Page 28 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
Chapter Twenty
Kohl
“Ugh,” Kohl muttered as he stumbled sideways into a wall.
Where was he? There should be stairs here leading to his chambers, yet all there was before him were wooden doors. He tried one, walking in on a couple doing something he wished his eyes had not witnessed against a study desk. Once more he wandered down the hall, attempting to gain his bearings.
The night had blurred together more than usual. Pain radiated from Kohl’s temples to behind his eyes. He had indulged in too much to drink that night at the feast—the impromptu feast his father decided on. It seemed strange to throw something so lavish together at such short notice, especially for some acolyte ofthe Olympi. She’d just waltzed in through the gates of Alentus with the carving of a hydra and his father practically fainted from joy.
My hard work and servitude has paid off, my boy. One day you will reap the benefits as well.Khalid had flashed him a lurid grin, as his father eyed the young girl like she was a piece of meat. He hoped she’d escaped his oily grip, and had not accompanied his father back to his chambers to indulge in the demonic fantasies he played out. Zahra had returned to Morentius after the wedding and Khalid had been in a particularly wretched mood, even with much of his time spent in the dungeons below.
The young acolyte was pretty—stunning, actually. Her silver locks cascaded down her back in light waves. Black strands framed her face, accentuating high cheekbones and glacial eyes—they pierced his very heart. They were uncontrollably captivating, as if the woman could see straight through his soul. He could imagine many men would fall to their knees before her and the enchantress would let them.
If he was not so hurt by Katrin’s betrayal he probably would have tried to steal the girl from his father’s clutches, but he rarely thought of women anymore. Katrin was still his wife, and he would find her. He would teach her to respect him and their vow. She was his Fated. No matter what Ander said or what Dolion had said aboardThe Hydraa month before.
Ander was lying. It was the only explanation. Anger boiled deep in his bones and Kohl stormed off toward the dungeons. This time he would make him divulge the truth—how Ander had forced his ways on Katrin, how he had manipulated her into believing him. The state Kohl had left the prince in before was far too generous for the poison he spewed from his mouth. Kohl slammed throughthe doors that led down to the dungeons, but they clashed against something and swung back in his face.
“What the—” Red liquid seeped out from under the door, pooling around his boots. Kohl opened the door slowly. Two guards lay against the wall on the landing, blood dripping from their throats.
“Fuck!” Kohl slammed his fist into the stone wall, paying no mind to the shattered brick crumbling to the floor. He grabbed one of the dead guard’s swords and descended the spiral stairs to the damp dungeon below.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Another guard lay dead at the bottom, dirt and hay spewed all around. Someone had fought him before this became the man’s end.Ander.
He raced down the corridor, passing all the prisoners’ doors until he came to the last one. The one they used to torture the man Kohl hated more than anything in this gods-forsaken world.
It was empty. No prisoner in sight.
Kohl gripped the sides of his head, the pounding getting worse with each breath. Anger needed to be released, he had to sacrifice his blood back to the Olympi if he would have any sense of mental clarity to figure out what happened here.
Or maybe not. Maybe if he kept that pent-up energy snaking through his veins, when he found Ander he would have a better shot of destroying him. Ander was barely a man anymore, his muscles deteriorated, every inch of skin scarred or burned. He wouldn’t make it far alone, even with his powers. Kohl glanced around the room—the golden cuffs weren’t there. He was powerless. An easier target. But how did a powerless man escape and kill three guards?
There would be no time to alert the Spartanis. Not this late in the evening. Not when most were passed out drunk from the feast.The feast. Clearly a ruse. But then who was that young acolyte? Kohl pictured her face again, narrowing in on those frosted eyes.Giselle—the queen’s were the same ghostly color. No one had seen the Princess of Nexos before, but they had just let the lupine girl sneak past everyone to rescue her undeserving brother. They were fools. They were all fools to believe the long-dead Olympi had sent someone to praise their sacrifices. Most of all his father. How had none of them seen it?
A feral scream left Kohl’s lips as he took the dungeon stairs back up in twos, almost slipping on the blood that trickled down the stones. Would their father be there as well? It would be risky—the Grechi were not allowed to interfere in the fate of one of their own, even if it was his son. So if Nikolaos was not with them, the sister would need a ship. A ship that could compete withThe Hydra—Ander’s ship. And ifThe Nostoswas here, then Katrin would be as well. Kohl’s bride was reckless, thinking she could step back on these lands and escape once more. Maybe Kohl would succeed in two things tonight—killing Ander and returning his bride to her rightful place.
How did they get in?The Nostoswas a well-known ship across the Mykandrian Sea. It would never have made it to port. Even with the guards at the castle foregoing their duties, King Athanas had given strict orders for the port to be monitored at all hours. The sister came from there with her small group of men, entering port on a small sailing vessel. If they were to attack, and planned to save Ander in advance, there would have to be many more men than could fit on that ship. It would have been searched uponreaching the dock for stowaways and contraband, which meant there had to be another ship. One that did not venture to the town below the castle.
There was only one other way to access these lands from the sea, a fortress of cliffs and rocky shoreline made it nearly impossible. But there was a collection of caves on the other side of the isle. It was a risk to bring a ship in that way, the water was unpredictable and the rocky seabed made it almost impossible for large ships to get close enough to send a rowboat into the caves. Unless you knew the water well. Unless you grew up learning every inch of the isle, swimming under the caves as a child. Unless you were Katrin.
Kohl sprinted to the parapet above the back gate to the castle. In the cloudy moonlight he saw them. Four figures and a large silver wolf. But it was not the wolf that surprised him most. It was the fourth person that helped carry Ander out of a passageway along the wall.
It appeared his sister had returned.
Her loyalties had shifted.
And Kohl would remind her where they should lie.
Leaves crunched under Kohl’s boots as he navigated the forest’s edge. Each step he took brought him closer to answers. Why was his sister there? Why did Katrin go back toThe Nostos? His whole body was laced with black veins and Kohl avoided his reflection in the river as he ran along it further toward the southern edge of theisle. They couldn’t have made it far, not with Ander barely clinging to life. Unlike her sister, Katrin had no healing power, and even if she did, the golden shackles would feed off that power, not help Ander.
Left, right, left, his feet pounded against nearly frozen dirt. Whimpered cries seeped through the trees. He was close. Almost there. Kohl slowed his running to a light prowl, careful to keep his footsteps soundless over the brush. He unsheathed the guard’s bloodied sword, gripping it tightly in his hunt. As he inched closer, his vision began to clear and his mind blackened. Each of his prey was armed and Katrin—well, she could turn him to ash. He had seen it, the way the starlight coursed through her body, how it had set an entire ship ablaze. Would she use it on him?
So instead of stepping out in front of them, risking Katrin’s wrath, he lunged from behind a thick tree trunk onto the wolf, sending the shifter into a spiral on the ground. A loudsnapfilled his ears as her front leg cracked beneath his body. He held the sword to her throat, a feral howl loosening from her mouth. Katrin whipped around at the noise, her palm already glowing with the light of the night sky.
“Move another inch, and I will spill the princess’s blood.” Chloe now lay limp below him in her human form.
“Kohl, please,” Katrin’s voice was low but demanding. To think she believed he would listen to a single thing that came from her lips. Everything would be a lie. A lie to get that disgusting man and his sister to safety. “Let. Chloe. Go.”
The first thing Katrin did was beg for their lives. There was no remorse for what she did—for making a fool out of him. Out of this kingdom. Kohl would show her that he was a force to bereckoned with. That you did not betray him. The pounding in his head grew once more, an incessant buzzing whispering to him to strike. To kill.
