Page 74 of Fortress of Ambrose (House of Marionne #3)
Fifty-Eight
Nore
When Nore reached the stables, there was a figure in dark robes waiting for her. She swung out of her saddle, and Yagrin’s deep brown eyes emerged from the hood.
“You’re alright!” She ran toward him but stopped and cleared her throat, keeping distance between them.
Nore had made peace with the physical connection they had.
It suited her. She couldn’t feel love for him, but she felt need.
Desperate need to have his brain, hands, and body by her side. He seemed to be tolerating it.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “We have to talk.”
“So much has happened. I was…” Scared. Panicked. She’d woken each night since he was gone, thinking of him. “Under the impression you got into some trouble.”
“You were worried,” he said.
“You were so delayed that it was only logical for me to be concerned.” Her face flushed with heat.
“I should have written. I’m sorry.”
Last night haunted her. The feeling of living in this prison, of being embroiled in a war she didn’t ask to be a part of.
She would give anything to forget it all for a moment.
His hair brushed his cheek. Their sharp angles sloped to a beautiful jaw and perfect mouth.
She strode past him. He grabbed her and pulled her body to his. Warmth rushed through her.
“I did miss you.” He ran a thumb along her jaw, and it tugged at her like a tether tied to the deepest parts of her soul. “But we need to talk somewhere private. I have news about the Scroll. And it isn’t good.”
She grabbed his hand and could feel the thrum of his heart in his fingers. Yagrin was on her side. And he was back by her side. Somehow they would get through this. He watched her holding on to his hand, not letting go.
“I also have news about my brother and the dead.” She gestured for him to follow her to her room.
The minute the door to Nore’s room closed, their insistence to talk died when he pulled her into his arms and drowned her in his loving affection.
They lay in her bed now, arms and legs tangled around each other.
She listened to the hum of his chest, like a song she loved but couldn’t remember the words to.
Yagrin’s hand ran through her hair. The tips of his fingers traced circles on her back.
She exhaled, noticing how long had passed since they’d been hugged together like this. She pulled herself up and off him.
“Stay,” he said, pulling her back to his chest.
She resisted.
“I know the Nore with her heart loves me. Forcing me away won’t change how I feel. Let me hold you.”
“We have matters to get to.” She peeled herself away from him. He deserved so much better than this. He sighed, and they moved to opposite armchairs near the fire.
“What happened?”
“You first,” he said.
She swallowed, summoning the horrors she’d seen in the forest to the front of her mind. “No, you, please. I’m still processing.”
“The Scroll is not findable. We’ve been collecting a replica of the original.”
Her grip tightened on the chair. “Impossible.” Her brother was looking for the Scroll, too. He’d done more research and for longer. He would not have missed this.
“I wouldn’t tell you this unless I was positively certain.” He went on to explain how the Duncan Elder he’d spoken with told him all about how the Scroll pieces had been found centuries ago.
“So Caera was just making a name for her House? She was a fraud?”
“Is it that hard to believe?”
It was like looking out of glasses with the wrong lenses. Is this what my mother meant? Did she know?
“We need to break the Pact with the ancestors,” Yagrin said. “I have a plan. But first, tell me what I missed while I was gone.”
Nore poured herself a kiziloxer and let the bubbles mellow her out. She sat back in the chair by the fire and told Yagrin about Ellery and Adola working together to burn the ancestors’ bones to kill their spectral spirit. How they were hurrying to finish before sunrise.
“My cousin?”
“Your cousin. Who I told you not to trust!”
His head cocked. “Maybe this works for us? We want the ancestors out of the way. If he kills them all, then we can take your heart back without fear of retaliation from them.”
“We’d still have my brother to deal with.” She rubbed her temples. “I know Ellery. If he is doing this, he is certain it will get him closer to Headship. Somehow the two connect.”
Yagrin didn’t speak for several minutes. He stared with deep consternation.
“I don’t understand,” he finally said. “I’ve never heard of magic like that.”
“Well, somehow Ellery has, and he’s training your cousin well.”
He crossed his arms.
“I watched her help my brother set my ancestors’ remains from the grave on fire. Right before she kissed him.” She grimaced.
“That House is full of traitors.” Yagrin’s mouth formed a hard line.
He got up. With his back still to her, he said, “I know how we can break the Pact. The dead want to survive, and they think, somehow, access to a heart with toushana will help them. They have yours, but they would be much more excited to have a heart with strong toushana.” He faced Nore with heavy-lidded eyes.
He wouldn’t…“Your brother’s heart?”He can be savage, and his rivalry with his brother goes deep. But this?
“His heart is rotten anyway. That’s what power does to people; it corrupts them until it kills them.”
Is that what he thinks of me?
“Yagrin, there may be another way—”
“My brother’s against us now, Nore. This is the way. If the dead will accept, my mind won’t be changed.”
He wanted to sacrifice his brother’s heart to save her. Since Jordan wasn’t an Ambrose, it would kill him. Cold skidded across Nore’s spine. Was she really on board with this? She racked her brain. The temptation to break the Pact was too great to ignore.
“The dead have their own problems at the moment,” she told him. “I’m not sure we can convince them.” Even if they could persuade the ancestors, they still had Ellery to deal with.
Nore circled her chin, trying to picture what had happened to the ancestors’ bodies once the bones burned. It was ash. She hadn’t looked inside the grave to be sure. It was hard to make out everything happening in such darkness.
“I need a better look at this magic in the daylight,” she said.
She didn’t like this plan of killing his family to save her. But weren’t they doing the same thing? Ellery had to die if she would ever be safe. Her fists sweat as she and Yagrin hurried out the door.
The sun was fully awake when they rode out to the forest. And they found the grave sites in disarray.
Piles of ash and charred bone were scattered.
Trees had fallen over, and branches and debris covered the ground.
Nore spotted the grave that was dug up the night before.
It was partially refilled. How had her brother gotten so close to the estate?
And why were the dead helpless against him?
She recited what she knew. “The ancestors’ shadow shriveled up and crept back toward the mound until it disappeared.”
She squatted beside the grave and stuck her hands in the dirt. “Help me look around in this one.”
He moved the dirt around. They were utterly filthy, elbow-deep, feeling for something.
“Any bones left in there?” he asked.
Her hands only grazed rocks and broken sticks. “No.” The moment she said it, something cold brushed her fingers. “Wait.” She grabbed hold of the gummy substance and pulled. Out came a suit of skin with hollow eyes and rotting flesh.
Yagrin stumbled backward. Nore surveyed the body, more intrigued than shocked. A magic that could kill the corpse’s spirit and leave the shell of a person behind. How did the Anatomics work? She had so many questions. Though she didn’t covet it, magic could be fascinating.
“Jordan. It’s just like he described. The Dragunhead—” Yagrin was white as a ghost.
“We should get out of here.” She kicked dirt back over the desiccated body and pulled a stiff Yagrin back to Daring. She rode in the front of the saddle, and he hugged her. As they fled back to the house, she asked, “What about the Dragunhead?”
He held her tighter. “He also uses this magic.”
Ellery wasn’t working alone. She kicked her horse’s flank harder, white-knuckling the reins. She needed to think. Their list of enemies only seemed to be growing. And this one terrified her.