Page 46 of City of Snakes (Legends of Henosis #2)

Chapter 45

Krait

“ W ake up, asshole.”

My eyes shot open.

“You made a list of her faults?” Elsedora scolded. She stood at the foot of my bed with a scowl that could peel the bark off a tree. By Sybilla’s definition, I was a tree, so I stood no chance against whatever berating El had in store for me.

Sources, I hated people sticking their noses in my business. El picked something up from my feet—a familiar piece of parchment. Dread sank down into my stomach. Why hadn’t I torn that fucking list to shreds?

I groaned. “Tell me you are the one who found that.” I covered my eyes as she flung the curtains open, casting sunshine over me.

“Afraid not.” Her clipped tone confirmed my fears as she read the words on the page aloud with haughty dismay. I winced harder with each slight, imagining Sybilla reading that page.

“Where is she?”

“Rightfully avoiding the likes of you. ”

Glad to have gone to sleep with my breeches on, I stood quickly, found my tunic on the floor and threw it on. “And where might she be avoiding me?”

“You stay away from her today—she’s hurt, and you’ve done enough to make any woman run for the hills. This is the part where I get to tell you…I told you so.”

I shook my head as I pulled on my boots. “I haven’t ruined it. I didn’t mean any of that.”

“It doesn’t matter if you meant it. It matters that she believes you did, Krait.”

I needed to make this up to Sybilla somehow—get through to her that despite all my hesitation, there was no better way to wake up than by her side. I wasn’t too stupid to understand what budded between us.

Only fear prevented me from calling it love.

A loud knock against the door made us both flinch.

“We’ve got trouble, Krait,” Ryn called in. “Is El with you?”

I went to the door and swung it open in an instant. “What trouble?” Ryn’s brows lifted as he looked past me at Elsedora.

“Visitors from Helos. King Mattock is here asking for El, and he told the guards to keep Sybilla away.”

My legs faltered, and I took a step back before glancing at El.

“She’s in my chambers still,” she reassured me.

I nodded and returned my attention to Ryn. “Go, distract her. Where is Mattock?”

Ryn seemed uncomfortable. “He was cuffed and brought to the cell”

I stilled. “Is he under Caym’s influence?”

Ryn winced. “No…but he is with Firose Van Gran.”

My blood ran cold.

She was supposed to be dead.

A murderous ring of Shadows stretched around me.

“Krait…you can’t kill either of them, not until we have answers. The two of them might have valuable information,” Ryn warned. “They surrendered willingly. Let them talk.”

A low growl built in the back of my throat, and while I knew he was right, I certainly didn’t feel like being patient when the woman responsible for Freya’s end sat under my roof. She had been the only person who knew of our marriage aside from Ryn. She’d been Freya’s dearest friend…and when she’d revealed our nuptials to the Phynnic King, it had condemned my first love to death.

I would let her talk.

And then I’d let my Shadows tear her apart limb by fucking limb, like I thought she’d been by that wolf-beast.

“You should really let me talk to them first,” Elsedora mused.

I responded with a displeased grunt. We reached the bottom step, and El sighed.

Mattock and Firose were being held in the cell below Umber House. The dust caught the light from a sconce, but it was otherwise bewilderingly dark down there for midmorning in the Sahlms.

Our visitors from Helos faced one another, chained to opposite walls with their hands above their heads.

“Why are you here to speak with Elsedora?” I directed my question at Mattock, not wanting to look at Firose. To look at her would be to face my wrath and I was not ready yet. My fists clenched at my sides, and my body felt stiff with the urge to end this the easy way.

“Because I had nowhere else to go, and Elsedora has been kind to me.” He glanced past me to Elsedora who tsk-tsked lightly.

“Oh, puppy, you’ve stepped right into the lion’s den now. What is it that you wanted to say to me?”

“That you were right. I am an envoy. It’s like he’s split me in two, and I’ve done horrible things…”

I let a low growl leave my throat. “And you decided to bring yourself here , to my city?”

Firose cut in, “Caym can only move between minds when he is near. He uses marks to track envoys.”

“Silence!” I barked at her. Elsedora flinched beside me.

“The map.” El grabbed my arm.

Firose gasped out, “ You have it?”

I chanced a glance at the traitorous enchantress. Her face was cracked by scarring—a ghastly one across her neck. “Then you know of the deathmarks. You know Caym has risen and—”

I lost control and let my Shadows stretch across the cell and wrap around her throat. “I said…silence.”

When I returned my attention to Mattock, his expression hardened as he watched Firose writhing against the wall, unable to breathe. He cared for her.

“Don’t kill her. Please,” Mattock pleaded. “Let her go; she is not to blame—Caym is.”

I scowled. They might know how to stop Caym. It was the only thing stopping me.

“Why are you two here?”

When Mattock’s eyes met mine, they were bloodshot and accompanied by dark circles beneath them. “I want to be free of him. Before he can hurt anyone else. We seek your help.”

Maybe in another context seeing Sybilla’s ex-lover look this desperate and exhausted would be satisfying, but it only put a pit in my stomach now. If I hurt him, if I killed him…she’d never forgive me.

“Who are the other two envoys?” I ground out the question as Firose gasped for air. I motioned towards her. “I assume she is one?”

El squeezed my shoulder. “Krait, as much as I’d love to see her dead, too, please stop. We need to hear them out…”

My Shadows craved Firose’s blood. I didn’t want to let her out of their grasp. Listening to El’s better instincts, I reeled the vines back to me, but it took all of my strength. Firose heaved in a breath.

“Barden is one, but we do not know the other,” Mattock answered, looking relieved as Firose regained her composure.

A lump formed in my throat to see him so invested in her life.

“How is she not an envoy?” I refused to ask Firose the question, keeping my eyes trained on the North King.

“We don’t know,” Firose gasped out, and every muscle in my body tensed. “You don’t look a day over thirty. You haven’t found the answer to that prophecy, have you?”

I approached her, this time without my Shadows, and shouted, “Do not speak of that!”

“It was not me who told your father, Krait. I told you this then, and I will tell you again now. I loved Freya, dearly. Caym used her to get to you, to me. He wanted you in a rage; he wanted me broken. He wanted to make it as hard as possible for you to find the Last Daughter of Isleen. Please tell me you have found her…”

Every word she said made me want to tear her apart more and more. My Shadows whipped in the air around us, like they had minds of their own, reaching toward her. I wouldn’t let her speak of Sybilla.

I low growl rumbled out of me.

“Krait,” Elsedora warned from behind me.

Firose’s eyes widened. “You did,” she gasped. “Who?”

“It’s Syb, isn’t it?” Mattock’s voice sounded devoid of all hope.

His eyes had turned watery, which cooled the wrath in my veins.

It brought me no satisfaction to see the turmoil on his face when I said, “Yes.” I watched the man who had kept Sybilla safe, who cared for her, who had long been by her side, crumble, as I heard footsteps behind me.