Night of Masks and Knives: Book 3 – Chapter 36

The Heir Magnate held my hand tightly in his and led me to the center of the courtyard.

My smile was not my own. This smile was pretty, so grateful to be blessed with Niall’s attention. If he could see the hate inside, he would not hold me so close to his body.

″Freya,” he said, holding my hand out, and guiding me in a twirl around him. “I have never seen a woman so lovely as you.”

It was the elixir speaking, but I wanted to vomit all the same. “I have heard a great many things of you, My Lord. All do not do you justice.”

Gods. I disgusted myself.

Niall was a cock preening his feathers. He grinned and guided me to the spritely beat of the tune. His body was broad, strong. A warrior’s shape, and his eyes reminded me of tilled soil. If he were not so wicked, he might be handsome.

″Tell me what brought you to the Masque av Aska,” he said.

I fluttered my lashes. The lace mask on my face was intentionally thin and revealing. Others would need to be convinced Niall saw enough of my face to be knocked off his feet by my miraculous beauty, after all.

″Why, because of you, My Lord,” I said shyly. He spun me once more, the layers of fabric curled around my legs, then back again when he pulled me into his chest. “I could not miss an opportunity to meet you.”

″Then I shall thank the gods tonight, Lady Freya.”

I giggled stupidly, stroking his pride as well as I could. All around, even with masks, I could feel every cut of envy from the other girls who’d come to be the next Lady Magnate. They may not know it, but we had certainly granted them a mercy by saving them from a life of the hells being vowed to a man like Niall Grym.

As he held me, I thought of Dagny. The horror he’d caused in her life. I thought of the ways we could make him pay for it.

For three more dances, Niall did not take his hands off me. My arms were raw from the countless times he’d dragged his fingernails over my skin.

By the gods, once or twice could prove rather seductive. Dozens of times was just painful. It was no wonder Ivar needed to dedicate an entire Masque av Aska to his heir. Niall did not know how to handle a woman in the least.

When we stopped at the end of the tune, Niall took my hands in his, smiling like I lit up the sun. “Lady Freya, I wonder if you might join me at a special event of the masque. It is exclusive and designed to honor a lady of my choosing.”

I gasped, hand to my chest. “My Lord, you wish me to join you?”

He chuckled and tucked my arm through his elbow, leading me back to the dais. “The most beautiful woman at the masque, yes. She deserves the attention of the Black Palace heir.”

By the gods. Was he complimenting me, or himself?

″I’d be honored, My Lord.”

Niall made a sound of approval and stood me in front of Ivar’s seat. I’d never met the Lord Magnate. From a distance I’d witnessed him step foot inside House Strom many times. I was always banished to the stables.

Up close, his harsh, black gaze cut down to my bones.

I took a bit of solace when Lynx and Kase stepped in beside me. My protective cousin and loyal steward.

″Father,” Niall said. “I’ve invited Lady Freya to attend our trade.”

Ivar was unmasked. Like most highly ranked men his hair was braided in a ridge down his skull. Across his shoulders were thick pelts and furs. Kohl lined his eyes, making him look formidable, and the three blades visibly strapped to his body were strategically placed to intimidate others.

He studied me with a touch of suspicion. “There are more women coming to see you.”

″I want none of them,” Niall bit out. “This was my choice, was it not?”

″It was.” Ivar’s lip curled. “Very well. We shall begin the trade, but the lady will need to be searched.”

Kase shifted on his feet at my side. We knew this would happen, the reason I came in unarmed. Ivar obsessed over the notion of losing his power, and he took few risks.

Niall nodded and gestured to a place behind the dais. “It will be swift, Lady Freya, and I shall be beside you.”

I shivered against the hungry tone of his voice. His eyes held no shame as they dropped to the cleft between my breasts, then remained there too long.

″My steward will stand with my cousin as an overseer,” Lynx demanded. “The woman has not been with a man, and it is customary in the south for unwed ladies not to be alone with unwed men.”

Did we know if the Southern Kingdom had such laws? No, but I breathed a sigh of relief when Ivar gestured to his personal steward and Kase to follow through the curtain behind the dais.

Niall clung to me like an insect looking for a proper bite. I fought the urge to roll my eyes when he brushed a hand over my shoulder, as if trying to console me for the embarrassment I would face.

The man I wanted was dressed in a raven mask, stiff and tense, ready to lunge at the Heir Magnate should he touch me again.

″The lady is to undress, and I will inspect her,” said Ivar’s steward.

I stood straight, hoping to hide the sick tension in my belly. My gaze locked with Kase as I slid the fine gown off my body. The Nightrender’s fists tightened when my nakedness was exposed, and Niall groaned.

The bleeding heir was a sod and grabbed between his legs, turning away to readjust.

He behaved like a boy who’d gotten his first glimpse at a bit of feminine skin.

The steward padded at my body. Kase’s frown deepened. I did not breathe until the steward cleared me of sneaking in weapons and permitted me to dress again.

Once the dress was on, Niall forced me against his overheated chest. I choked on bile when his tongue glided over the curve of my ear. “Forgive my boldness, but I would take you now if possible. Later, My Lady. We shall get to know each other later.”

Niklas warned the powders could cause a bit of obsession. We needed to be done with this before the Heir Magnate lost the last grip of his mind and tried to claim me in front of everyone. Should it happen, a bleeding war would begin when the Nightrender cut off Niall’s hands in front of Ivar.

The small space darkened.

″My Lord,” Kase’s voice broke Niall’s possessive hold on me. “Did you not have somewhere you wished to take the lady?”

I shot him a stern look, silently urging him to pull back his bleeding shadows and contain his rage a little longer.

A bit of the glaze pulled away from Niall’s eyes. “Yes. My gift. This way, my love.”

Back at the front of the dais, the steward gave his report. Ivar seemed reluctant, but gave his approval for us to continue.

″Your escorts may accompany us for now,” Niall said with almost a giddy excitement. “This way, Lady Freya.”

I fell into step, but fear dominated my body. Kase likely choked on every bit of it. Pressure gathered like a slow knife inching toward my heart. If I took one wrong step, it would land a killing blow. But I fissured my emotions. Kase knew how to detach during a fight, and I’d need to do the same.

With his lead, we’d get through the night.

Niall led us through arched doors at the lower level of the Black Palace. The corridor was musty and cold.

″It will be rather dim where we’re going, My Lady,” Niall said. “Hold tightly to me.”

I obliged, tightening my grip on his arm. A little longer, that was all, then I could cease the charade of enjoying this fool’s company.

We descended a spiral staircase one full level beneath the palace. Tunnels crisscrossed where serfs were to keep out of sight as they traveled to different rooms, but there was a wider corridor which broke from the rest. The corridor coiled around the center circle where the trade would be held.

Niall guided me through a narrow door that opened into a large suite. It was lit with only a single tallow candle. A plush chaise and twig chairs furnished the space.

″Sit,” Niall said.

″What is all this, My Lord?”

He sneered at me. I thought he might’ve been trying to smile with a touch of passion, but it only looked demented and ugly. “This, My Lady, is your trade.”

″My trade?”

″Yes.” Niall sat beside me on the chaise, one hand tastelessly high on my thigh. Perhaps a trick of my mind, but I was certain shadows, once again, darkened the space. Niall leaned back. “A gift from me to the woman I plan to claim as mine.”

″My Lord.” I gasped again.

″You’ve captivated me, Freya. I did not believe such a thing possible so quickly.”

Not without mesmer. And in truth we did not have long before the effects of Niklas’s powder wore thin.

″You are to pick a dedicated servant,” Niall said. “An Alver for your own. When we are vowed, you will be given the best servants, and you will find the best in Alver folk.”

″My Lord, are you not Alver folk yourself?” Ivar was an Alver, it was well known, though no one knew what he could do exactly. It was common knowledge his sons were as well.

″Yes. A Mediski,” Niall said, missing my tone completely.

I wanted to howl with laughter. What a twisted sense of humor the Norns had. To give a man such as him the gift of healing. He did not deserve it.

While he lived in his palace, trading his own folk, Alvers fought and clawed in the streets, all to survive.

Niall pulled on a frayed rope. Straightaway a door opened at the back of the trade circle. My heart stilled in my chest. The Master of Ceremonies stepped through. Donned in a loud violet cloak and a fool’s mask with gold and black checkered squares over the brow.

The things he must do to ensure this festival entertained and robbed folk of their freedom at the same time was a feat all its own.

His insides must’ve been blackened and dim.

Behind the Master of Ceremonies, a line of people was ushered in. They were dressed in plain robes in a bright shade of red. One girl had ghastly welts where her wrists were bound. A small boy with hair like the deepest midnight and a childish roundness to his cheeks bore an ugly gash from brow to jaw.

I held my breath as the last, the tallest, was led inside.

Hagen.

His body was thinner. His face had been shaved, and his dirty golden hair had been trimmed close to his scalp. I gripped the lace of the gown to keep from reacting. From where he stood near the door, Kase tilted his head side to side. To Niall it would be a simple gesture, but to Lynx it was a signal our mark—my stepbrother—was there.

Bandages threaded under Hagen’s arm and shoulder, brown with dried blood and a swollen lump had turned green on the side of his head.

″What do you think, Freya?” Niall said with clear expectations for praise.

″It’s . . . it’s remarkable, My Lord.”

Niall grinned. “The choice is yours.”

I had my choice made, but my heart ached. Hagen stood among others. What would become of them? Did I have the freedom to even care? We could not save everyone. Like the advice Sigurd gave me—a time that felt so long ago—sometimes cruel things happened.

I lifted my eyes to Kase. As if he knew the storm brewing within me, he gave me a nod. Silent permission to do what needed to be done.

We could not right all the wrongs in one night.

″My Lord,” I said, gently resting my hand on Niall’s arm. He seemed rather delighted by it, so I added a squeeze of pressure. “The tall Alver. The one on the end. What do you think of him?”

″Ah, a disgraced nobleman, My Lady. He is accustomed to the life we lead, and with his brutish size, no doubt would make a fair watchdog.”

I grinned. “I couldn’t agree more.”

″Although,” Niall went on. “The girl on the end has remarkable skill as a Rifter.”

″They’re terrifying.”

Niall seemed to enjoy the way I leaned into him like the Rifter girl might attack any moment. “I assure you, Freya. I would not let a single Alver in your sight without the proper shackles. Besides me, of course. We have ways of taming magic.”

Brutal, vicious ways.

″The boy,” I asked, playing the part of curiosity well. I did not want to select Hagen too hastily, in fear it might cause suspicion. “What does he do?”

″I was told he is a Hypnotik. Skilled for his young age. He would grow to be loyal, but I do not think such a frail child would suit as a guard for a Lady Magnate.”

″Yes,” I said, nodding. “You’re right. It is such a difficult choice.”

″Choose well, cousin,” Lynx muttered. “This is for your protection.”

I tilted my head side to side, my hand stroked Niall’s arm. “A nobleman would know the blade. He’d be a fair guard, I should think.”

″Have you made your choice, then?”

″This is so remarkable, I’m not sure I know how to choose.” Play a part. Don’t seem too eager. Convince him he is the only fine thing in the world in your eyes. A dozen little pieces of advice had been thrown at me from the Kryv the last two nights. They served me well in the moment. I faced Niall squarely. “I can hardly believe you’re offering this to someone like me.”

Niall used his fingertip to lift my chin. “Someone like you will be the mistress of this palace.”

″You honor me, My Lord. After so short a time, I am flattered to even be considered.”

″Yes. It is strange.” Niall slumped back, a bemused furrow to his brow. “I would not normally be captivated so swiftly.”

Blood rushed to my head. The elixir—it must’ve been wearing off.

One look at Kase, I knew he agreed. His hands twitched at his side. Lynx rolled his shoulders. What did they expect? If Niall broke free of the potion, would they fight him? Kill him?

I didn’t want to find out what would become of us if we fought our way out of this place.

″I choose the tall Alver, My Lord. If it pleases you,” I tacked on.

″Wise choice.” Niall stood and stepped into the center. He snapped his fingers at the Master of Ceremonies. “The lady has made her choice. This one.”

It sickened me the way the Heir Magnate dismissed them all as if they were nothing. The Master of Ceremonies hesitated, even cast a glance at Hagen.

Odd. But it was over quickly before he dipped his head. “It will be arranged, Heir Magnate.” His voice was altered. Too low. Too broken to be a true voice. No doubt some type of Hypnotik illusion was to blame.

Niall returned to the dim suite, smiling. “Lord Hakan, your steward can see to your cousin’s choice.”

Lynx smirked. “Philip. See to the man. Bring him to us.”

I hated this part most of all. The moment I’d separate from Kase until our next mark. He behaved as a steward, but I caught his eye through the mask over his face. To give us away now would be foolish, so I dismissed him as a spoiled noblewoman might.

We’d done it. I should have a bit of gladness, and I did. Kase would go to Hagen. He’d be free of here.

I tried to breathe easier, but the hair stood up on my arms as if some deep sense inside me knew something would go wrong.

Once we were up the spiral staircase, back to the main level of the Black Palace, Niall took my hand and led me toward the door that would return us to the masque. But when he reached for the handle, the doors flew open as someone came in.

″Oh, Heir Magnate, you were just who I was seeking out. If you’ll permit me, My Lord, I’ve come to barter for the release of—” The man cut off his voice when his eyes fell to me.

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach.

His mouth turned down in an angry grimace. “Malin?”

I didn’t know what move to take, what step came next. We had not planned for Bard Strom to step in the way of our plans.