Page 13 of Skulk of Foxes
I gestured desperately at the other Fey. ‘Are you really going to let him do this? You’re going to let him harm one of us for no reason?’
Several of them looked uneasy; there was even doubt in a few eyes. With enough time, I could get them to see that this was wrong.
‘The truce is there for a reason! We’re not supposed to fight each other,’ I shouted.
‘Then give me the sphere, Madrona,’ Rubus responded calmly. ‘You can stop this.’
‘I don’t have the sphere! The police have still got it.’
He shook his head. He was only a few steps from Viburna now. She’d backed herself up against a brick wall and there was nowhere for her to go. ‘They’ll have returned it to you when you were released.’
‘Madrona!’ Viburna shrieked. ‘Help me! Just give him the sphere!’
Even if I’d had it on me, I wouldn’t have handed it over. I had no desire to see Rubus hurt Viburna but her well-being was nothing compared to the well-being of planet Earth.
Rubus reached her, angling his body so that everyone could see what he was doing. He put out his hand and stroked her cheek with the tip of his index finger. ‘Poor Viburna. I don’t want to do this, you know. But it’s for the good of all of us. Getting the sphere will save us. How much more of living here do you think we can take? The physical ache is getting worse by the day. If we can get back to Mag Mell, we can undo all the hurt inside us. Once that’s happened and the borders are re-opened, we’ll be able to repair any damage here. I’m not going to lie. Using the sphere will cause problems in this demesne. But they’ve got problems by the bucket load as it is. In the end, I reckon it’ll do them more good than harm.’ He smiled gently. ‘You see that, don’t you?’
Viburna nodded vigorously. At that moment, she’d have agreed to anything to escape. ‘I do. I do, Rubus. Let me go and I’ll persuade Madrona to give you the sphere. You can trust me. Then you can use it and we’ll all go back home and everything will be fine.’
Rubus’s expression took on a tinge of sadness. ‘I don’t think you can persuade her. Not with words anyway.’
‘Morgan,’ I said, my voice filled with warning.
He swallowed. ‘I know.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Rubus, just let her go. Your argument is with me, not anyone else.’
Rubus ran his tongue over his teeth. ‘I need to make you see what I’m capable of. I need everyone to see.’
‘We know what you’re capable of!’ I shouted. ‘We don’t need a show and tell.’
‘Oh, Maddy,’ Rubus sighed. ‘I think youdoneed to see.’ He glanced back at Viburna. ‘This gives me no pleasure, sweetheart.’ Without any warning, he pulled out a curved dagger and thrust it into her heart.
There was no scream; there wasn’t time for anything like that. Viburna’s eyes widened with pain and her lips parted in a sudden gasp. Then, with the dagger still in her, she collapsed.
Morgan let out a strangled cry. He barrelled forward – even the wall of Fey goons didn’t stop him this time. He shoved his way past them. I ran after him, ignoring Carduus’s cackle at my back.
‘You can’t hurt me, brother,’ Rubus said, bending down to take the dagger from Viburna’s body. He gave her a sad look, as if he genuinely hadn’t wanted to kill her, then he wiped her blood off the dagger and onto his thigh.
Morgan snarled and attacked but Rubus was right. The truce, with its invisible threads of magic, pulled Morgan back. The strain was visible on his face as he tried to push past the pain, to push past the barrier of the truce. It didn’t do him any good.
Rubus smiled. A moment later, he lunged for his brother. Grabbing Morgan, he spun him round and held the dagger to his throat. ‘You wouldn’t sacrifice the sphere to save Viburna,’ he cooed at me. ‘But I bet you’d do it to save Morgan.’
I skidded to a halt in from of the pair of them. I clenched my fists and glared. ‘Let him go, you arsebadger.’
Rubus frowned. ‘Let me think about that for a moment.’ He paused and his expression hardened. ‘Um. No. Give me the fucking sphere.’
‘Don’t,’ Morgan said. ‘Don’t do it.’
Why did my mouth feel so dry? I swallowed. ‘Morgan,’ I whispered. ‘You’re too good for me. Your brother is right though – I do love you.’ Maybe; I certainly lusted after him enough.
My declaration, whether wholly truthful or not, would piss off Rubus. Anything that I could snatch at that would unhinge him was a good thing. I licked my lips and softened my tone. ‘But it’s because I feel that way about you that I can’t give him the sphere.’
Morgan sagged slightly, relief lighting his eyes despite Rubus’s tight grip round his neck.
‘He won’t get the easy death that Viburna did,’ Rubus warned. ‘I’ll make sure he suffers. And I’ll make sure that you watch.’
There was a shout from behind us. Finally one of the policemen had decided to look out of the window and realised something was going on outside. What on earth had taken them so long? ‘What the hell is happening here?’
‘Just a little demonstration!’ Rubus called back. Almost immediately three Fey jumped up and dragged Viburna’s body into one of the cars so it was out of sight. ‘Nothing for you to worry about!’ He looked at me. ‘I’ll kill those humans even more easily than Viburna, Madrona. I’ll do anything to get our people back home and you know it. You need to give me the sphere right now or there will be a bloodbath.’
