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

Clouds formed rings around frosted peaks and cliffsides. Roads carved through tunnels and bridges from all directions. Watchtowers manned with six skydguard loomed over each entrance.

To escape them, a criminal or runaway would need to know the overgrown trails through the thick forests, or, for the more daring sort, place pouches of powdered elixirs which would turn into pungent mists by the twelfth toll. Mists capable of causing dozens of skydguard to fall into a deep sleep until dawn.

We happened to be prepared to do both when the time to escape arrived.

On cue, the second coach behind us skidded to a stop.

″Damn harnesses are twisted,” Vali’s voice grumbled, loud enough any patrolling guards might hear.

To us, it was a verbal signal. I counted the next moments with my fingers. Slow. Even. I held my breath until his voice came again.

″There.” Vali huffed. “Untangled. Let us be off.”

At my side, Malin let out a breath. She gave me a quick look. I squeezed the tips of her fingers. One mark done.

While Vali had stopped, Tova would’ve slipped into the shadows, placed the powders beneath the watchtower, then returned unseen. They’d done it. We could expect the skydguard of the southeast tower to be numb to their world by midnight.

Hakan’s coach rumbled forward through the heavy wooden portcullis of the Black Palace.

Not built in the traditional sense, the wooden walls grew to four levels, and the tops were spiked in carved wolfish heads of Sköll and Hati, as if the two mystical beasts were already chasing the sun and the moon at that height. Windows were made of stained-glass lancets, and exotic wooden doors opened to balconies across all four levels.

We drove past a black carriage. Crossed swords and thorny vines were painted in gold on the back, and a dozen skydguard surrounded it.

″Ivar,” Malin whispered.

Don’t let him take you. I took hold of her hand as if to prove she was still here, with me, not in danger. Yet.

I had to release her eventually. Servants did not touch their noble ladies, but more than that I needed to be the Nightrender, not a man right now. Certainly not a man in love.

″Welcome to the Masque av Aska,” a masked skydguard said through the window of our coach once we arrived at the main entrance. He took the personal summons of House Hakan and inspected it in a onceover. “My Lord, noble folk will be led to upper sections.”

Lynx waved dismissively at the guard with his sapphire beringed fingers. “Then hurry us along.”

Lynx was too damned skilled at giving orders.

The skydguard bowed. “Your coachman may take hold at the stables, just there. And the lady, will she be presented?”

The guard turned his eyes to Malin. She played her part well, lifting her chin, but using a paper fan to hide the tremble.

″My cousin,” Lynx informed him. “While my father tends to business in the isles of the South, I shall put Lady Freya forward as a potential match for the Heir Magnate.”

The skydguard dipped his chin respectfully. “Lady suitors will enter the masquerade through the staircase into the courtyard. There she will be presented to the Heir Magnate. Should he wish to dance—” The skydguard grinned. “The lady should be prepared.”

Lynx waved them away dismissively and Raum drove the coach to the wide stables, large enough to house at least forty draft horses. Skydguard at the doors directed Raum and Isak around the back to a stall.

The second coach pulled into the stall behind us. Tova burst out, already masked in the golden fish with a matching shimmering robe.

″This comes off the second I’m atop the roof.” She lifted the mask to scratch her forehead.

″Do as you please, so long as you hit your mark.”

Vali emerged with a few Falkyns and blocked off the doors to the stables. He pressed his ear to the door, standing watch while we worked through the next step.

My hands were cold with nerves when Raum hopped off the seat and met with two guards in front of the stall. Three days was all it took to learn exactly which guards would be in the stables.

This was the moment of truth to prove if my threats had bought us loyalty or not.

Raum came to my side. “We’re on time. Three tolls before midnight.”

″Then we better show our faces.” I crossed the space to the two skydguard, voice low. “You don’t let anyone in this stall. You don’t speak a word about us, and when our folk return for the coaches, you let them go. Remember our deal?” They hung their heads, as if looking at me was too painful. “I have the missives at the ready should you decide to betray us.”

I backed up my word. Always. From inside the breast of the jacket, I produced the addressed parchments. One to a high general in the skydguard explaining why his grandchild looked nothing like his worthless son-in-law and a great deal like one of his warriors. The other to a game den with an outstanding, unpaid debt and a missing debtor.

″Do we have an understanding?” I pressed once more.

They nodded, still unwilling to look me in the eye. One guard produced a folded set of fatigues worn by lower ranked skydguard and handed them to Raum.

Their hands trembled. Hells, their fear was potent. It was all the proof I needed to take them at their word for silence.

″Did you bribe them?” Malin asked.

A subtle grin played over my mouth. “Threatened. They understand they have nothing I want, but I have the power to ruin them. It is the best sort of deal to make.”

I helped secure the dainty black lace mask over her features. Instead of the sea serpent headdress worn by the real Freya, Inge supplied a mask to fit the gown.

On one side was a yellow diamond pinning smooth raven feathers to the mask. With the sapphire blue of her gown, her loveliness took me from behind. Even without our schemes in place to ensure Niall found her in the crowd, Malin Strom would catch every eye at the masque.

″Raum,” I said as I tied a long, satin cape around my shoulders. “Watch yourselves. Units can be close; you might be found out if they get a good look at you.”

″Ah, but I have Isak,” Raum said with a grin and began to strip and dress in the fatigues.

″They w-won’t doubt us, Kase,” Isak said. “And if they do, they w-won’t see much.”

I needed to merely look at Tova and Vali. They both nodded and went their separate ways. Vali would be our ears. A backup. He’d listen to the walls, acting like a drunkard. If he caught a hint of any way into the chambers below the palace, if Niall did not behave how we hoped, at least we would have another shot at getting into the trade.

Tova would be our watch from above with her arrows.

Eero hopped off the back of the coach, securing a wolf mask over his face. “I’ll head to the lower courtyard. Let us pray Niklas didn’t dawdle or I will be caught out of place and unarmed.”

He laughed. I didn’t see the humor.

″You understand the importance of being there to open the hatch for them? The mark cannot be missed.”

Eero grinned smugly. “I know my part well. Never fear, Nightrender.”

There was a great deal to fear. “She will need us armed.”

″Understood.” Eero tipped his head and looked to Gunnar. “Coming?”

Gunnar shouldered a bow we’d smuggled in beneath the benches in the coach. He’d reel back around to see that the watchtower guards were fighting to stay awake, then join with Tova on the rooftops.

I gripped his shoulder. “This is the night we’ve worked toward. By dawn you will have good news to send your mother.”

Gunnar’s hazel eyes brightened. “I will never be able to repay what you’ve done.”

″It is a good thing you won’t have to. Go. We have marks to hit.”

Gunnar surprised me and took Malin in an embrace, whispered something in her ear, then hurried after Eero to fade into the revelry.

I removed an elixir pouch from my pocket. The same as the crystal powder used for Niall’s jacket but darker. The coal dust powder breathed a hint of honey into the air. With my fingers, I dusted it over the dark beading across the neckline of Malin’s gown and mask.

Her eyes stayed with me all the while. “You will stay close?”

I quickly wiped off any powder residue and held her cheek. “I will always be close. Even if you do not see me.”

″Cousin,” Lynx said, smoothing the feather eyebrows across the troll mask. He’d draped a blue mantle around his shoulders as part of his costume and looked regal when he held out one arm for Malin to take. “Shall we go meet your future husband?”

Malin snickered, but fear, dread, all of it surrounded her in a dark aura my mesmer devoured.

Before Lynx walked away with her, I gripped her hand. “You are stronger than you know, Mallie.”

She gave me a trembling smile. “We leave here together this time.”

I kissed her knuckles, then let her lead with Lynx three paces ahead of me. I removed the black raven mask from the satchel we’d brought, placed it over my face, and lowered my gaze. A signal I was nothing more than a servant overseeing his master’s wellbeing.

Once more, I walked into the colors and ribbons and glitter of this wretched place.