Page 45 of Dance of Kings and Thieves

Eryka beamed at me, her plump lips taking up half her new face. “I did find a way to frighten my captors without my sight.”

Ah, yes. Her convulsing and twitching like a madwoman. The story that led me to believe I would like the fae.

I curled a hand around her grip on the dagger. “Trust yourself, Eryka. And your magic will work like another piece ofyou.”

“Thank you, Queen Malin.”

“There are no queens here tonight. Only survival and instinct.” I placed a hand on her shoulder for a moment before peering into the center hole of the longhouse.

Kase had darkened nearly every corner of the house, but I could clearly make out the bloody knife in Inge’s brother’s hand. I could easily see the way the two skydguard cowered in front of my husband.

It was intoxicating.

“You’ll get us into the grove, and you’ll tell your new fae friends we are skyds,” Kase commanded.

“Not a . . . word, Oskar.” Edvard spat out.

“Ah.” Raum taunted, spinning a blade in his busy hand. “So, little brother is the one to bend. He does seem more pleasant.” Raum used the edge of his knife to tilt the younger brother’s chin up. “Take us to the grove, darling, and we won’t have much trouble.”

Oskar trembled but held Raum’s gaze. “What do you . . . plan to do?”

“It would frighten you to know the truth,” Raum said, a mocking grin on his face.

“I will not betray my Lord Magnate.”

“Honorable,” Kase said. He dipped his chin, leveling a merciless glare at Oskar. “Pity we don’t have time for honor.”

“What about his pretty wife, Nightrender?” Raum spun the knife, pacing. “I’d take great care of her.”

The hair raised on my arms when Kase’s eyes brightened. “Great care is debatable, but you’d take her, no doubt.”

“No.” Oskar tried to stand, but Raum pounded Oskar’s shoulder with the balled hilt of his knife to shove him back onto his knees. “Don’t touch her.”

“Fine,” Kase said, blithely. “We’ll take the children.”

“No! You bastards, no.” Oskar flailed around until Kase used thick skeins of darkness to bind him in place.

I knew Kase. Slaughtering young ones wasn’t what I saw when I thought of him. Still, the image he painted of all the brutal things they’d do to Oskar’s littles, the way they’d sell them, make them serfs who only knew the lash, it was frightening to imagine him lost in bloodlust as he slaughtered anyone—everyone—to keep me alive.

There was a piece of me that knew he’d burn it all if pushed far enough.

“I’ll help you,” Oskar sobbed.

“You coward,” Edvard said with a gasp.

Oskar ignored his brother and wiped his hand beneath his nose. “We can enter the grove.”

“What is hidden there?” Kase asked. “Is it Ivar?”

Oskar’s jaw tightened. “I’ve never seen him, but . . . I have seen the Lady Magnate.”

“Are there any prisoners with them?”

“I can’t say for certain, but I have seen their inner guards going in and out. Some of the . . . blood fae as well, from the South.”

“Blood fae will use spells to compel others into submission,” Eryka whispered beside me. “If they have taken an uncooperative prisoner, a blood fae would be used to force them to cooperate.”

Elise and I shared a look. Her brow furrowed with concern. I felt much the same.