fighter if you choose to use him that way.”
I pull my eyes away from the poor bastard on the auction block and concentrate on the spaces around us. There are dozens of other bubbles all protruding out over the auction house. Contrary to what the murketeer said, I can’t see into the other ones. They are fogged in a way which promotes the inhabitants’ privacy.
“He could be in any one of those bubbles,” I murmur to Warden. “I can almost sense his eyes on us.”
“That’s because you can.”
Warden and I swing around to find ourselves confronted by Scizzor. He is not alone. I don’t know the names of the two other broodkin with him, but they look as though they are very much on his side.
“This is supposed to be a private booth,” Warden says with that impeccable calm of his.
Scizzor lets out a growl. Apparently that was not the reaction he wanted.
“That’s the thing with you, Warden. You always worry more about the rules than you do following the consequences of them. You’re protecting a human who killed a matriarch of your brood…” Scizzor pauses. “But she wasn’t really your brood, was she? She was mine.”
“Scizzor…”
“I know. We never talk about it, and I think you think I forgot. We were so young, weren’t we. We were yet to shed our first skin. We went through our first moult together. But you are not my first hatched. I was my first hatched. And Saya was the female you took pity on. I used to think you were keeping her safe so you could mate with her one day.”
Warden says nothing. I say nothing. Scizzor keeps gloating.
“That’s right, human in the scythkin suit,” he laughs. “You’re not the first. Before you, there was Saya. You would call her my sister. She was going to be his mate. They were going to spawn a dozen scythkin warriors at least, a new brood. But you changed all that, human. You killed his mate, and you are a very poor second choice.”
“Yeah,” I say. “So I heard.”
Those are not the most diplomatic words to muster, but I don’t want to give Scizzor the satisfaction of sounding horrified. I already know what he seems to think he is revealing to me.
“Don’t listen to him,” Warden says. “I love you, Silver. I loved Saya too, but she was never my mate. She was the matriarch we rescued when we were very young. I wanted to see her mate, but mating is not pleasant for us. It would have consumed Saya. It would have killed her, if not the first time, then the second.”
“But she would have been able to live out her purpose, and fulfill her destiny. She would have laid, and perhaps those eggs would have hatched…”
“Enough. What do you want?”
“I already told you,” Scizzor laughs. “I’m here for revenge. I’m here for the girl.”
“You don’t want the girl,” Warden says.
“Of course I do. I am going to buy that female, and I am going to make you watch me take her. You will lose what you deserve to lose, and I will take what I am owed. A life for a life, even if I have to settle for a worthless human one. Or, perhaps, two.”
He’s going to kill her. I know it in my gut. And I cannot let it happen.
“Take me instead,” I say.
“What?” Scizzor looks at me aggressively. I know he knows I am inside the suit. He knew it right away, as soon as he saw me.
“Take me instead. You want revenge, and the truth is, when I took your sister, I was acting out of a desire for vengeance too. Something very precious was taken from me, and I was prepared to tear down the universe to get revenge. So I understand if you kill me. I want you to kill me. Do it, and the pain stops. For everyone.”
“NO!” Warden roars the word, moving in front of me to defend me from my willing sacrifice. I would die a thousand times over if it meant Ella would live. That is what a mother’s love means.
But Warden’s rage is unnecessary. Scizzor immediately turns down my offer.
“You are not worth killing,” he curses. “You are not worth anything.”
There’s not a lie in any of the words he just spoke. I’ve lost my daughter twice. I’ve been unable to protect her twice. As far as I am concerned, I am worthless.
“Well, I’m on my way home,” he continues. “My shipment