Page 140 of Conspirators' Kingdom

At least, Mereruka hoped as much. Shapeshifters were notoriously hardy, but Bas was young and had never been forced to reform missing pieces of himself. He’d never been injured to such an extent—Mereruka would never have allowed it. But he’d ordered him to spy on vicious foes. Never again. Handing Bas off was a less than graceful affair, as he had to let his son’s body tumble from his arms into Vasilisa’s while never crossing the wretched barrier.

“I’ll be back with the soldiers,” Vasilisa replied, bursting into inky flames as she sank into the darkness, Bas cradled in her arms.

“Meri!”

“It seems I’m caught, my love. The spell on this place says ‘One in, one out.’”

“How do I undo it?” she asked.

“Mrph! Mrph!”

Taisiya raised her brow and looked around.

“Is someone else in there?”

“A moment, wife,” Mereruka replied.

He grabbed the nearest torch and held it high. The bound woman’s skin glinted gold, her dark green hair in disarray.

“Betrest?” he asked.

She was tied and gagged, struggling furiously, her violet eyes enraged. Mereruka put the torch down and freed her.

“You gods-damned fool!”

“You’re welcome, Your Most Just,” Mereruka replied with all due sarcasm.

“You freed some mangy, half-dead shifter servant instead of your sister-in-law! Now we’re both trapped here!” she raged as she clutched her bruised wrists.

“Of the two of you, you can hardly argue your situation was more dire than his,” Mereruka replied, holding back his ire. Even if he’d known Betrest had been the bound woman, he still wouldn’t have chosen her. As if he would choose his relatives over someone he loved.

“Yes, well now we are both trapped here, with your bloodthirsty imp of a sister on the loose,” Betrest hissed.

“This was Itet’s doing?”

This elaborate scheme was hers? The same Itet whose life revolved around drinking and brawling? The one who smashed all her problems with a mace? The spell on the entrance was exceedingly powerful, and yet managed to function with iron nearby. Had his sister tied the spell to her life?

“It is. I’ve spent the last day trapped in here, listening to her mad ranting. Why hasn’t Khety come? At least tell me he has soldiers searching for me.” Betrest pinched the bridge of her nose.

“If Khety knew you were missing, he has not made it public, or shared the information with me,” Mereruka replied.

The information was like a body blow to the queen. It was as if her mind refused to accept it, that the king not only held her in such low esteem, but that he thought nothing of her prolonged absence. No doubt stunned by her own utter lack of importance, the light in her eyes dimmed.

“What else can you tell me?” Mereruka snapped his fingers in front of her face to bring Betrest out of her emotional stupor. “Well?”

Betrest slapped his hand away, tears held in check in her glittering eyes.

“She discovered your servant searching Inkaef’s quarters and tortured him for information. Itet knows you switched the seals. Now she wants you and all her other brothers dead. She kidnapped me to play the part of bait and left me here with that servant and a scroll.”

Mereruka walked back to the threshold he could no longer cross.

“Did you hear all that, Taisiya?”

“Yes.”

“I suspect that if Itet dies, the magic holding us here will as well. For now, I want you to remain nearby, but hidden. With only three pieces of bait and four brothers, I suspect she may still be searching for one final thing.”

If he had to guess, it would be something of Radjedef’s that he valued more than his own safety. Luckily, Mereruka had already located his hot-headed brother’s weakness and had it safely stowed out of Itet’s grasp.

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