Page 92 of North Is the Night
“Secure Tuonetar in the north tower,” he commands. “Her exile begins now. She shall have an armed guard night and day. No one shall be permitted in or out. Let her madness be her only companion.”
“No—”
Kalma steps aside as two dead guards sweep forward. Grabbing Tuonetar under the arms, they pull her to her feet. A third guard steps to Tuoni’s side and holds out the witch’s willow wand. Tuoni takes it with a grimace, slipping it inside his cloak.
“Daughters,” Tuonetar wails. “My darling girls, help me. I am still your mother. Don’t let him lock me away!”
I glance to Loviatar. Her face is turned, not towards the Witch Queen, but towards me. She waits for me to act. My eyes grow wide as Vammatar does the same, a deep scowl marring the lines of her beautiful face. To either side of her, the twins of pain and suffering scowl, arms crossed. Even Kalma watches me. The unspoken language I share with Siiri speaks to me from all sides now. They whisper the same thing.
Do something.
“Wait.” Pushing out of my chair, I stand. “My lord husband, wait.”
Tuoni glares over his shoulder. “Stay out of this.”
His dismissal burns in my gut. I turn instead to the guards. “Stop!” I call out.
To my continued surprise, the dead guards stop. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Vammatar smirk.
Tuoni rounds on me. “You will not interfere in this, wife. I will have justice!”
“And your justice will be tempered bymymercy,” I counter, holding my ground.
“You cannot show Tuonetar mercy! She doesn’t understand it. She will only see it as weakness.”
“I do not seek mercy for Tuonetar,” I counter. “I seek it for your daughters.”
“None of my daughters are on trial.” Glaring at them he adds an ominous, “Yet.”
Taking a breath, I try to slow the beating of my heart. “I cannot pretend to know the nature of a god,” I continue. “But Idoknow the nature of a daughter. I am a daughter too, my lord, and I love my mother. To banish Tuonetar is to punish your daughters. Whatever else she has done, she loves them in her way. As they love her.”
His frustration with me threatens to boil over. “What is it that you want, wife?”
I glance quickly around, thinking through my options. I can’t possibly let her roam free. And I won’t dare remove her shackles. He’s right, she’ll kill me without a second thought. My gaze alights on the row of tables stacked against the far wall, and I speak before I realize I’ve even spoken. “Supper, my lord.”
“What?”
I take a hesitant step forward. “Tuonetar will be confined to the north tower. She will wear your chains and practice no magic... but she will join us for supper.”
He huffs a mirthless laugh. “You cannot be serious.”
“Every night, she will be brought down to dine with us and your daughters,” I go on. “Mercy, my lord. If not for Tuonetar, then for your children who love their mother.”
“I would rather starve than break bread with you,worm,” Tuonetar snarls.
I turn to face her. “No one said you had to eat. But you will sit at my table all the same. I’ve had quite enough of separating daughters from their mothers.”
She scoffs. “You think you can win them over with kindness? Fool girl! They aremycreatures. I raised them in the dark. I as good as suckled them at my breast. My chaos is theirs now. It runs like a poison in their veins. You cannot root me out.”
“I would never dare try to replace you in their cold, unfeeling hearts,” I reply sweetly. “You are their mother, Tuonetar. I am just their queen.”
She snarls, lunging for me. The dead guards hold her back. I wave my hand in dismissal, and they drag her kicking and screaming away. As the doors slam shut, Tuoni turns to me, his hand cupping my face. “You are formidable, wife. Iron mercy suits you.”
I find him a smile too, even as my heart races. Holding on to my faith, I make yet another rash decision. My left hand rises, covering his on my cheek. As I step in, I drop my right down to my belt and jerk my knife free. I angle the tip at his throat and press in with the blade hard enough to draw a drop of his immortal blood.
Tuoni goes still as stone, his dark eye glittering. The tension in the room pulls tighter than a bowstring as the remaining witches and the dead follow the line of my knife to the death god’s throat.
Slowly, Tuoni presses in against the blade. “Do it, wife. Show me your violence.”
