Page 39 of Dance of Kings and Thieves

“Niall is removing his own parents from power,” I said with disbelief.

Sigurd arched one brow. “Folk say Ivar is unfit to rule. They say he is dying.”

Kase and I shared a look. This we knew was true.

“There was talk that not long ago, the Lady Magnate visited an illegal Profetik in Rutten,” Sigurd went on. “She was looking for strange mesmer. Strange spells. Specifically, to summon magic from the worlds beneath the tides.”

Kase made an indignant snort. “Worlds beneath the tides? Sea fae?”

Those were bedtime stories. Grand kingdoms beneath the waves, a world that was a mirror to our own once you dove deep enough.

“Long ago, folk believed the sea fae could heal anything,” Sigurd said. “Through their song, their touch, their kiss.”

“They’re legends,” Kase said, shaking his head.

“Are they?” Sigurd challenged Kase with his stare. “Dock workers and fishermen reported a strange storm far beyond the Howl on the Fate’s Ocean a week back. Now, Jagged Grove is guarded like a fortress. Strange, don’t you think?”

A shiver danced up my arms. If Britta Grym sought out a cure for Ivar, it must mean he was slipping away swiftly. Perhaps Niall did not want the burden of his father dying during his climb to power. Perhaps there was more the Gryms were hiding.

Either way, we needed to get into Jagged Grove.

“We need to get into the grove then,” Kase said at the same moment the thought passed through my head. “If Ivar is dying there, we will end him. If they have summoned some mystic of the sea, we will take it from them. More than likely, they have a relic hidden deep in the grove, guarded by fae.”

The ring. The way Kase said the words, he thought the same as me. It was possible this stronghold held the ring.

“Then you’ll need some skydguard on your side. A high-ranking one,” Sigurd said.

“Yes, we will.”

I studied Kase’s profile. He already had a plan. The look in his eye meant his mind was already shooting three steps ahead, but as usual he would not give more than was needed.

Shadows faded from Kase’s face until he finally showed Sigurd his true eyes. “Consider our deal concluded.”

“I’m in this now, Nightrender. But I’ll keep taking your bleeding protection.” Sigurd stalked past Kase and took hold of my hand. “House Grym would not be so desperate if you were not the true heir. You will be my queen, and I expect you will someday pay me well for all this trouble.”

An unexpected laugh burst from my throat. I covered my mouth, desperate to keep quiet. “You can be the official royal steel worker in our court of thieves.”

Sigurd released me, smiling. “I look forward to the day. Stay alive. We are beginning a deadly game, my friends. You can feel it in the soil—the Otherworld is anxious to claim those who fall in the end.”

Once Sigurd was gone, I slipped my arms around Kase’s waist. My cheek rested over the steady thrum of his heart.

“I have a plan,” he said, his fingers playing with the ends of my hair. “But I don’t know if I will survive it.”

“Then forget it from your head.”

“I will survive if my wife protects me.”

I took hold of his hand as he led us back toward the ruins. “Who will you make an enemy of now?”

His eyes were dark and glossy in the night, but a bit of playfulness I rarely saw lived inside. “Hob.”

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

THE NIGHTRENDER

Hob was goingto murder me.

I didn’t have time for his sulking. We had a mark to meet. I intentionally kept my gaze locked on his lover and my back to him. Perhaps it was unwise to turn your back on a man who wanted to gut you, but Malin held him in her glare, and Valen had one of his brutal axes in his hand, sharpening the curve.