Page 121 of Merciless Is My Crown

“I’d like to ask…a favor.” She reached up and rubbed her throat. “Cosimo must be freed from this stone, which will come at a cost. He can decipher Anaria’s pages and he’s an excellent strategist. He’s also a powerful mage, and he has valuable connections in Blackcastle.”

“If they’re still alive,” Zephryn clarified.

“Yes, that.” Torin peered out the window at the darkening sky. “Simon would be here, but he flew to the city on a…personal task that shouldn’t take overly long. In the meantime, I want to assure you, Cosimo will be a valuable asset.”

Anaria reached out and set her hand over the seer’s. “You don’t have to convince us to help, Torin. It’s enough that he’s your friend and in trouble.” Anaria’s genuinely kind smile made my chest swell, making it almost too hard to breathe.

She was fucking perfect. Every time I thought I’d seen every side to her, she showed me something new and I fell in love with her all over again.

“Whatever we can do to get him out, we will.”

The seer blinked as she considered Anaria. “Thank you. That…this means everything to me, having Coz free.”

“What does freeing him entail, and what is this cost?” I asked, not at all happy Simon was flying over the army right now and putting this entire mission at risk. “Some arcane spell or ritual?”

Torin shook her head. “Unfortunately…” She glanced at Zephryn, who winced. “We need someone who’s experienced at imprisoning helpless creatures into enchanted artifacts.”

“Cosimo might have something to say about you calling him helpless, Tor,” Zeph rumbled, a touch of humor in his voice.

A rare smile flitted across the seer’s face then was gone. “Don’t tell him, then. Zeph will head to Trubahn’s shop and leave word—only enough information to peak the mage’s curiosity and lure him out here. He will undo the containment spell and set Cosimo free.”

That sounded like another one of Torin’s bullshite schemes where she left out about ninety percent of the actual plan.

“Can we kill him when he’s finished?” Tavion growled, and I remembered he and Trubahn had some bad blood between them.

“No,” Torin said emphatically, Zephryn’s lips curling in disgust.

“He’s an important enough figure in Southwell his disappearance would be noticed. And while he’s evil, he’s a necessary evil. With the absence of real magic in Solarys, Trubahn provides the medicines for Blackcastle, and certain…specialized weaponry for the army.”

“He’s a fucking slave owner,” Zephryn hissed softly.

“We’ll kill him when this is over and the magic is restored,” Torin countered as if she was talking about hanging out the laundry. “Until then, he’s useful.”

“We have money, Tor.” Zephryn stepped forward and my gut tightened even more at the glint of raw desperation in his eyes. “I will give him all the gold he desires if he helps us.” But the dragon’s gaze darkened when Torin shook her head, her face a haunted, desolate mask.

“We already know what Trubahn’s asking price will be, and it’s not gilder.”

I’d met Trubahn on a handful of occasions and despised the mage progressively more each time.

But when Zephryn returned and snarled, “That fucking bastard is on his way,” I knew by the end of this meeting I would hate the mage. He was a piece of shite, trapping hopeless shifters into lifelong contracts through trickery and the sheer desperation of his victims.

But…if he could free that astrologer from the necklace…

Trubahn arrived an hour late in a grandiose carriage, the kind that rattled and clanged and called attention to itself. I nearly killed the fool then. If Torin hadn’t insisted the mage was the only one in Solarys who could free Cosimo, I would have.

The mage was tall, thin to the point of being desiccated, with thin blond hair pulled back in a long tail, clothing that bordered on foppish, and hands that were busy, plucking at his high collar and smoothing his hair as if they didn’t know how to keep still.

Tristan and Raziel were outside monitoring the outskirts of the property for anyone who might have followed the mage, and Simon hadn’t yet returned from his mysterious personal task that should have waited until the king was dead.

I was deciding if it was worth my while to just kill the mage right now, when Torin swept forward and dipped her head to the arrogant, preening piece of shite.

“Trubahn, it has been a long time.”

“Torin. I don’t see you on this side of the ward very often.” His cruel lips twisted into a parody of a smile. “Though I don’t suppose there’s anything civilized in Caladrius these days, is there?”

His cunning gaze raked over us, cataloguing each of our faces for future reference. By the time he’d finished, his eyes were slightly wide, as if he realized together we were worth a king’s fortune.

“Illustrious company you’re keeping these days, Torin.”

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