Night of Masks and Knives (The Broken Kingdoms Book 4)

Tova hunched at the table, picking at a bowl of fruit, but she only ate the orange and red pieces. Her face was locked in a scowl.

″Let it go, Tova,” I said for the tenth time.

″I ought to kick you in the bits.” Tova had fumed for the last four days, still sour over not being invited to the night running atop the roofs of Skítkast.

″Tov, you were stabbed less than a week ago,” Junius said with a gentle laugh.

″And he bathed in eldrish!”

I tried to keep a straight face and finished packing a roll of weapons, more penge Raum had been clever enough to see lying in the street, and a few days’ worth of food for the journey home.

We’d been delayed long enough. It was time to make our next moves.

″I know what will help you move on,” I said, shouldering the pack. “Our food stores need updating. I have it on good authority those plums from the south are on shelves at the exchange. I vow to get you an entire crate when we return.”

Tova shoved two fruit pieces into her mouth and huffed. “That’ll help.”

Before the noon sun, we gathered with some of the Falkyn Guild at the sea gates.

The breeze whipped sand against my cheeks, burning the healing wounds. Skítkast was different in sunlight. The ashen laths on homes were a little whiter, and the market streets where folk bought wool, jade, or plucked quail were a little quieter. Daylight brought out calmer faces while the wild ones arrived after the sun set.

″Morning and night,” Niklas said as he handed over a small wooden box. “Don’t miss, or you’ll have more scars and get infected, and I don’t feel like coming over to Klockglas to save your ass.”

I took the box of his elixir and clasped his forearm. “Thank you for saving it this time.” I turned to Junius. “You’re sure about the seamstress?”

″Yes,” Junius said with a pinched mouth. “After the Wild Hunt I sent word to our Falkyns in Klockglas as you asked. They first followed the hawker, but when their missive returned with the connection to the seamstress, well, you have uncanny luck. Either fate has plans for you, or you’re in the gods’ favor.”

″I would be if they existed. Your Falkyns, they checked her thoroughly?”

Junius nodded. “She’ll be a good mark to squeeze.”

Unbidden, a rush of anxious blood filled my veins. We would either pull off the greatest ruse in the Masque av Aska or die trying.

Niklas handed me a pouch filled with a crystal powder. “Make sure the threads of the jacket are doused in this.” He handed me a second pouch with powder more like ash and coal dust. “Then, this will coat the beading on the gown.”

″This is the elixir we discussed?” I took the pouch, ensuring it was secured before tucking it into the boiled leather satchel with the healing elixirs.

″The exact dosage. Handle it with care and be sure to oversee the application. This has a tendency to lead to obsession, Kase. We want temporary.”

″It will work?”

″Once the two powders are in the same vicinity, yes, it’ll work.” He gave me a lazy salute. “Never fear, my liege. I know my craft.”

True enough. I was not one to question Niklas, but when it involved the masque and Malin, I needed to be overprepared and confident in each move.

Junius touched my arm, her forehead bunched in worry. “You think this is the best step to take?”

″No,” I admitted. “But it might be the only one we have.”

Niklas offered me a bemused look. “Until we meet again then.”

I dipped my chin. Next time we spoke, doubtless, the world would look a little more dangerous.

Dagny came to see us off, and as I boarded the longboat, she squeezed Malin until it looked as though her spine might pop.

I snorted and pretended to ignore the cinch in my chest knowing Malin Strom had been implanted in our world, and it was as if she were always meant to be there. From Tova to Niklas, she’d won them over and I didn’t know what to think.

This was no life, not for her.

Twenty lengths away from the smell of unwashed skin and old boots, we dug into a meager meal. Malin gnawed mint leaves instead. How she could scale rooftops, take on skydguard, seduce Doft, but suffer on a longboat was laughable.

I leaned over the rail near the stempost, sharpening the point of the knife that had opened Doft’s throat.

Malin came to my side and held out a white bread roll. “You’d better take it now,” she said. “Tova insists she’s ready to eat everything.”

I tucked the knife away and took the bread.

Malin stared out at the expanse of the Howl, breathing in the clean brine. “What do we do next?”

″You mean what do I do? I make the decisions, dännisk.”

″No, I made no mistake. What do we do next?” She challenged my stare. “Don’t forget, without me, you would have no design plans.”

She’d grown bolder and I liked the way it fit on her.

″Or it was another opportunity for practice.” I took a bite of the roll, holding her gaze.

“Admit it, Nightrender. You needed me with Klaus.”

″I saved your neck, and if I didn’t need to keep doing it, all this might go faster.”

Malin balked. “You must be joking. I played as much a role of getting us out last—”

I laughed, a true, deep laugh from somewhere in my chest. I wasn’t certain who was more startled, Malin or me. I couldn’t bleeding stop. Even after I took out the knife again, sharpening the blade to think of violent things, I would lift my eyes, see her wrinkled brow, and begin again.

An amusing lift came to her lip. If I had to guess, I’d say Malin fought mightily hard not to smile herself.

″Listen, Nightrender,” she said after a moment. “I’ve got a score to settle with the masquerade as much as you, so what do we do?”

I took a deep breath, but a half smile remained. “We’ll find Hagen.”

″Good, but not the score I meant. I lost a friend to this wretched festival.” My pulse thundered in my head when she faced me, her expression somber. Malin stepped closer. “I’m going to help rip the masque apart, so what comes next?”

I crowded her, my chest to the back of her shoulder. I hadn’t lied—I did enjoy making her gasp. “Do you take pleasure in commanding me?”

″The way you keep all your secrets bottled inside someone must demand you let them out.”

″Mystery holds a bit of power.” My fingertips brushed aside some of her hair, giving room for my lips to touch her ear as I spoke. “Deceit and secrets are how we survive.”

The Kryv were all willing to kill, thieve, and break others. Qualities I depended upon to ensure slimy wretches kept me well informed.

″You’re a little despicable,” Malin said, her voice breathless as her body slumped against my chest.

A strange feeling took hold of me. Hells, it was almost light, almost cheerful. “I’ve been called worse.”

I stepped away. Any closer, and I’d lose what little strength I had left to resist her entirely.

With my eyes on the spray of the sea, I lowered my voice. “What we do next is learn all we can of the layout of the Masque av Aska. Once we know that, then we can plot our marks on the inside.”

″How do we get into the trade, Kase?”

Her voice was frayed and broken. I wanted to take it away, but the answer would only add to the trouble. “Heir Magnate Niall.” The name grew sour on my tongue. “You heard Doft. He is the way folk will get invited in. We need to get close to him.”

″Any idea how?”

I knew how, but I did not share schemes until I was certain it was the step to take. The dance was too delicate to risk. “I’m working on it.”

Laughter at our backs drew Malin’s attention to Gunnar and Lynx. I don’t know what the two Kryv had said, but they both tossed their heads back, laughing at the sky.

Malin slouched wearily. “I wanted to free Hagen for myself. Now, to know he has a family, a lover waiting for him, I want to find him for them. I thought Hagen never wanted a family; he rejected advances from women in town. Now, I realize it was because his heart belongs to someone else.”

I’d met Hagen’s lover during our journey to the North. She was not a woman who was delicate; she was fierce, deadly, and prepared to tear the world apart to protect her family.

″Love is more dangerous than fear,” I said. Yet, the fear of love was what tinged my words now. “It brings vulnerability, distraction, and puts cruel marks on the heads of others should enemies catch wind of those who matter to you.”

″What a grim outlook.”

Experience demanded I view the world in such a way. “We’re here to exist, breathe, then die,” I said. “Humankind is simple, but cruel. I’m not sure if most are evolved enough to love beyond their own selfish interests.”

″Do you see the good in anyone?” she asked in earnest.

You. Naturally, I would not say it out loud. Instead, I said, “The guild.”

″You’re wrong,” Malin said mildly. “I will find Hagen because I love him. And I searched for you all these turns because . . .” She cut off. Never had I wanted someone to finish a thought more than now. Malin didn’t. “All I’m saying is not all things are done because of selfishness.”

She spun around on her heel.

″Where are you going?” I asked.

″To sleep. I need rest after this inspiring conversation.”

″Good,” I said, fighting a smile. “You were starting to get irritating.”

Fiske and Isak chuckled as Malin wheeled on me, the fire I enjoyed so much was alive in her eyes. She pointed one finger at my face. “You know, you are . . . just . . .”

″What am I?” I popped the last bite of roll onto my tongue.

Malin groaned deep in her throat. “Never mind.”

She left me and slumped against Tova near the sternpost.

Malin shot me a glare, but whether she wanted me to see or not, her mouth curved into a faint smile before she closed her eyes.