Page 88 of Of Sword & Silver

“Did he tell you why?” Kyrie asks. Fil stands beside her, rubbing his whiskered cheeks on her shoulders.

“Of course he did,” the man sniffs with disdain. “To save Heska and unite the gods.”

My fingers grip the pommel of my sword even more tightly. “Unite the gods,” I repeat.

“Well, I hate to break it to you,” Kyrie trills. “But all we’re really doing is stealing something from my ex-fiancé. I’m sure you’ve heard of him. Alaric, King of Diamonds?”

Dario considers her, taking in her red waves and still-defensive posture.

“You,” he says slowly, his face blanching suddenly. “You.”

“Me,” she tells him cheerily, clearly enjoying this. Or at least pretending to for his benefit. Kyrie steps closer to him, and he shrinks backward. “And you kicked my cat,” she tells him.

Fil bares his teeth, snarling. I grin. His namesake would be proud.

“Kyrie,” Lara says in a warning voice. “We need him.”

“The King of Diamonds,” Dario says, taking us all in, deflating slightly before putting his hands on his hips. He’s missing his third and fourth finger from his left hand. “You need to steal something from the most dangerous man in Nyzbern?”

“Yes. And like you said…” Kyrie trails off, like she can’t quite bring herself to say it.

“The fate of the world hangs in the balance,” I finish for her.

She doesn’t look at me.

It doesn’t negate the truth of it, no matter how much she wants to lie to herself about her unwitting role. Or how much she’s afraid of it.

31

KYRIE

Itake a bit too much satisfaction in the knowledge that Dario knows who I am.

“Regardless of destiny, or the damned gods?—”

He flinches at my blasphemy.

“We have a job to do, and if, like you said, Lojad sent you, then he must have a reason for it.” Suspicion builds in me. “Why are you really here? You don’t strike me as one of Lojad’s faithful.”

His gaze shifts sideways to where the Sword stands, the very picture of menace.

I yawn. “I can make you tell us.”

Dario flinches. A tiny thing, less than a second, but I caught it. Spreading his hands wide, he smiles blandly.

“Silver Tongue, I know you can. All who remember your reign of terror at the King of Diamonds’ side do.”

“It was advantageous for me.” The words sound dull, bored, but my stomach twists in disgust at the memory of those months at his side, at the way I used my power to convince people to do whatever we—he—bade. All so I could unlock the mystery of Alaric’s many vaults and help myself to what lay within.

“I’m sure it was,” he agrees, every inch of him projecting calm yet again. “You know,” he says, narrowing his eyes at me. “You aren’t the King of Diamonds’ favorite person. In fact… I think he has a bounty out on you. One thousand gold marks.”

“One thousand?” I echo. “That’s all?” I sigh in disappointment.

“That’s a fortune,” Caedia interjects, her strange eyes glimmering. “You stole enough from him to warrant that kind of coin, and you dress like that?”

Offended, I glance down at my clothes. “What’s wrong with how I dress?”

“What did you steal from him, Kyrie?” Lara asks.

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