Page 1 of A Blade of Lies and Spirits

ONE

Alys

Darkness.Thirst. Cool air and a hint of dust made me cough as I raised my head and opened my eyes. My arms and legs flexed against restraints.

Smooth plastic secured me at wrist and ankles, hips and throat. Whoever tied me hadn’t been careful to keep my clothing between my skin and the nylon strapping. I also wore an undershirt and leggings that smelled faintly of lavender, my old clothing nowhere to be seen. No boots, which really made me mad.

Clothing and footwear must’ve smelled too much of swamp for whoever. I could remedy that by removing their nose.

The gentle hiss of air conditioning hushed through the darkened room. Despite the lack of light to measure it, it sounded like a small room. I wriggled, testing the bonds. The broad straps constricted my chest, tight bonds across my hips, knees and ankles held me secure, against the solid chair that didn’t move when I rocked side to side either. I stretched my neck to peer down—concrete, and the chair I sat in was bolted to it.

A door opened behind me, and I stiffened. It took an effort of will to relax as a measured tread approached. After a few footsteps, ranks of dots in the ceiling came to life with dim orange light.

A table and another chair faced me. My knives sat on the table. A mirror was placed to the left, angled so I couldn’t see behind me. An interrogation room?

“Good! You’re awake.”

My bare toes clamped down on my concrete, my fingers on the arms of the chair.

The temper, incited by Chance’s cheerful expression, made my lips curl into a nasty smile as he stepped into my field of view.Thiswas the reason my emotions had overwhelmed me earlier. Chance. My jerk of a cousin. Of course, I’d been picking up on whatever emotions he’d been channeling toward me. The man was a bastard to deal with.

His green-gray eyes, chill as a winter ocean, fixed on me like I was a puzzle he’d failed to solve, and then his gaze focused on the stone on my brow. At the flicker of rage in his eyes, I winced. I knew he’d be angry from the moment he saw it, and it didn’t bode well that he was this furious. After these past few years of being apart, he had no way of knowing the path I took when I became pregnant with Dimitri, killed the wrong people, and became an indentured. If he had been around, he wouldn’t have allowed it to happen. We might fight and play these stupid games, but we were still family, and there was nothing we wouldn’t do for each other.

Even though I still wouldn’t let himfixthis for me. Not yet.

“You know, if you wanted to catch up on old times, you could have just asked,” I told him, hoping to distract him from his angry focus on the onyx on my forehead.

He released a slow breath, but there was no humor in his voice. “I would have taken a knife to the gut before I even got the words out.”

“Family is complicated,” I told him, dismissing the very real possibility that Imight havetried to stab him had he not caught me by surprise.

“Well, we’re going to uncomplicate things right now,” he said, using that protective voice that he only got with me when he was really pissed.

Which didn’t bode well. Chance would want to help me. No, he’d want tosave mefrom my current life, and I wasn’t exactly a damsel in distress. “Let me go. You ass. And what is it with you tying me up? Some weird kink?”

His nose wrinkled at the implication that this was anything more than a smart move on his part. “ I have to tie you up, just to get a real conversation out of you. But whose fault is that?” He brushed his finger against the onyx, and his voice softened. “Besides, I saw this and wanted to be sure it was real. This whole time I didn’t search for you, I thought you were sulking. You didn’t show before I left, and you weren’t there when I checked later. Nobody’s seen you for years. What happened, Lissy?”

I squirmed against the straps. I wanted to hit him so very, very much. But I wasn’t about to tell him that I took the dare, climbed the hill, and well, an elf and I got friendly, and I’d become pregnant with Dimitri. He wouldn’t take that well, and there was really no reason he even needed to know.

“I’ve been busy! Lots of spa treatments and all that fun,” I said, jerking one of my arms against the bindings, to no use.

“Just answer the questions.” He hadn’t removed his finger from the onyx, his intent gaze focused on mine. He’d let his hair grow out since last I saw him, probably to cover his ears, and the black curls framed his narrow face. His ears could maybe pass, they weren’t as pointed as mine, but Chance was a thorough kind of guy.

And persistent. I had to give him some kind of answer or he’d just keep pushing.

Making an effort ot be casual, I rolled my eyes. “It’s none of your business. And don’t call me Lissy.”

“But that gemismy business! Ethan said I should keep an eye on you if I could. And based on that, I haven’t done a very good job.” He sounded frustrated, like he really hated what had happened to me despite this whole joke of his. “This geas is intricate, and has some nasty penalties attached. A very nice piece of work.”

If I told him just how bad it was, he could take that as saying I asked him for help. Then I would owe him. Not money, but needing to acknowledge he’d saved me. A course of action I liked slightly less than wrestling a Ridden barehanded. While naked. In a cesspit.

The thing is, I would consider asking him for help getting free, for Dmitri, when I had no other options left. When the right time came. But it wasn’t that time yet. Until then, the Dumonts provided what help I needed. They merely took Uncle Ethan’s place; I wouldn’t have tried to raise him by myself even if we were in Kalderon.

I only had my pride left; the Guild had stripped everything else from me. I wanted to regain what I’d lost. Since Dmitri hadn’t shown any signs of his father’s heritage yet, beyond his magical talent, I had time to free myself. I didn’t want to beg for help from family.

A slow minute trickled by and he shrugged. “I’m going to examine this geas more, then unravel it. You’re no fun if your head’s going to explode the minute you try anything.”

My head would hardly explode, but I understood what he was saying. We typically messed with each other when we got together, and if he didn’t know how my geas restricted me, we wouldn’t be fighting on equal footing. If he could insult me, and the geas made me behave, he wouldn’t like it one bit. But more than that, I had a feeling he just didn’t like that I was being controlled and wanted to free me from my magical bindings.

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