A Touch of Poison (Shadows of the Tenebris Court, #2)

I’d been worried about the possibility of civil war if Braea died without an heir, but here they were trying to bring one even earlier.

I pulled my anger tight and kept my voice light. “Just like I hope you’ll understand, I don’t want to hurt you.”

His head lifted, eyebrows raised in hope. His mouth even dropped open as though he breathed a soft sigh of relief.

“But I will.” My shadows coiled around his ankles as I gave him a slow, slow smile. “What does Hydra Ascendant want?”

That was the best way to understand how to guard against them, and it would seem innocuous to him. If he believed in the cause enough, he might even relish the opportunity to share their mission. Once I had that information, I’d find out who led them. And once he’d grown used to spilling secrets, I would ask where they were based and how many they were—the details that would allow me to annihilate them.

“No answer?” I cocked my head. “That won’t do.”

My shadows tightened and tightened. They’d be bruising now. Cutting off the blood soon. And when I pulled them tighter still, there would be the crunch of breaking bone.

“What does your organisation—?”

The door sprung open and in swept a blaze of light. “This is the one who did it?” Cyrus glanced at me, fury in his eyes.

“We’re in the middle of—”

“Dawn needs to be here too.” His lips went pale. “They killed my people as well as yours, Bastian.”

The prisoner flinched as the prince stormed towards him.

“Traitor,” he bellowed, gripping the man’s throat. “All those people dead. My father’s subjects. Who do you work for? Where’s your base? We’ll send an army and destroy them!”

Fucking idiot. He was going to bloody kill the man before I got anything.

“Cyrus,” I snapped, letting my shadows brush his legs—a reminder that it was Dusk’s time.

The fact I used his name and not his title must’ve got through to him, because he straightened and pulled back, chest heaving.

“You can stay—it affects Dawn too. But this is my prisoner, and you will not touch—”

Steel flashed. The Ascendant’s hand—free somehow—held a dagger.

My shadows arced towards him.

If he killed the prince on my watch…

But instead of reaching out, the Ascendant raised the blade to his own throat.

“No!” I reached with every part of me, but blood sheeted down his chest, spurting over my shadows as they gripped his wrist an instant too late.

I called for Elthea as I tried to staunch the blood from his gurgling throat. But it flowed and flowed, and he slumped, no longer making a sound.

The knife clattered to the floor.

Fuck. Fuck!

Cyrus gasped, hand going to his belt and the empty sheath there. “My dagger.”

The strap on the chair’s arm hung loose, its edges sliced. He must’ve taken it when the idiot prince leant right over him, placing the hilt in reach of his bound hand. A simple flick would bring the blade against the leather strap and a moment later—free.

Free to ensure he could never be made to speak.

Elthea burst in. Her eyes only widened a touch as she took in the blood pooled around the treatment chair.

I whirled on her. “Did you strap him in tightly?”

Her expression tightened. “I did my job, Serpent,” she spat. “You failed in yours.”

I held very still so she couldn’t see how her blow landed as she went to the prisoner.

“Well,” Cyrus growled as he retrieved his dagger and cleaned it on the Ascendant’s trousers. “He can’t talk now. I should’ve stayed away and left it to you.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Even my self-control wavered at that, making my mouth drop open. Cyrus. Apologising to me?

He frowned, returning his weapon to its sheath. “Did you get anything from him before I arrived?”

I gave Elthea a questioning look as she straightened from inspecting the prisoner. She shook her head. He was beyond even her powers.

Shit.

I sighed and shook my head at Cyrus. “No. Nothing.”

Elthea was right. I had failed.





56





Bastian





It was almost a week after the Solstice, when Rose knocked on my open door. “You wanted to see me?”

I looked up from my desk, where I’d been poring over reports from witnesses and spies from that day. Nothing groundbreaking, but if I went over them enough times, I’d surely find the vital clue I’d missed.

“Not for another…” I blinked at the orrery on the mantelpiece. “Oh, now.” I rubbed my eyes and gestured towards a chair by the fire. “Shut the door.” That would stop anyone hearing this awkward conversation.

As I stretched, shoulders aching, she edged in and took the offered seat.

With a sigh, I sank into its twin. “You know this mission I’m going on tomorrow?”

Her eyes narrowed and she fidgeted. “Yes.” She drew out the word.

“I need to talk to someone about something personal before I go, and you’re the ideal candidate… the only candidate, actually.”

“Oh!” She flopped back in the seat with a chuckle. “I’m here as your friend, not employee. Thank fuck for that! I thought you wanted to send me and Faolán instead.”

With a laugh, my tension melted. “You’re safe. Her Majesty doesn’t trust this to anyone else.” Partially true, but also, no one else could know the true intent. But that was a headache for another day. Between the Solstice attack and this, I had enough to deal with.

“I’ll be gone a while and… obviously, I’m not going alone… and this is sounding all the more stupid the closer I get to saying it. Let’s just forget—”

“Bastian. Please. Spit it out.”

I huffed and closed my eyes. “It’s Katherine.”

“I should’ve known—I’ve never heard you babble so much before.”

That sounded about right. In Lunden, hadn’t she and a single shot of arianmêl turned me into a babbling idiot?

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shot Rose a pointed look. “Thanks. The problem is we’re going to be alone for the whole journey and… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

After several silent seconds, Rose shook her head. “I still don’t know what you’re trying to say. What’s so bad about time alone with Kat?”

“I want her, Rose. More than… more than is sensible. And yet…” I raked my hands through my hair, because I didn’t know what the yet was, just that there was one.

“You know, when we found her on the Solstice and you touched her and she woke… I thought you were going to kiss her.”

“So did I.”

“But you didn’t.” She cocked her head. “You’ve pledged your magic to her. She wears your ring. Yet kissing her is out of the question.”

Groaning, I scrubbed my hands over my face. “It sounds even worse when you say it. I… I don’t understand it myself. And that’s the problem. I hoped you might have some insight, since you’ve managed to successfully…” I gestured like there was an amorphous form before me. “Make a relationship happen.”

Clare Sager's books