Page 154 of Between Wrath and Mercy

I cut off his air again, needing a moment to determine if I believed him or not. The situation was too high tense, his heartbeat rapid the entire time, impossible to trust it to distinguish truth from lies.

“I’m not.” It was starting to feel like a lie. Only one more blessing and all four gods would have meddled in my life. The thought of Ciarden blessing me was something I didn’t want to think about. Something told me the God of Dark had to have good reason to bestow a blessing. Something malicious. “Do you know where she is?”

Releasing him, he took another deep breath. He wasn’t nearly as winded because I didn’t cut him off for long. “She’s with my father. That’s all I know.” My heart stopped.

“King Dryul? I thought you said he was delusional. Declan trusted him with her?”

“Declan doesn’t care about her, remember? She’s useless to him now. But my father wanted to see you and insisted.”

I fought a shudder. The King of Bones had my daughter, and he wanted to seeme.

“And you have no idea where he is?” I eased my foot off his hand, realizing I’d been pushing down the entire time. He pulled it into his lap, rubbing it.

“If I had to guess, probably in Clearhill. He gets sick, so I can’t imagine he’d be on a boat.”

“Do you know anyone who would know? A captain or other soldiers who might know for sure?”

Cyran looked past me, gazing around the battlement, and stood, walking over to glance down in the courtyard. He grabbed the back of my arm and pulled me closer to the edge. Thyra was right at my side, huffing and puffing as she was on her injured leg.

“He’ll know.” I followed the point of his finger, and I felt Thyra stiffen beside me.

“Olag.” His name was a whisper and a curse on her lips.

Chapter 50

Thyrasprangintoaction,a hiss on her lips as she tried to run toward the staircase at the back corner of the battlement, stumbling on her injured leg as she went. I took steps to follow her, to block her from acting with the purpose and fire I knew was simmering under her skin. Before I could get close to her, Raj had his hand gripped tightly around her arm.

“I think the queen is going to want him alive. Let me get him.”

Raj looked over his shoulder to me, and I nodded. I didn’t particularly want the captain out in the fray, potentially injuring himself worse, and by the way Olag was laying out soldier after soldier, I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to get to him without one of us getting hurt. I wracked my brain, trying to figure out a way to find Elora, to distract myself from my missing husband. It was up to me to get her back, considering I had no idea where Rain took Declan, and I had no idea if he was coming back. I tugged on the bond, feeling for rage or fear, orsomething, and yet all I felt was the faintest hint of annoyance, barely perceptible. Part of me wondered if it was my own mirrored back at me. I shook my head, forcing myself to draw my focus away from him. I thought for a moment as I healed Thyra, moving my hands down her leg, watching her expression until I found the soreness at her knee. It seemed like a minor injury, so I wasn’t worried about the small drain on my divinity. I hadn’t even noticed what I’d used when I took Cyran’s breath. Finally, the beginnings of an idea began to form.

Once Thyra and Raj were healed, and I explained my plan, she grumbled at me as we waited. She wasn’t happy about having to question her father, but my assurances that she could have him and do whatever she wanted after I was done was enough to assuage her. I watched with bated breath as Raj made his way down to the fray, pushing mercenaries aside with ease. He was strong, but I could tell it was his height that was his biggest weapon, his long limbs able to reach his attacker before they could make contact. Cyran kept his distance from me, standing in the shadows of the stairwell. I wanted to keep the ruse going in case this all worked out, and we could resort back to some semblance of our original plan. When Raj made contact with Olag, and the men began to fight, I noted the similarities the ogre shared with the woman he’d created. He was tall, not surprising considering Thyra rivaled Rain in height. He had the same blond hair, though peppered with silver, and the same ferocity I’d seen Thyra fight with. But that was where the resemblances stopped; where her face was kind and open, a bit fuller in the cheeks, his was all rage and pain. Thyra and I both tensed as Raj stumbled with a grace that told me he needed lessons in acting, and I held my hands out, ready to act. When he dropped down on one knee, we moved. I opened the rift, and Thyra was through it in an instant, her dagger at her sire’s neck before he could close in on Raj.

“Hello, Da.” Her voice was a growl as she pushed the blade against the side of his neck, her other arm locked around one of his while drawing blood where the edge of the dagger pushed into his skin. He gave a rough laugh, his whole body shaking.

I walked slowly around him to look him in the eye. My lip curled as I took in the monster who had trained his daughter to be an unrivaled warrior, capable of committing atrocities for the highest bidder, and then left her to be used in other unspeakable ways, knowing full well the coin he got for her was worth more to him than her protection and safety. He was mortal like his daughter, his weathered face putting him around sixty years old, but he was enormous and strong, built like a wall made of stone. His eyes narrowed as they lingered over the braids and paint which marked my face, courtesy of the daughter who held his life in her hands.

“Of course, my daughter favors the peasant princess.” His accent was thick, and his voice gravelly as he spat out the words. I was afraid Thyra was going to act before I had a chance to extract the information I needed.

“It’s queen, actually. But peasant queen just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?” I cut off the air in his lungs while giving him my middle finger, and his eyes bulged in his head as his mouth worked like a fish caught on a line. Raj was already on his feet, helping Thyra drag the giant man to the keep. Suffocation made him pliant, and I had a smile on my face as I pulled out my sword, energy renewed as I knocked the mercenaries out of the way who stood in our path, utilizing small bursts of divine light to aid in the task. The courtyard was nearly empty, the fighting mostly taking place outside the fortress.

I led the way into the dining hall, accidentally slamming the door open farther than I meant to, the loud noise barely perceptible amid the loud echoes of injured men. I let go, allowing Olag to get a deep breath. The moment he started struggling against Thyra, I cut him off again.

“This pig’s ass should know that breathing is a privilege, and I’m not feeling generous,” I spoke to Thyra, but the words were meant for Olag. We led the swine into the kitchen while Raj went running through the dining hall to find Lavenia or Mairin. It was loud and stifling, soldiers groaning and vomiting and dying on the ground. My chest tightened as I took one last look over my shoulder, horrified at the destruction which had been wrought on our people, and the door swung shut behind me. My divinity trembled, begging me to heal them. To help. A moment later, Cyran had joined us, slipping in through a back door of the kitchen. I wasn’t sure how he knew the layout of the Cascade, but I imagined he had a thorough understanding of it because of his spying Rain had said he’d been doing for years.

I hadn’t been paying attention, hadn’t been feeling for his emotions past my initial tug. I reached out again, trying to follow our golden bond, but there was nothing to feel other than a light simmer of anger. I wondered if he was too far away, but I could tell he was there, the strings between us pulled tight and thin.

Lavenia came running in, drenched with sweat and covered in blood I didn’t think belonged to her, Raj on her heels. “I heard you flexed your divinity up there. The soldiers who can talk won’t shut up about it.” She gave me a quick grin as she grabbed a towel off the counter and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Rain had given her brief details of my newfound abilities on our trip to the Cascade. We had opted to keep the information about Elora to ourselves, not wanting anyone else to know before she did.

“Yeah,” My response was noncommittal as I shrugged, releasing my hold on Olag. He went slack against the wall Thyra had pushed him against, his head lolling but eyes open. “I need to find out where Elora is, and supposedly he knows.”

Lavenia nodded her head and walked toward him, pulling herself up to her full height before inhaling deeply. I knew she hated compelling people, but this man deserved every ounce of discomfort and pain she could inflict. “Tell us where the girl is and who guards her.”

“In a tent with King Dryul.” He bit out the words, coughing as he spoke, angry that his lips and tongue had betrayed his mind.

“Where is the tent? Are there any other guards with the Bone King?”

“Outside Clearhill. No.” He shuddered, trying to pull away from Thyra, and I snatched the air out of his lungs again.

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