Page 107 of Master of Storms
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The second theywere back inside the castle, Solveig pushed Marduk into a dark corner.
He peered through one of the windows, his face taut. “They’ve found the body. There are torches everywhere. What happened?”
“Someone must have followed us.”
“But who?”
Solveig held Andri’s cloak up.
“No,” he said, his face paling. “That’s impossible.”
“It has to be one of ours.” And who better than a handsome youngdrekiyouth nobody would suspect? “You said he’d been sulky of late. Avoiding Sirius and even Rurik. And he wanted to talk to you alone.”
“That bitch. She’s already tortured the poor bastard. How do we get her out of him?”
Shouts echoed out in the yard.
“Later. Definitely later,” she whispered. “We need to warn the others.”
Slipping through the servants’ quarters, they made their way toward Árdís’s apartments.
Steel rang on steel somewhere ahead of them.
Marduk grabbed her arm, and they both froze.
“You can’t do this,” Árdís yelled. “Get your hands off me!”
Marduk strained forward, but Solveig slammed him against the wall, shaking her head sharply.Don’t.
Tension bunched through him, the muscle in his jaw tightening. It was his sister, and right now he was fighting every territorial instinct he had.
“You leave me with little choice.” Draco’s voice echoed through the hallways. “Two of my Chaos-wielders are dead, and the elders say they’ve been drained of their magic until their bodies were but husks. The only creature who can do that is another Chaos-wielder. And you have two of them in your party.”
“Do I look like I suck the magic out of otherdreki?” Entire oceans of disdain echoed in Árdís’s voice.
“Someonedid.”
Solveig slammed a hand over Marduk’s mouth before he could move. She reached out for him on a psychic thread. “They’ve got a small army in these halls.The two of us can’t stop this.”
“You would dare break guest-right?” Árdís demanded.
“You will be confined to your rooms until the other members of your party can be found,” Draco replied.
“While we’re free,” Solveig continued, “we have a chance to rescue them. Think, Marduk.”
It took him long seconds to concede a nod, and he was trembling before he’d finished.
“Unhand me!” Árdís yelled.
“Get your hands off my wife!” Haakon growled.
Solveig grabbed Marduk’s hand and tugged him into the shadows. There was nothing they could do here, but as the sound of a woman screaming in rage echoed through the hallways, he flinched.
“They won’t hurt her.This way,” she soothed. “I promise we’ll rescue them. We just have to avoid Draco and his warriors.”
“And Andri.”
