Night of Masks and Knives: Book 2 – Chapter 30

On the second dawn, Klockglas came into view. The air was sticky and wet with a coming storm.

At the hidden dock, the Kryv tossed packs of knives and food over; they fumbled off the boat, finding their land legs. I wanted to return to Felstad, curl up on the cot in Tova’s cold room, and sleep for three days.

Kase shattered my grand plans. The last to leave the boat, Kase raised one hand and gathered his guild close.

″Return to Felstad,” he said. “Malin and I will go to the Exchange.”

″Will we? What if I say no?”

″I would like to see you turn down a chance to be involved.” A grin tugged at his lips. As if schemes were afoot. With Kase, no mistake, they always were. “Go on. Give it a go.”

Smug bastard.

Folding my arms over my chest, I turned away, pretending I did not hear the soft, hidden laugh escape his throat.

″Do not forget you promised a full crate,” Tova said, shaping a box with her arms.

To part with the Kryv felt strange, but they faded into the trees like they were part of the night, drifting from one shadow to the next.

Kase hooded his face and supplied me with a cloak from the boat as soft rain started to fall. He opened one arm and gestured toward the opposite path. This direction would wind around the edge of the shore and drop down into the smallest of trade squares in Klockglas.

With the storm rolling over the fjord, the air grew heavy with damp. We walked in silence, and early on, the one who was not a Kryv in our duo became clear. Feather steps were impossible in the mud and damp unless one was the Nightrender. Kase, with his heavy blacksteel sheathed on his waist, prowled through the brush faint as a breeze.

“Care to know why we’re going to a trade square?”

″For Tova’s plums?”

″I do fear her empty stomach, but we have a meet. One I think you’ll find of interest.”

An unwanted ache burned my throat. “A meet? Of interest to me?”

“Now you’re simply repeating what I say.” Kase scoffed and pulled back a dried, overgrown tree branch for me to pass through. “Yes, there is someone who needs to make a deal with the Kryv.”

″A deal they’ve asked for?”

He winked and faded out of view around a bend. Hells. No doubt, he had some wretched Nightrender plan in his head. Now, I was part of it.

The small exchange hub wasn’t far. Two lengths from the shore we arrived under a mist of rain and cold. Kase seemed wholly at ease. He did not lift his hood, but no one minded. If he had penge, he could be a beast from the hells, and they’d welcome him with open arms.

Together we plucked ripe pomes, apples, plums and placed them in a crate he carried. Kase flicked copper penge coins at the soaked exchange merchants. At a corner stand, Kase lifted a sweet stick made of a hardened honey glaze dipped in bitter chocolate. He gave the merchant three penge and purchased the lot.

″Do you remember these?” he asked.

Such a simple phrase, but one that ached to my bones. He’d yet to willingly bring up the past first. Until now.

I grinned and took one of the sweets. “I do. I’m glad to see you’ve begun to pay for them.”

″I’m not as quick footed as I once was. You must admit, the merchant we stole from was a foul-smelling sod.”

″Naturally, he was asking to be robbed because of his hygiene.”

″Glad we see it the same.”

There was an extraordinary lightness about the moment. I swayed as we walked and let out a moan when silky chocolate melted on my tongue, unlocking a hundred memories of days with less knives and hate.

We’d gathered quite a collection to restock Felstad by the time Kase took hold of my elbow, leading us beyond the square into a cluster of homes. The township was small; I didn’t know its name, but it was made of wood and wattle homes with sod rooftops.

Kase stopped at a rounded home. Raised on small stilts to keep out the constant puddles from soaking into the thin wood floor.

″The backdoor,” he said, tucking the crate beneath an unruly shrub.

I didn’t question. A rush of adrenaline flooded my veins. My fingers twitched. There was a heady desire to unravel the way he thought as the Nightrender, to dig up his schemes beside him. Strong enough I forgot to fear.

When we reached the back of the house, Kase’s hand squeezed my hip, drawing me closer. His front to my back, by the gods, I’d never felt such a shock. A bright sensation I’d nearly forgotten. Even as a skinny, lamppost of a boy, I’d always been safe and steady with Kase Eriksson.

The illusion of the Nightrender was fading. The boy he was did not need to return. I could admit it now; I’d rather take Kase Eriksson, the man. Shadows and scars and all.

I only wish I could know if he became lost in the same whirlwind as me.

In the moment, he was unreadable. Back to the side of the house, my body in his arms, he didn’t look at me. All he did was lean one side of his head against the damp wood. In the silence, I finally heard what he did.

Playful laughter, a few groans of pleasure, the scuffle of feet over wood floors, the slap of skin on skin.

″Who are they?” I whispered.

″See for yourself.”

He released my body and a shudder rippled up my arms, like he’d protected me from the wind by his touch.

I had no time to ask another question before Kase used the hard point of his elbow to knock in the waxy parchment cover over the back window. Shadows inked the beautiful gold of his eyes, and the Nightrender, swifter than a single breath, slipped through the hole.

My climb lacked every thread of elegance and nimble motions as his, but I tumbled into the house in time to hear a few shouts and cries as shadows coiled around the small shack.

″By the hells, who—”

The man didn’t finish his words, but it didn’t matter. I knew that voice. “Hob?”

I peeked around Kase’s broad shoulder, then snorted a laugh. Not Kryv-like, but it couldn’t be helped, catching sight of my dear street hawker with his trousers around his ankles, fumbling about in the dark. The woman was in as much disarray. Pulling up her dress bodice, smoothing her skirts, padding at her messy braids.

But even with his nakedness, Hob stopped fumbling at my voice. “Malin?”

His sharp eyes locked on me as Kase pulled back the shadows. Hob’s jaw pulsed. He finished pulling up his trousers, fastening them with a belt, then violently pulled out a chair from the table they’d been desecrating.

He slouched in it, arms folded over his chest, a frown carved deep on his face. “By the hells, woman. We had an arrangement—” He didn’t finish his reprimand before woman slapped him across the face. “Dammit, Inge. What was that for?”

″Who is she?” Inge snapped. “You have other , Jakoby?”

My eyes widened. She knew Hob’s first name. Jakoby Hob, but no one, only those he told personally, knew his first name. Those he trusted. Far as I knew, I was the only one to learn it, and only because he’d been rather drunk. Once he’d sobered, he’d demanded I call him Hob.

He cared for this woman. Strange, but it left me feeling envious. A thing I never thought I’d be around the likes of Hob.

″No, I . . .” He let out a growl. “She’s an acquaintance, love.”

Wise of Hob. Like he’d done with his name, I’d warned him of my own secrets. Early in our dealings he was taught to never speak of my mesmer, or I’d show him what it could truly do. At the time, I’d been lying. Now, after what had happened with Klaus, I wondered if I could do a great deal more damage than I thought.

″You’re playing games with the Nightrender now?” Hob almost looked offended.

At the mention of his name, Kase took the lead. “We’re not here to discuss her deals. We’re here to see to yours.”

Hob paled. “I don’t make deals with the likes of you. Not so desperate to sell my bleeding soul just yet.”

″Oh, you misunderstood.” Kase laughed in the rough rasp of the Nightrender and pulled a second chair from the table. “I was speaking to her.”

All attention turned to Inge. I didn’t know her. She wasn’t a grand beauty, but she had a pleasant face. Long, satin black hair, and pink lips still swollen from Hob’s mouth. Beneath Kase’s black gaze she shrunk.

″Me? I don’t know what you mean.”

″No one ever does.” Kase let out a heavy sigh. “We have need of a gown. The finest gown you can make.”

The woman’s shoulders relaxed. “A gown? You’re here for a . . . commission?”

″Good choice, Mal.” Hob clapped with a nod. “Inge is the best in the region. She’s been commissioned for the bleeding Heir Magnate’s masquerade costume.”

It was almost endearing the way his lover fluttered beneath his praise. Who would have thought the street hawker could be called a match?

″Call it a commission if you’d like,” Kase went on. “But I won’t be paying for it.”

To her credit, Inge straightened, hands on her hips. “I don’t care if you’re the All Father himself. I don’t work for nothing.”

″What is this?” Hob paused an herb roll halfway to his lips. “Malin, are you disrespecting her?”

″Was I doing the talking, Hob?”

″Well, I don’t expect a gown to be for the bleeding Nightrender.”

Throughout the exchange, Kase was unmoved. Eerily so. He sat with thin mists of darkness swirling like murky water around his fingers. “I’d like to move this along.”

Inge huffed. “I’m not making a gown for no penge.”

Kase ignored her. His eyes roamed up my body without shame. “I think blue would suit her, perhaps green to match her eyes. I’d like it to be finished by next high moon.”

″You’re mad.” Inge barked a laugh. “That’s barely five days.”

″And I have all the confidence you’ll complete it. Don’t tell me as the most coveted seamstress in Liten that you don’t have materials half shaped.”

″Mere pieces,” Inge argued. “Not fitted to anything. Certainly not a skinny thing like her.”

I frowned and looked away.

″You will,” Kase said.

″I refuse.” Inge smiled a little viciously. “I know you threaten folk to do your bidding, Nightrender. Do your worst, you’ve got nothing on me.”

″So sure?”

My scalp prickled. By the gods, I knew the man beyond the darkness and even still the question shot a flash of fear through my heart.

Inge faltered for half a breath. “Yes. I’m sure.”

Kase flicked his gaze to Hob. The Hawker had the herb roll between his teeth but had yet to light it. He was too raptly attentive to the man across from him.

″In that case, I might as well let your lover in on the game you play with him. I believe he and my Kryv are friendly. She’d want me to tell him.”

I noted how Kase called me one of his Kryv, but I stored the thought away. All thought went to Hob. What did Kase know?

By the way he froze, Hob was in the dark as much as me. “What game?”

″No.” A pitchy squeak escaped from Inge. She covered her mouth with her fists. “No. It is nothing, please.”

Hells, how did Kase do this? Tears glistened on her lashes, and she looked at Hob with such shattered longing my heart split in two. I had an unbearable need to stand beside my villainous street hawker. The pinch in my gut told me the Nightrender was about to deliver one of his bribes and Hob would be caught in the crossfire.

″What game, Inge?” Hob said, voice rough.

She blinked. The tears fell. She shook her head mutely.

Kase kicked his legs out in front of him, crossing his ankles. “Agree to do the gown? Or do I tell the hawker how you use him for information on the underbelly, then bring it to your skydguard brothers? Your eldest, he recently received a handsome imprisonment payment from the Black Palace for all the crooks he’s locked up. True?”

″No!” Inge shrieked, her shoulders shuddering.

Kase did not play his hand fairly. I didn’t understand his move. What did he have to hold against her now?

Hob curled forward as if a fist had lodged into his stomach. He lifted his gaze to Inge.

Lines from tears glistened on the ridges of her cheeks. “Jakoby, please—”

Hob stood abruptly, cutting her off. The chair scraped over the wood floor, then toppled to one side. The pulse of his jaw was rapid like a heartbeat. Without a word, he reached for his canvas coat, and went for the door.

I made a move for him, but he held up a hand. ”

, should you need me, seems I’ll be in the Jagged Grove slum, hiding from skydguard.”

″Jak . . .” Inge drew in a harsh gasp when he turned his back on her and slammed the door behind him.

Truth be told, I was ashamed. All this time I thought I did not much care for Jakoby Hob. But witnessing his heart shredded in such a way, a fierce defensiveness roared to life inside me.

I pointed my anger at his lover. “You must’ve played him well. Hob trusts no one, yet he gave his heart to you.”

″I believe I said this on the boat,” Kase murmured. “Love is too dangerous.”

″I will not start this argument with you right now,” I snapped back.

″Pity. It would be a marvelous victory on my part.”

I rolled my eyes and glared at a sobbing Inge. “Why did you sell him out? Why use him at all?”

Inge curled forward. “You don’t understand.”

“And we don’t need to,” Kase said. “The gown, or should I go after him and tell him the rest?”

Ah, there it was. The little dagger twist, enough leverage to continue to get what he wanted. This was the Nightrender in his truest form.

Inge’s body sagged. “I will have a gown ready by the high moon.”

A harsh silence filled Inge’s small house as she guided me through measurements. I could not be certain, but I had every belief this gown would be worn to the masque. Though, I hadn’t figured why I was the only one in the guild being fitted for anything extravagant.

Inge spent time with a parchment pad and charcoal pen, sketching out a design. Without a word she held out the concept for approval. A remarkable gown. Full, no sleeves, and an intricate corset made of ribbons over the bodice.

″Fit for a future queen,” Kase said. “Do you agree?”

What was this about? “It is beautiful, but I am no queen.”

″No. Although, I do hope we can make it so those who don’t know the truth are still convinced you hold a throne somewhere.”

He had a plan, and I was not invited into the whole of it yet. Before I could press him, Kase rose, his eyes on Inge.

“Malin,” he said. “Would you see to it that we’re clear to leave?”

″If you want to threaten her in private, simply say so,” I said. “I do not mind it. Not after what she did to Hob.”

Perhaps I was more like the Nightrender than I thought.

He grinned and removed a leather pouch from beneath his tunic, one I’d noticed Niklas handed him before we’d left Skítkast. “I have a few more instructions for our seamstress. I won’t be long.”

I hoped he terrified her. Once outside, I tugged the cloak’s hood over my head now that a heavy, dreary rain fell.

Hells.

Now we would make the trek to Felstad in the dark and cold and wet.

I startled when the door swung open. Kase’s hand caught me, steadying me against him before I stumbled off the raised stoop.

His eyes cut through the night like a new blaze of sunrise. I swallowed with more effort. “All finished?”

″Finished.”

He took my hand and quickened his step until we were hidden in the surrounding trees.

″How can we trust her not to tell those skydguard brothers we have plans for the masque?”

″She won’t.”

″How did you know about her ploy?”

″Kryv have eyes in every grimy corner of the region.” He paused, pulling the hood over his head. “As do the Falkyns.”

Ah. So, while the Nightrender teased the Otherworld in Skítkast, he’d still been up to tricks along with the Falkyn guild. I did not know whether to be frightened or marvel at what he’d become.

I tugged on his arm, drawing us to a stop. “What else do you have on her?”

″I don’t give up my secrets, .”

He was the stubbornest fool about his secrets. Giving some but keeping more.

″Then, pray tell, why did you fit me for a gown, and no one else?”

The wickedly seductive grin twisted his mouth again. “Because no one else will be the woman to win the heart of the Heir Magnate at the Masque av Aska.”