Nocturna (A Forgery of Magic #1)(115)

She struggled against her binds, a gag corking her mouth.

Days ago, Finn had wanted nothing but cold, bloody vengeance after Kol had stolen her propio, but Ignacio and the dark magic had claimed her focus. Seeing the mobster now was strange, pulling her back to when her life seemed much less complicated. Finn shook her head. She never thought that her life would get so difficult that the prospect of a mobster thieving her propio would seem simple in comparison.

With Kol here and her propio well within reach, Finn couldn’t stop her fingers from twitching toward the dagger at her hip. One quick slice and she’d have her propio back. Ignacio’s eyes lit up as he watched her hand move, and his delight was enough to stop her.

“We crossed paths at the Blue Thimble. When I learned what she’d done to you, I decided to keep her as a gift for you.”

Ignacio had told her he had a gift for her when they’d fought in the Brim. She’d never imagined that it would be Kol.

The mobster stared at Finn, her eyes wide with fear. Finn could only imagine the horrors she’d withstood at Ignacio’s hands.

“Let her go,” she found herself saying. No one deserved Ignacio’s cruelty, not even Kol.

Ignacio looked at Finn, disgust written in every pane of his face. “Have I taught you nothing? Has this fool boy made you soft?” He leveled Alfie with a glare. “She took something from you, Mija, and after I spent a bit of time with her, I learned what else she had planned for you. Don’t you want to know?”

“I don’t want a maldito thing from you, just let her go,” Finn said. Beside her the prince was stock-still, staring at Kol, his gold eyes round and desperate. In the prison, when Alfie had asked the dark magic to show him why his brother had been killed, the dark magic had shown him a tattoo—a tattoo that Kol herself had. The mobster would know more about the tattoo he’d seen in his vision; she might know about his brother’s assassination. Though Finn had no love for Kol, she wanted the prince to find what he needed. She glanced at the prince, but his eyes were focused in front of him. His hand beside hers shifted with minute movements, and she knew what he was doing.

Wine and blood had been spilled all over the floor in the chaos. The prince curled his fingers, and a frozen spike of wine rose from the puddle just behind Ignacio. With barely perceptible movements of his fingers, he moved the frozen blade and pointed it at Ignacio’s back, at his heart.

Sweat gathered at her temples. Could they really end this?

Then Ignacio cocked his head and flexed his fingers. Alfie gave a sound of protest, as if something had been snatched from his hand. The frozen blade shot around Ignacio so quickly that Finn had no time to react. Alfie jerked sideways, pushing Finn away as he tried to dodge the blade poised for his heart, but he moved too slowly. It buried itself just below the prince’s collarbone with a thunk.

Alfie curled forward with a shout of pain, his hand closing around the spike of ice as he willed it to melt.

“That was an adorable attempt, but I’m afraid you’ll have to try a bit harder,” Ignacio said.

With a hiss, Alfie put pressure on the wound to stop the gush of blood. He spoke a quick word of magic to heal it as Ignacio’s eyes found Finn once more.

“She meant to frame you,” Ignacio went on. He flexed his fingers and Kol writhed against the ground, her eyes rolling back from the pain until Ignacio dropped his hand back to his side. She fell still, her chest rising and falling rapidly. “She blackmailed a servant girl into poisoning the prince’s tonic and used your bet to place you in the palace to be framed for the murder. She even had guards in her pocket who were paid to report seeing you skulking around the palace, but you were too clever, just as I raised you to be. You did what she thought you couldn’t. You got the cloak and slipped away before they could find you.” A spark of pride lit his eyes.

Finn’s head spun, these new details buzzing between her ears. Kol had set her up to take the fall for Alfie’s death. That must’ve been why she’d given Finn a map of the palace passages, because she’d wanted her to get caught in them. If Kol’s plan had succeeded, she would’ve ended up spending the rest of her days in the Clock Tower, and Alfie would’ve been killed.

“Why did she do it?” Alfie demanded from beside Finn. “Why did she try to kill me? Was she part of my brother’s assassination too?” When Ignacio only stared at Alfie, amused, the prince stepped forward, his face twisted with anger. “Tell me!”

“Ah, wouldn’t you like to know,” Ignacio said, a laugh booming from his lips. “I’m sure Kol would love to tell you; it’s an interesting story, particularly where your dead brother is concerned.”

Alfie’s body turned rigid at that, and Finn had to grip him by the arm to stop him from dashing forward to meet Ignacio.

“But, alas, Kol’s time has come to an end. My children come first and those who hurt them,” he said, leaning over Kol’s trembling body, “pay the price.”

Finn’s heart pounded in her throat. “Don’t—”

Ignacio gave a swish of his hand. Kol’s neck twisted sharply to the left and flopped back to the ground at an awkward angle, like a snapped branch clinging desperately to a tree.

Finn gasped as she felt Kol’s hold on her lift like a veil. It was as if a river within her had been blocked, walled off by a thick dam, and now it flowed once more, its current cooling her from the inside out. She was whole again. A feeling she could not explain darted through her—the sudden absence of pain, the rush of sleep coming to claim you after a long day. She was free; her propio was back.