The Curse (Belador #3)(85)

As if she’d tell him one second too soon or speak the location out loud? She gave up trying to cover his constant slips, which were by no means accidental, but Flaevynn had not come bursting in yet, so all still appeared safe at this point. Kizira had one chance to get a step ahead of the queen.

Time to take the plunge into dangerous waters.

Kizira said, “I’ll send you and your team now, but I want your word to wait twenty minutes once you arrive before doing anything. That will give you time to get your trolls in place.”

“I don’t need twenty minutes.”

“I do because I want to be present, but I must speak to Queen Flaevynn first.”

“To assure her of impending victory?”

Why couldn’t Flaevynn compel Kizira to turn miserable trolls into a pile of flaming cow dung? Kizira needed the extra time to direct Flaevynn’s attention to her scrying wall to watch the Svart and VIPER battles in Atlanta. That should keep the queen busy while Kizira slipped away.

No matter. Kizira had to be on-site for one reason—to protect Qu … him from being ripped to pieces by Svart trolls.

Touching Roogre would probably give her nightmares, but she was ready to teleport him and his men to their next destination. By the time Roogre knew where he was going, the only person he could share that with would be his Lieutenant, who would say nothing to endanger Roogre and his fellow trolls.

But before she sent him on his way, she asked, “How many Svarts will remain in Atlanta?”

“My Lieutenant and enough to handle fifty Beladors, but we face only a handful at a time, just as I told you would happen. Attacking in the cemeteries gave our opponent specific target areas, too many to defend. With no idea where we’ll strike next, they’ve spread their resources thin across the city.”

“Hold out your forearm.” When he turned the runic S scar up for her to see, she said, “Call up the list in your mind of who will go. When I touch you, they’ll all teleport at once.”

“I’m ready.”

She placed her palm on the raised skin of his scar, which heated immediately. Kizira waved her free hand between them, but just before Roogre disappeared his eyes widened. She started to call him back to find out why, then realized it had to be due to his seeing where she’d sent him.

She looked at her hand, trying to decide if peeling off a layer of skin would clean away the troll’s contamination.

“Looking for me, Kizira?”

Kizira froze at the caustic edge in Flaevynn’s voice, but that rarely changed. Kizira forced a smile on her face and dropped her hand as she turned to find the Medb queen at the arched entrance to her solar. “Yes, Your Highness. Things are moving along sooner than anticipated with the plan in Atlanta. Perhaps you’d like to view it on your—”

“But Roogre is not following my directions, now is he?”

Flaevynn must have heard them, but how much?

Never show a weakness to a vicious queen. “I admonished Roogre about not executing as agreed upon.”

“Really? Perhaps not the plan I agreed upon, but another version. Yours maybe?”

Kizira had climbed too deep into this game to play it halfway. “I often speak on your behalf, but I assure you Roogre knows who contracted him.”

Flaevynn disappeared and reappeared right in front of Kizira. The queen’s image flared with light and power meant to intimidate, a successful effort at present. Flaevynn purred in a dangerously soft voice, “You of all people should know what I do to someone who betrays me.”

Kizira’s pulse shot off the charts. She couldn’t stop her thoughts from racing wildly. Several images of torture came to mind unbidden.

Curbing her anxiety to manage a subservient voice, Kizira said, “I have been your loyal servant since taking my priestess training twelve years ago. I’ve done all that you’ve asked.”

“Yes, you have, but you are also of my and Cathbad’s blood, though I try to forget. He constantly tells me how intelligent you are and that you have a value. I never realized until now just how cunning you could be.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Kizira answered, though she couldn’t see Flaevynn intentionally handing her a compliment.

Kizira believed she might be in the clear, until Flaevynn smiled. “I glimpsed Roogre’s mind as you teleported him. I know where you sent him and his team, and what they will do when they arrive. You dare to steal what is rightfully mine?”

The blood drained from Kizira’s head so quickly that she weaved with dizziness. She panicked and didn’t have to pretend to beg. “I’m doing it for you—”

Flaevynn screeched.

Kizira went spinning head over heels in a blur. When she hit the floor and looked around, she sat in the same room Cathbad had endured for two years in the dungeon. “Noooo!”

Kizira would never leave here.

Flaevynn would win.

Quinn would die.





TWENTY-EIGHT




Evalle would kill for a sword to cut through the aggression thickening the night air. She took two steps, moving out in front of the VIPER team now facing off with Isak and his men, who had lined up side by side across the street.

Storm moved up beside her and growled softly.

Tzader yelled at her telepathically. Get back so we can throw up a united kinetic wall.