Page 38 of Dance of Kings and Thieves

When his body gave up, Kase growled, and shuddered; his eyes burned in need. In love.

As our hearts slowed, only the sound of our heavy breaths gathered between us. I touched his lips. He kissed my fingertips.

Slowly, he released my legs, and leaned forward to kiss me. Before he touched his mouth to mine, he whispered, “Mine through the eternities, Mallie.”

* * *

“I can’t believeyou tried to leave me.” I glared at my husband as I slipped a dark cowl over my head.

He held a branch out of the way for me to pass through and grinned. Bleedinggrinned. As if he knew one smirk, one damn smile had a way of dissolving all irritation.

“You looked so peaceful. So . . .sated.”

“Oh, don’t give me sweet words, Nightrender.” I crouched behind a jagged boulder jutting off a slope. “What did you tell me in Skítkast? If you scheme, I am there.”

He peered around one side of the boulder, waiting.

It didn’t take long before Kase’s smile faded and his mesmer coiled around the two of us. “He’s here.”

I followed a step behind. Truth be told, the darkness was unnecessary. Sigurd was not a threat, but at this point I wasn’t certain Kase knew how to finish his deals without the mask of night.

Sigurd stood ten paces back between two trees. He wrung his hands and looked around.

“Sigurd.”

He whipped around at my voice. “Gods. I didn’t even hear you.”

“That was the point,” Kase grumbled.

I jabbed his ribs with my elbow and stepped forward. “What have you learned?”

Sigurd blew out his lips. “There is a reason I stick to my damn shop and to rehoming cheeries. This kingdom has slipped into madness. The Black Palace has given the Southern fae control of the grove as suspected. Malin, they are not like your Night Folk fae. These are the vicious sort from fables.”

My chest tightened. I knew few things about the Southern Kingdom, but was grateful we had Ari and Eryka with us to explain what we might face.

“What is the motivation of the South?” Kase asked.

Sigurd shifted on his feet. “The Heir Magnate is taking vows with a Southern princess.”

Kase didn’t flinch. Hells, he didn’t even wear a look of surprise. “So, the South has chosen their place in this battle.”

“I am relieved to know you have the North. According to some, there was talk that rebels from the North had arrived, but no one had the same story.”

“Good,” I said. “We still have a slight element of surprise then. Although, Valen will not appreciate being called a rebel.”

Kase fought a smile. To Sigurd, no doubt, it looked like he was frowning, but I knew the twitch to his lip and what it meant.

But he buried his amusement and stepped closer to the steelman. “What are the fae doing in the grove?”

“It is a new stronghold. Only high-ranking skyds and dark fae are welcomed.”

“A stronghold for what?”

Sigurd picked at his thumbnail, then locked me in a stern glare. “Ivar is there.”

“You’re certain?”

“It was decreed, quietly, that Niall Grym take hold of the palace. The Southern fae queen has been seen amongst the courtyards. Likely she is there as his ally and chaperone for her daughter before the vows. But Ivar and the Lady Magnate were sent to the Jagged Grove stronghold.”