Page 149 of Master of Storms
Marduk offered the blade, hilt first, to Andromeda. “I believe you should do the honors. You’re the reason we have a chance to save Elin today. Your king gives this up for you.”
Andromeda withdrew her hand sharply, but there was a hint of heat in her cheeks. “I can’t touch it. Even if I wished to. It’s dangerous for a Chaos-wielder to use.”
Marduk flipped the blade, staring down at it. If that was true, then neither Árdís or Ishtar could wield it either.
He finally looked at his brother.
Rurik was clad in gilded armor, his blond hair sweeping back from his brow and his face grim.
“She hurt all four of us,” Marduk finally said, offering the knife to his brother. “But she hurt you the most, I think. This should be yours. Your moment of vengeance.”
Rurik accepted the knife. The pained yearning in his eyes was both ancient and fierce, but it was the love there that struck him the hardest. “Sometimes the ones who seemingly bear no scars are the ones who hurt the most. But I will take this and I will do what needs to be done. Not for vengeance. For Elin’s sake. For Andri’s. For you, and Árdís, and Ishtar, and even Sirius.”
There was almost a bittersweet taste in his mouth. His brother understood.
Marduk could barely even reply for the hard lump in his throat. What a fool he had been. Instead, he merely nodded and fell in beside his brother—his king. “Let’s go kill this bitch once and for all.”
* * *
Marduk went first.
By the time he reached the top of the mountain, the storm of Chaos magic that swirled at the top had reached cyclonic proportions. Eerie green light painted the runestones, and in the midst of them, her face tilted to the sky, stood Amadea.
Her green eyes blinked open when he appeared, locking upon him.
“Hello. Mother.”
“If it isn’t my biggest disappointment. I thought you’d crawled off into some little hole somewhere and died.”
“Alas, I seem to be very good at resurrecting myself.” He gestured toward her. “Not as good as you, perhaps. Tell me, how does it feel to betray your entire race?”
“Wonderful,” she spat.
He stared at her, trapped in her bitterness and rage. “Where’s the stone that houses Andri’s soul?”
“Where you’ll never find it. I’m the only one who knows where it is, and I won’t give up that secret.”
“You’re not the only one who knows,” he pointed out. “Elin knows too. She’s still in there, Mother.”
And all they had to do was rescue her.
“She’s buried so deep she’ll never surface again.”
We’ll see about that.“Were you truly that desperate that you got into bed with thealfar? What did the elvish king promise you?”
Her smile was beautific. “Everything.”
“He’ll betray you,” he promised, taking a predatory step toward her so she wouldn’t notice Árdís and Andromeda circling the runestones. “It’s almost embarrassing to realize you’re foolish enough to believe he’ll actually repay you for your assistance. Once the elves pour into this realm, why would they let you survive? You may be able to open the portal, but once it’s open, you become a liability, because you can also close it.”
“Because I have a bargaining chip,” his mother replied. “A little secret I’ve been keeping up my sleeve about my precious son, the king, and his mortal bride.”
Marduk paused. That sounded like a threat against Freyja and Rurik. “No. You don’t get to do this anymore. You don’t get to hurt us.”
“Us?” she sneered. “Did your brother ever give a damn about you when he vanished for thirty years?”
Even now, she could cut him straight through the heart.
But he wasn’t that lonely little boy anymore.
