crack on the head with the hilt of her knife. The guard in front of Van Gast tried to wriggle free, but Van Gast yanked on the chain and kept him out of it.
In the end, it wasn’t the extra strength or weight that let Rillen win, that rendered Josie still as death. It was what he took out of his pocket. A little pouch, harmless seeming, except for the blind silver worm poking from the opening. A bond, a mage-bond.
Sly fucker. Rillen knew the one thing Josie was afraid of, though she’d doubtless never admit it. She lay under his weight and watched with wary terror as he held it over her.
“That’s better,” Rillen said as he stood up. Josie scooted back, but a guard at either side caught her. Rillen’s face took on a breathless, exalted look, as though he were communing with gods. “Oh, this is much better. Van Gast the uncatchable is in my cells and Joshing Josie, who’s afraid of no one and nothing, cowers in terror at my feet.”
He leaned forward, proffering the pouch, careful not to let his fingers get too close to the silver bond that seemed to snuffle the air. Seeking new flesh to bond, new minds to enslave. Too close—Josie lashed out with a boot and a snarl, but the guardsmen held her tight.
“Not to worry. I won’t, not yet at least. I’ve got a little something for you and Van Gast to do for me.”
“Well, you can piss off and forget it then, can’t you?”
Her foot snaked out again and caught him on the thigh. Rillen moved back half a step, just tantalizingly out of her reach.
“No, I don’t think so. Because I have it on good authority there’s one thing that will make you. One thing you’re afraid of.”
Her mouth twisted into her lopsided smile, devilish and taunting. “Not you, if that’s what you’re thinking. Get these goons off me and give me a knife, and I’ll have your bollocks for earrings. I’ll bond you, you little fucker.”
Rillen laughed, a chill little chuckle that made icy footprints run up Van Gast’s spine. At Rillen’s glance, the two guards picked Josie up, still spitting and cursing as they checked her for more weapons. By the time they’d done, one had a bloody nose and the other would be walking carefully for a while, but Josie was weapon-free.
Rillen looked Van Gast’s way, and Van Gast wished he hadn’t. A shark, he’d thought the man, and he’d been right. A wide toothy smile, flat, dark eyes with no feeling behind them. He was biding his time, ignoring the fish and waiting for a fat seal to sink those teeth into. Van Gast had the worst feeling that he and Josie were either the bait or the seal. Neither of those appealed.
“Let him go,” Rillen said to Van Gast. “Let him go and I won’t bond anyone. Just yet, anyway.”
Van Gast stopped pulling on the guard’s neck, let the man thud to the flagstones and sit there, his breath labored and loud. A guard prodded Van Gast away from the grille with his sword long enough for them to open the door, thrust a still-swearing Josie inside and slam it again. The key ground the lock shut and disappeared into Rillen’s pocket.
The guards dragged Skrymir off into another cell. His face was white as wave-tops, and the stone beneath him was dark with blood.
Rillen wiped at the blood on his throat and clamped a hand on his bleeding arm before he came up to the grille, his face out of Van’s reach. His voice was low, conspiratorial, just between the two of them.
“I’ll give Skrymir his chance. Maybe he’ll live, and maybe he won’t. It doesn’t matter, I don’t need him. But you, ah, Van Gast, I have so much to pay you back for. An account you’ll pay, one way or another. The uncatchable Van Gast, scourge of the western coast, in my cells. And his lover too. No rack would dare go against the man who caught the pair of you, especially once I’m head of the Yelen. A little bonus payment from you, for my brother. I’m sure you remember him, in Bilsen? For him, I’ll be back soon. With this bond, for one of you. Not yet, not now. But soon. And when I come back, one of you gets bonded. Your choice as to who, Van Gast. Enjoy yourselves in the meantime. You might as well. I