The Cage of Dark Hours by Marina Lostetter

Author:Marina Lostetter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

28

KRONA

Krona had taken off her ear shell and pocketed her reverb bead as soon as they were free of the palace grounds, largely to halt the constant pleas for her to answer. There was nothing she could say just yet—no reassurances she could give—that would either end her team’s worry or assure her own safety. Until she had a better understanding of the situation, their loyalty to her could only spell danger.

But she missed their voices. The shell and bead were her connection to backup, to support, to people she knew would come to her aid and follow her instructions without question.

At least she had Thibaut, even if she’d prefer he was far away, safe and sound in his bed.

Cradling his face had been impulsive. She was just … overwhelmed by everything that had happened this evening. Juliet and Hintosep had clearly been after Mandip, but it seemed Thibaut was an accidental acquirement, and she hoped that meant he would be safe from whatever ill-fated Thalo plans had yet to come to fruition.

Leaving the two men to coo over each other at the bow, she once again stalked up to Hintosep. “Why did you bother to warn me in the first place?” she asked, her patience wearing thin.

“I told you to stay away,” Hintosep said calmly, gaze fixed ahead on the waters.

“You could have told me the target was a Grand Marquis,” Krona countered, moving closer, forcing the woman to look at her. “You could have told me you’d be the assassin. You could have just not killed—”

Most people would have been intimidated by a Regulator invading their personal space, but not Hintosep. She stood her ground and stared sternly at Krona. “No. The point of warning you wasn’t to save the Grand Marquis; the point was to save you. And to keep him away,” she added, with a nod at the young lord. “Now I have to rethink our next steps.”

“Why do you care what happens to me?” Krona asked.

“Because I need you. And we can help each other. Your resistance to my magic points to Kairopathy, and I have a theory as to how we can make you stronger—immune to many more of my abilities.”

“Why … why would you want that? To strengthen my resistance? You won’t even stay out of my head of your own accord.”

“I’m hoping we can be allies, not enemies.”

Krona scoffed, disgusted. “You’ve attacked Lutador at its heart, and you think I want to ally with you?”

“What are you going to do instead?” Hintosep challenged. “Arrest me? No, you won’t so much as attempt to arrest me, because—besides the futility of it—you realize all of this”—she made a sweeping, encompassing gesture—“is beyond any law you know of or adhere to. Yes, I killed a man. An important man. I’ve done it before and I have every intent to do it again.”

“Then, in the spirit of cooperation, at least tell me why,” Krona demanded.

“Would it help if I told you he was a terrible person?”

“As

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