Page 146 of Conspirators' Kingdom

“Me?” Mereruka asked.

“What in the hell is your wife doing? How long does it take to shoot one gods-damned bolt of lightning into that fucking she-goat?”

As if in answer, Taisiya was thrown against the iron grate above, barely conscious and bleeding profusely from the head. Her fair skin was a tapestry of cuts, her hair a ragged mess. She cried out as Itet knelt atop her, using his wife’s body as a barrier against the iron.

“Taisiya!”

Heedlessly, he grabbed the bars above, forcing his arm through in an attempt to shove Itet off her. The acid bite of the iron burned his skin the same moment his glamour guttered out. His siblings gasped in shock. Mereruka seized on their distraction to grab one of Itet’s hooves, grating her leg against the iron bars as he pulled her off Taisiya. She bucked against his hold and shrieked, slicing through his wet hand with her hoof. Mereruka’s skin was already blistering in contact with the iron, yet, horrifyingly, Itet’s flank recovered before his eyes.

“Oh, that’s a rich look, coming from tattooed scum! At least I come by my resistance honestly.” She proudly hooked a finger through a healing charm. “And I’m as sturdy as an elf with this little beauty, Mereruka. Now, you can watch your bitch wife choke to death in front of you,” Itet growled as she repositioned herself on top of Taisiya and wrapped her green fingers around Taisiya’s pale throat.

“No! No!” Mereruka roared, desperate as Taisiya choked and struggled weakly before his eyes. The blisters burst on his hand as he grabbed Itet’s wrist, desperate to break her hold. Without any real leverage, she shrugged him off with ease. “Damn you, Itet! Kill her, and I’ll lay a death curse!”

“You would, wouldn’t you?” she growled, her face twisted in a mask of rage. “Too bad Inkaef didn’t think to do the same!”

“I won’t curseyou, Itet! I’ll curse Inkaef to suffer alongside me for an eternity, in a special hell just for us! I will rip him away from whatever peace he has!” Mereruka threatened. It was no idle threat, and it was so easily done. If you were willing to suffer an eternity of true damnation for a single dark wish, anything you desired could be done. And if Taisiya was lost to him, he didn’t give a damn what happened to his soul.

Itet loosened her hold. Taisiya gasped and wheezed, finally breathing, clawing in vain as Itet’s hands still held firm.

“You wouldn’t!” Itet hissed, though a note of fear threaded through her vehemence.

“If you take my heart, I’ll take yours between my teeth and rip it to shreds!” Mereruka snarled, still gripping the iron, careful not to allow his open wound to touch the metal.

She hesitated, measuring her wrath against his. Itet’s eyes turned hollow, as if her heart had been encased in ice. Taisiya choked and flailed, her eyes wide with panic as Itet’s grip turned lethal.

“So be it.”

“No!” Mereruka screamed, gripping both her wrists in his hands in a futile bid to wrench her hands from Taisiya’s throat. It was useless. Itet had always been uncommonly strong for a fae, her strength a rival for any shapeshifter. Now he understood why—the cursed bitch was half-shifter, and she’d inherited a relative immunity to iron’s poisonous touch.

The water rose higher. They couldn’t avoid the iron any longer. Radjedef swore a blue streak and cursed Itet in every language he knew. Serfka screamed, begging Itet for mercy. Itet ignored them all as she slowly squeezed the life from Taisiya.

“What in the hells isthat?!” Serfka shouted, his eyes wide with a fear entirely separate from drowning.

Itet scowled at him. Dark talons coated in inky flames rose up out of the gloom and circled Itet’s neck from behind. Mereruka’s heart leapt with joy.

“Her head! Cut off her head!” Mereruka called, breathing in his last few gasps of air.

Vasilisa shrieked as she ripped Itet off Taisiya and held the fae aloft. With brutal strength, Vasilisa sank her talons into Itet’s neck as she thrashed, her eyes wide with panic and agony. Dark blood ran in streams down Itet’s chest, pouring from her mouth like a font, splashing into the frothing waters below. Mereruka fancied he could hear skin split and bone crack as Vasilisa tore Itet’s neck apart, severing her head in a gory shower of blood.

With Itet’s death, the spell damning Mereruka and his brothers to death had broken. The water receded swiftly as the barriers below were undone, sending Mereruka plunging below. He kept his eyes on Taisiya as she wheezed and coughed above. Vasilisa, coated in blood, was already tending to her. Though his skin sizzled with heart-stopping pain, Mereruka could finally breathe easy. Saffron tattoos on full display, he reluctantly turned his attention to his now wary brothers.

“We three should have a very serious discussion once we’ve swum out of here. And don’t get any ideas. The wraith above is one of mine.”

Chapter 56

Vasilisa’ssoothingvoiceandgentle hands had lulled Taisiya into unconsciousness, but she woke to Radjedef’s grating shouts. Shockingly, Taisiya felt no pain as she sat upright. No cuts, no wounds. She sucked in a panicked breath, hands shaking as she touched her neck. She could still feel Itet’s fingers digging into her flesh, torturing her as Mereruka watched. Itet could have killed her in an instant, but had instead brought her to the brink over and over again, her cruel grasp loosening just enough for a single gasp and then tightening like a vise. But something else was around her neck now, and she fumbled to pull it away. Vasilisa’s hand touched hers, stilling her.

“She’s dead,” Vasilisa answered, pulling her hand away to reveal the charm that had caused Taisiya no end of trouble. It was still dark and sticky with blood. Itet’s blood.

“And Bas?”

“Safe and whole.”

Taisiya sighed, relief nearly deflating her. The angry hum in her heart quieted.

“Feeling better?”

Taisiya nodded, not daring to put words to her newest nightmare. Gods help her, she seemed to be collecting them of late.

---