hint of mold and dirt. The stairs coiled around a small tower lit by torches, and the end of the staircase opened to a few small skiffs tethered to docks. Brown water, thick with twigs and leaves from the riverbank, lapped at the wooden walks, and ugly black moss climbed the walls.

Tova and Niklas were in a black skiff next to Raum, Lynx, and Isak, who readied the oars. Behind them sat Hagen.

Relief twisted in my chest. Either Hagen had slipped from Sabain, or the Benevolent was dead. One could hope.

Hagen whipped around as we approached. “Mal.”

In two swift motions he was out of the skiff and had her in his arms.

″You bleeding fool,” he said against her hair.

″I have a great many questions to demand of you,” she murmured back.

″I’m sure,” he said. “But let’s get out of here. I don’t know why the Nightrender did not put my son on the same path as me.”

Hagen glared at me. Let him. It was a simple answer. Gunnar’s escape was safer to go through the gates, then through the short passages and bridges leading to the opposite side of the river. I did not need to defend any choice to keep a member of the guild safe.

Raum’s eyes were red and exhausted. Niklas trembled with barely managed fury; his hard eyes glared at the bottom of the skiff. I had few doubts he was plotting violent ways to destroy Eero.

I slipped my fingers into Malin’s and squeezed her hand. “It’s time. Get in the boat.”

She released me as Lynx helped her over the edge. Soon we would be free of the Masque av Aska for good. I could almost breathe the freshness of the trees across the river.

″There!” A shout rattled in the night.

″Kase!” Malin screamed as a flood of skydguard filled the boathouse.

Guards came from doors unseen. Bits of wall shifted, revealing passages that were not written on the plans stolen from Klaus. We’d stepped wrong, missed something crucial. In the back of the guard Lord Magnate Ivar stepped into the boathouse. At his side was Eero, whose smirk was enough to seal his death in my mind.

″You bastard!” Niklas shouted. He ran for the dock, but Lynx held him back.

″Sorry, brother,” Eero said with a wink. “I’m tired of living in the dirt. Besides, the pay’s better here.”

Rage blinded me. I reached for my blacksteel, but guards hidden in the eaves dropped on me without mercy. They pinned me face down on the stones. My mesmer was nearly spent. The thought of using too much too soon ached in my limbs and chest.

Malin shouted my name. The Kryv scrambled with raised weapons, but everyone halted when the guards forced me to my knees, swords trained on my neck.

″Another move, and he dies,” Ivar said in his silky voice.

Raum and Lynx paced like wolves on the prowl, searching for a way around this.

″This girl is the thief who tried to rob the Heir Magnate?” Ivar clasped his hands behind his back, glaring at Malin.

Eero seemed rather frustrated, as if he could not find the right words, but nodded stiffly. “She’s the one.”

Ivar tilted his head.

″Lady Freya, I presume, is not your name. I do hope you’ll tell me what it is and the meaning of your interest in Lord Strom.” Ivar glanced at Hagen, then curled his long fingers around my chin. “Tell me or your Malevolent pays the price. I have missed him.”

I’d kill him. A thousand ways to open his throat reeled through my head.

″Fight back, Kase!” Malin’s voice quivered.

She couldn’t be discovered, not by Ivar. Why Eero had not given her name, I didn’t understand, but I would not slap the hand of good fortune away. One more threat from Ivar and that reckless woman would give up her name. Hells, I loved her for it, but she wouldn’t get the chance.

I despised this place, but the thought of a world without Malin, without the Guild of Kryv was a thing I despised more.

There was no choice to make. I already knew what to do.

One glance at Malin, and I swear to the gods she knew. Her eyes filled with fierce panic. She shook her head and gripped the edge of the skiff, struggling against Lynx and Hagen as they pulled her back.

The girl who first saw me cry, who stayed up with me if nightmares burdened my dreams. She was the first girl to tell me I was brave and strong. Malin was the first, she was the only one, to hold my heart and soul in her hands.

I would always choose her life over mine.

The fear came too heady from my guild, from Malin. It overpowered that of any guard. Any mesmer I had to give would go to the Kryv. It would go to save Malin.

One more act. One more step in the dance. I could pull off one more.

I held her gaze, a wide smile filled with madness spread over my face. “I’m afraid!”

″Kase, no!”

She lunged for the side of the boat in the same moment my eyes closed, and I commanded my darkness to swallow the skiff whole. Like daggers to my chest, mesmer took from the fear bleeding through me, the fear of being trapped here, it took from the pain of being without her.

Dark emotions danced in my heart, creating mesmer powerful enough to command something to move, something like a skiff across the water and out of reach.

When my shadows faded, the skiff had landed nearly into the center of the river.

Raum, Tova, Lynx, they all cursed me. Niklas and Isak looked more stunned than anything. Malin was half out of the skiff; Hagen was the only thing keeping her from spilling into the water.

She raged, slapping at her brother’s arms, screaming my name.

I slumped back, energy spent.

The skydguard took hold of my arms and in a few breaths a burning magisk collar was slapped around my neck. It scorched the skin much like the eldrish did in Skítkast, but what did it matter?

I could not even think of mesmer without spinning in my head.

Skydguard forced me to my feet. The gates barring the boathouse from the river clanged to a close. I looked once, allowing myself a final glance of her face. Malin sagged against the edge of the skiff, defeated, and sobbing as the river current pulled them out of sight.

I smiled.

The plan had not unfolded right. We’d trusted the wrong people, but in the end, it would be worth it if she lived another day.

I could die for all I cared.

I’d loved her, and had loved her well. For me, it was enough.

Ivar’s eyes narrowed into dark slits when I was forced to kneel in front of him.

″Welcome back, boy,” he said, those spindly fingers curled around my chin once again. Ivar lifted his eyes to the skydguard. “Bring him to the council room. I won’t be taking chances with this one. Not again.”

Ivar spun on his heel and was followed out by two guards.

″I hope penge was worth your soul, Eero.” I laughed a little maniacally as the skydguard dragged me past the Falkyn.

″You did something to me,” he growled. “I don’t know what, but I will find a way to tell the truth of her.”

″You can try.” I tugged against the guards. Perhaps they were curious enough to see how a confrontation played out. They stopped, allowing me to lean close to Eero. “But remember, I have marked you now. I never lose sight of my marks.”

I clung to the way Eero blanched at my not-so-subtle vow. The pleasure of drawing out his fear would buoy me against what was to come.