Page 49 of Four Ruined Realms (The Broken Blades #2)

Euyn

The Ice Caves, Khitan

Gods on High, we’re trapped. I struggle, twisting my body, but Mikail and I are in a net, pressed to the ceiling of the empty mausoleum.

I barely felt the loose stone underfoot before the trap sprang shut. Impressive, but the entire place is a snare designed to catch thieves looking for a prize. There’s no glass coffin, no body of Staraheli in here. I wonder if it was all a setup, a bad source who lied to Mikail and led us to our deaths.

I hold my breath and wait for the Marnans. They are known to impale intruders on spikes. There were half a dozen snow-covered skeletons on pikes as we approached. They don’t burn the bodies here. No, instead of being released, our souls will be left to rot for all time.

A fitting end for me.

But even though I listen for the slightest sound, no one comes.

I exhale. Mikail must simply have had old information. Still, we’re now stuck in this net.

“Kingdom of Hells,” Sora whispers. “What just happened?”

I look down and see that Sora is free. She was last inside and closest to the door, so the net must have missed her when it swept us up.

She tilts her head, her eyes moving rapidly.

“I’ll cut the rope,” Mikail says. He takes out a dagger because there isn’t room to wield a sword in this spiderweb.

I free my dagger as well and try to cut the net. From the feel of it, I can tell it won’t work. I sever a few threads, but then I hit metal. It must be rope meshed with steel. I didn’t think the Marnans knew how to make such things. This is shockingly advanced.

As I feel the metal mesh, I realize it must have been made by Weian forgesmiths.

Because of their common enemy, the Marnans have had a long alliance with Wei. Staraheli’s revolt against Khitan was thought to be financed and armed by the island nation. But I was never sure if that was true or just Khitan wanting to save face as their cities burned.

Now, I think it is.

After a few more tries, it quickly becomes evident that we can’t cut our way out of the net.

“Sora, you’ll have to find a way to disable the trap,” Mikail says.

She looks around and then up at me. I can just barely make out her face in the sliver of light, but she has hate burning in her eyes. She doesn’t move; instead, she seems to be weighing her options. If she leaves us here, we are dead men. That much is certain.

Mikail must realize at the same moment that she’s thinking about leaving us behind.

“Sora…” he says.

Her expression goes from hard to softening. She looks away and takes a breath.

I can’t honestly say I would’ve done the same if the situation were reversed and she’d hunted my father.

Carefully, she tiptoes to the other side of the mausoleum. Her steps are small as she edges along the wall, avoiding the center tiles. I wonder what she’s doing until I realize that each tile must spring a trap of some sort. I happened to step on the one that triggered the net.

There is a stone sticking out of the wall—the counterbalance. She presses on it with her hands, but it doesn’t budge until she leans on it with all her weight. The net falls on one end, creating a rope ladder to the door. Mikail tumbles down and lands gracefully on his feet. I…am not as smooth.

Sora meets us by the door. I wonder how she knew how to disarm the trap, as she’s just a girl and has no training as a spy. I also wonder why, in the end, she let me go. Alliances don’t last forever, especially not among killers.

Perhaps she wouldn’t sacrifice Mikail just to get even with me. Or she feared him hunting her if we survived. Maybe she simply believes she can’t save Daysum without us.

But she can.

Sora has the ability to seduce and poison her way to Quilimar’s hand with or without Staraheli’s head. There’s just more left to chance. But my sister is no more immune to beautiful women than anyone else in my family. With Quilimar dead, Sora could give the ring to Joon and claim all the spoils.

The realization is a bolt that sends my pulse pounding. Any one of them could betray us and take the ring to Joon. They seemed like they were all on board with Sora’s plan to start a war, but so did I.

And now, because Mikail decided we should split up, Royo and Aeri could succeed, get to Quilimar, and bring the ring to Joon themselves. She’s his daughter, and Royo would follow her to the ends of the South Sea. Perhaps Joon was planning on exactly that—all of us double-crossing each other again. Maybe he didn’t send a team of killers, but five separate assassins with one prize. And among them was his daughter, because she has the best chance of winning.

My thoughts of betrayal spiral until they’re interrupted by the tolling of alarm bells.

My heart races in my chest, and my stomach sinks. The Marnans know we’re here, and they’re coming.