Magnus took the cup and stared over the rim at her, hoping the look in his eyes made it clear how much he wished his brothers were anywhere but in his bok. That Nadine was here with him naked. Preferably much closer.
“Where are the Nozverak now?” Hollen asked, drawing Magnus’s gaze.
His oldest brother stood at the foot of the bed, arms crossed and feet apart. His jaw worked as he took in the details of the mission’s epic failure. Behind him, Ivan paced the room like a fox waiting out a rainstorm. Erik and Sigvard sat at the fire together, but looked no more relaxed with their rigid shoulders and grim expressions. If Bedmeg weren’t so dangerous, perhaps his sisters-in-law would be here, and then his elder brothers might look less like Magnus was announcing the end of the world.
Then again, wasn’t that what he was doing?
Magnus grunted. “Azolirum left us at the Throat to be picked up by our own. He said to leave a pile of stones at the entrance if ever we needed to talk, but that for now, we should consider our alliance void.”
Ivan stopped pacing to bare his teeth. “And he took the Eye?”
Nadine stiffened at the mention of her inheritance. Magnus resisted the urge to take her hand and comfort her. After. When she was less likely to cut off his fingers for “making her look weak.”
Magnus took a breath and fixed his eyes on Ivan. “You have the Ebronians to thank for that.”
“Raksa,” Ivan said through gritted teeth. He resumed his furious pacing.
Though Ivan was undoubtedly thinking of Azolirum, Magnus’s mind jumped to Samar, whom Nadine had informed him was dead. Direct betrayal didn’t seem something the Nozverak were willing to overlook.
Erik shifted from where he sat cross-legged by the fire. “So what did we accomplish? Was this all for nothing?”
Nadine turned on the bed to meet Erik’s gaze. “It wasn’t for nothing. We failed in our objective, but now we know what’s coming.”
“We already knew what was coming,” Ivan said with a scowl.
The corner of Nadine’s mouth drew down as she addressed Ivan. “We thought we knew what was coming.”
Hollen shook his head and turned from the foot of Magnus’s bed to circle the bok. He had to pointedly dodge Ivan’s rampaging figure. “She’s right. All we know is that we don’t know when or where they are coming. We thought we knew the attack would come from around the mountain.”
“And as for the when?” Erik asked.
Nadine answered, “As soon as they’ve broken through a path to the rest of the underworld. Azolirum didn’t break when they questioned him. But his men say that regardless of what they know, they have enough workers to eventually stumble in the right direction.”
A round of muttered curses went up in the bok.
Hollen turned to Magnus. “Can the Nozverak keep watch to let us know if and when the Soul Thieves break through?”
Magnus grimaced. “I don’t think so. They were only able to get so deep with the help of the Eye.”
“Which they have,” Nadine said.
Magnus met her eyes. “I have my doubts as to whether or not they can actually use it. They may have seen Samar complete the attunement ritual, but did they ever really hear you use the words of power?”
Nadine stared hard at him. “Why would they take it if they can’t use it?”
Magnus shrugged. “Justice?”
Nadine looked as though she wanted to murder someone right about then. He couldn’t blame her.
Magnus shook his head. “Regardless, relations with the Nozverak are tenuous at best. They didn’t even tell us what the Soul Thieves were up to until we were about to die. I’ll stay here to make regular contact with them, but who’s to say how forthcoming they’ll be?”
Hollen clasped his elbow in one hand and used the other fist to prop up his chin. Deep thought seemed to settle over him. His one-eyed gaze fell toward the fire, and everyone in the room watched him as though trusting he would have the answer.
Magnus thought of his brother’s name, the Soulless, and remembered what the elders had said the day he’d been brought back from an icy grave. That he had some grand purpose to complete, and that was why Helig had stayed his body, even if Regna had claimed his soul. This epic crisis could be the only reason. Surely leading their people through such an unholy time was the grand destiny his life had been working up to. Somehow, Magnus knew deep in his bones that his brother was ready.
“Did we learn anything else?” Hollen asked.
Magnus and Nadine exchanged looks. They began to shake their heads.
“You say our mountain is one of fire?”
All heads turned toward Sigvard, who was sitting with Erik at the fire. He’d spoken hardly a word since arriving, which was nothing new for him. Magnus’s brows drew together as he considered what his youngest brother had latched onto.
“A volcano,” Magnus confirmed. That was what his bride had called it.
“The mountain sleeps, but the fire does not,” Nadine added. Her brows drew together, and she scrutinized the younger man. “Do you make something of this?”
They all watched Sigvard, who at last tore his gaze away from the crackling ring to scan the faces of those in the bok. His gaze landed on Hollen. “And what if the mountain were to no longer sleep?”
Silence filled the room, and Magnus found himself looking to Nadine. She’d seemed to know more about the subject of volcanoes than any of them. Her Ebronian noble education, perhaps? His hamma shook her head. “The mountain sleeps for as long as it sleeps. It’s been at least a thousand years.”
Sigvard’s mouth tightened. “Then maybe someone should wake it up.”
Nadine’s baffled expression mirrored Magnus’s own. He studied his brother, the absolute confidence in his eyes, and couldn’t stop himself from asking, ”Just how have you been spending your time in Ebron, little brother?”
Sigvard’s coppery gaze landed on Magnus, and he knew at once that his younger brother had somehow fooled them all. Magnus, like the others, had believed Sigvard to be in an endless cycle of training with the lancet, determined to master every form of martial skill he could, with the only pauses taken to answer his Salig’s call as he was doing now. But perhaps no one had been watching him closely enough. And that was hardly surprising when the younger man seemed content to spend his days sweating out all but the memories which kept him maddened in the first place.
“Sigvard?” Hollen asked with a frown.
Their youngest brother met Hollen’s eye. “How do you flush a wild thing from its den?”
31
After
“I’ll stand.” Nadine dismissed the servant who’d shown her into the parlor of the Bremen estate.
The slave bowed low before retreating from the opulent room to find her mistress.
Nadine had been raised in a home far grander than this. Even so, the shining marble floors and copper-inlaid door were testaments that the master of this house was no pauper. Citrus wafted from the potted trees lining the entryway, and jasmine gave it a rich undertone that would only grow stronger the further down the horizon the sun slipped.
Nadine shifted the package under her arm and wandered to the lattice window that faced an inner courtyard. A stunning mosaic made up the patio, where a pair of exotic birds perched. Nadine recognized their plumes from time she’d spent on her first deployment. She hadn’t known her lieutenant then. The thought made her feel old.