KALDAR sat in a chair. Belts restrained his arms and legs. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move an inch.

The room was dimly lit, but he could see Helena d'Amry with perfect clarity. She approached him with a syringe in her hand. Cold wet gauze touched his arm, then he felt the prick of the needle and watched the syringe fill with red.

"You lost the diffusers," he said.

"It stopped being about the diffusers the moment I found out you were involved." Helena examined the syringe and squirted a little of his blood into a long test tube.

Why? The question was on the tip of his tongue, but he wouldn't ask it. She would enjoy it too much.

Helena opened a vial, rolled the top of it along the rim of the test tube, allowing a few granules of pale powder to fall into the blood, and shook the test tube carefully. She turned to the table, set the tube into a wooden holder, and sat by him, leaning her arms on the back of the chair.

"My mother is a fool," Helena said. "She has no head for business or for service. She doesn't pursue a science or an art. She simply is, and my father believes the world is better for it. I never liked either of them. But I always looked up to my uncle."

"Spider," Kaldar said.

Helena nodded. "He's a great man. He taught me the meaning of dedication. Discipline. Honor. He didn't wish me to become a member of the Hand. In fact, he blacklisted me." She smiled. "He said it was a difficult life. He wanted me to pursue other paths. I tried, but not very hard. Since he wouldn't let me join the Hand, I crossed the ocean and became a Hound instead."

"Why bother?"

"Because it's my calling. A life should be lived to benefit others, not for the selfish pursuit of pleasures granted to one by an accident of birth. Being born into a bloodline carries certain responsibilities. We all have a duty to our name and to our country."

"Admirable," Kaldar said. "Do you usually tell this to yourself before or after you slaughter helpless people?"

"I'm a Hound of the Golden Throne. I don't slaughter the helpless. They are below my pay grade. My opponents are usually highly skilled."

"Like Alex Callahan, the master of combat, who was so high he could barely recall his own name?"

"A necessary casualty. He was human trash, and, once in a while, the trash has to be taken out. Are you truly in love with his sister?"

"Yes."

"Do you think she loves you back?"

"Yes."

"What about your cousin? She loves you too, no?"

He didn't answer.

"Sadly, she got away. Had I known she was in the castle, things would've gone differently."

"What is it you want?" Kaldar had finally had it.

"My uncle is confined to a wheelchair. I'd like to help him out of it."

"Your uncle is a fucking bastard who tortures defenseless women and murders children. He deserves everything that he got."

Helena smiled again. Her voice was pleasant, almost happy. "My uncle is a peer of the realm. And you are a worthless maggot not fit to be crushed under his shoe."

Kaldar bared his teeth at her. "When I get out of here, I'll kill him and mail you his head."

"I've read your grandfather's journal," Helena said. "I know all about the Box he invented. It's a wondrous device, isn't it? So powerful that as long as there is a drop of life left in a body, it will regenerate it."

"The Box was burned," he told her, unable to keep the happiness out of his voice. "I was there." They had burned it to keep Spider away from it forever. He had no regrets over its loss.

"Your grandfather was a very clever man," Helena said. "We've scrutinized his diary. We've read every letter. Sadly, we can't replicate the Box. But while we studied it, we noticed an interesting detail. While he speaks of the pig and the calf and your dear cousin, all of whom he stuffed into the Box as an experiment, he points out that they all had something in common. He made all of them drink a disgusting concoction he called earache tea. You drank it too, didn't you, Kaldar?"

"No." He remembered that vile brew like it was yesterday. He had hated it, and he'd had to drink it for about two months straight because the adults had made him do it.

She shook her head. "Yes, you did. You must ask yourself why your grandfather would torture you so. After all, the tea had only one purpose - to prepare you for the Box. The diary named several test subjects: a, b, c, d, and e. One could assume that animals were the first few, but you see, your grandfather also lists a certain schedule in his mad ramblings. The schedule has five names: Richard, Kaldar, Marissa, Ellie, and Cerise. Five names. Five test subjects."

No.

Helena grinned at him. "Now, your cousin received the lion's share of the dosage, but you did get a trip to the Box, Kaldar. I bet you heal faster than normal. You're healthier. You probably never broke a bone in your life."

He hadn't, but that didn't prove anything.

"When my uncle consumed your grandfather's heart, his blood changed," Helena said. "Oh, wait. You didn't know that? Yes, Spider killed Vernard. Your grandfather was a complete monster by then, but Spider succeeded in killing him. Spider's blood is no longer the same. There is a certain new component to it. It helps him heal. Very, very slowly. In time, he believes he might be able to walk again. Sadly, he'll be an old man by then. Whatever that component is, he needs more of it."

"There is no more," Kaldar told her grimly.

Helena reached over to the test tube and lifted it. The blood within it had turned indigo. "There is. You're carrying it in your blood. Spider's blood turns pale blue, but yours . . ." She shook the tube. "Look at that. You are full of useful blood."

The woman was insane. "Why not take me back to Louisiana, then?"

"And risk the Hand taking you away to interrogate you? They may even trade you for one of their agents in the Mirror's dungeons after they wring everything out of you." She put the test tube back. "No, I'm going to drain you dry right here. I will harvest your flesh, your skin, your bones. I will convert your body into a tonic that Spider will drink every morning. My uncle will walk again, Kaldar. You won't enjoy the final hours of your life, but have no fear. Your body will be put to good use. You will support a man far greater than yourself."

"Fuck you."

She ignored him, walked to the door, and stuck her head out. "Bring the blood bags."

KEEP walking, Audrey told herself, climbing down the mountain. Just keep walking.

In her mind, Kaldar dropped his harness to the ground. "A good trade."

No. No, it was a lousy trade, a sucker's trade. It was unacceptable.

A bird landed in front of her. It was small and blue. "Finally!" George's voice sounded strained. "I found you!"

"George!" She almost sobbed. "Helena has Kaldar!"

"I know. We're not far. Hold on, Jack's coming to get you!"

Fifteen minutes later, when a lynx bounded through the woods, she dropped to her knees and hugged him.

Thirty minutes later, they walked out into a clearing. Their wyvern sat on one side. A different wyvern rested on the other. Between the two huge beasts, William bandaged Cerise's shoulder. Francis lay on the ground, tied like a pig.

George saw her and slumped on the grass, closing his eyes. He looked exhausted. The blue bird that rode on her shoulder dropped like a stone.

"Helena has Kaldar." Audrey strode to Cerise. "I need you to help me."

"We can't," Cerise said.

"What?"

"The Mirror broke our communication ban," Cerise said. "All agents in the Democracy of California have been ordered back to Adrianglia. The Hand is recalling its people as well."

"We made too much noise," William said. His face was grim. "The fight was too loud, too public, and there were too many witnesses. Adrianglia and the Dukedom are trying to avoid open war."

"He's your cousin."

Cerise's face jerked with pain. Tears swelled in her eyes. "And I love him," she said. "But we have a direct order."

"But Kaldar!"

"Kaldar is an agent of the Mirror," William said. "He knew the risks."

"It's an order, Audrey," Cerise said. "Not a suggestion. If William and I stay here, the Mirror will decommission us when we return. We'll be tried for treason. Our family will lose its asylum, and the Dukedom of Louisiana will have an excuse for an open conflict with Adrianglia. If Kaldar were here, he would tell you exactly what I am telling you now. We're soldiers in this war. Soldiers don't get to pick which orders they follow."

It sank in. They couldn't help her. They wanted to, but they couldn't.

"When are you leaving?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

William tied off the bandage. "Now."

009

THE wyvern was a distant speck in the blue sky. Audrey shielded her eyes with her hand and looked at it. It seemed like a dream. A painful, terrible dream.

Kaldar, his eyes, his smile, the way he kissed her . . . She had lost him. She hadn't realized how much she had wanted him until he was gone, and there was this gaping painful hole inside her. It hurt. She felt so hollow.

They could've been so happy. Why, why did it have to end like this? Why couldn't they have gotten away?

Audrey closed her eyes and willed herself to wake up. She wanted to wake up, open her eyes, and see the wyvern's cabin above her, then see him lean over her with that wicked smirk on his lips . . .

Please. Please, I'll do anything. Just let me wake up and let him be there. I'm begging you, God. Please.

Next to her, Gaston cleared his throat.

She wasn't waking up. This was real.

Audrey opened her eyes. Gaston's gaze searched her face.

"Are you leaving, too?" she asked.

"The dispatch said 'all agents.' I am not an agent. Not yet."

"Why did she want him? Why trade me for him?"

"Intelligence." Gaston shrugged. "They'll probably torture him . . . Eh, sorry. They must be on the way to Louisiana by now."

"No," George said hoarsely.

"George?" Audrey walked over and knelt by him.

George opened his eyes. His face looked haggard and paler than usual. "They are keeping him in a ruin. There." He raised his hand and pointed right. "Over that mountain. She has him tied to a chair. They are hooking him up to a machine to drain his blood. I have a bird on him."

"So he's alive?" If Kaldar was alive, she would get him out of there. Whatever it took.

"For now."

"How many people does she have?" Gaston asked.

"Six."

Six Hounds, and they had Gaston, her, and two kids, one of whom was worn to his limit and the other only twelve years old.

Audrey looked at Gaston. "How many can you take?"

"One," he said. "Maybe two."

She was no fighter. It only took one kick from Helena, and she was down. Audrey thought for a minute.

She was no fighter, but she was a very good thief. And a very good grifter. The beginnings of a plan began to form in Audrey's head. "Gaston, can you make sure the wyvern will be ready to take off in a hurry?"

"I'm not leaving Kaldar there to rot," Gaston snarled.

"We are not leaving him." Audrey held George's hand. "Listen to me," she said softly. "I don't want you to drain yourself dry. If it comes to that, you drop that bird, do you understand me?"

George nodded. "It will be fine," he said. "It's just far. It's harder to maintain the connection over such a long distance. I just need to rest."

Audrey got to her feet. "How far are we from de Braose's castle?"

"It's down the road," Gaston said. "Half an hour."

"I need new clothes." Audrey stared at her torn, bloody suit. "On the other hand, no. I'm perfect just as I am."

WHEN walking into the lair of the dragon after robbing his hoard, the least you could do is hold your head high, Audrey reflected, as the two veekings led her into the bailey of de Braose's castle. Morell's guard force had suffered losses. Every man she saw was either bruised, bloody, smeared with soot, or all three.

A cloud of smoke spilled from the third-story window of the keep in a black, oily pillar. The sound of gunfire came from somewhere to the left.

Morell de Braose emerged from the doors, carrying a sword in his hand. Black smears and blood spatter marred his blue doublet. All of his polished veneer had slid off him. Only the robber baron remained, ruthless, cold, and infuriated to the brink.

He could just kill her. She wouldn't put it past him to run her through with that sword and leave her to bleed out on the ground.

His gaze fastened on her. "This is an interesting development. Tell me why I shouldn't kill you?"

"Helena d'Amry murdered my brother. I knew she would show up here, so I came here to kill her. I failed."

"Why should I care?"

"Because Helena humiliated you. She ruined the reputation of your auction. It will be a long time before people will visit you again."

Morell grimaced. "You aren't endearing yourself to me."

"The only way to restore your reputation is to punish the party responsible and make that punishment so brutal, nobody else dares to besmirch your reputation."

"Helena is on her way to Louisiana," he snarled.

"She is less than six miles away, in a castle ruin, over that mountain." Audrey pointed to the green mountain range.

Morell grasped her face and pulled her closer, looking into her eyes. "If you're lying, tell me now. You have no idea how painful the things I'll do to you will be if I am disappointed. I'm extremely pissed off, and I will get very creative."

Her heart squeezed itself into a painful, fear-filled ball. But she wanted Kaldar more. This was her only chance to get him back.

Audrey stared back at Morell. "Over that mountain. A ruin of dark stone with four towers, one broken, three still standing. She has six people with her. When you kill her, tell her Lisetta says hello."

Morell pushed her aside. "Lock her up. And get the wyvern ready."

A veeking grasped her shoulder and dragged her down to a guardhouse. He pulled her through a large room to the back, where barred cells waited, and threw her into one. Audrey crashed against the wall. The veeking slid the door shut with a metallic clang, locked it, and walked out.

Through the open doors, she saw men run back and forth. People shouted. Then all became quiet.

She sat on the stone floor and waited.

A man cried out, a sharp, pain-filled sound, and a veeking fell to the ground in the doorway. Gaston stepped over the body and grinned.

"They are gone."

Audrey concentrated, and the lock on her cell clicked open. "Let's go get him."

KALDAR closed his eyes. He was tired of watching his blood drip out of him.

It was over. He couldn't talk his way out of this. He couldn't pry his hands free. Nobody was coming to save him. He was done.

They had moved him to the bed, and now he faced the wall instead of the door. He would die alone, staring at the blank wall.

It didn't matter, really. He'd done his job: Gaston had the emitters. He would be able to protect them, and he would deliver them to the Mirror. The boys survived. They were safe. And Audrey . . . Audrey was alive.

He let himself slip away, into his mind, in a place knitted of memories and wishful thinking, where he and Audrey lived happily ever after. In that place, he took her to his house. They made love. They sat outside in the evening, watching the fireflies dance over the water of the lake. They drank sweet wine and laughed. He was happy in that place. He wanted to stay there and let reality fade.

He would just go to sleep, Kaldar told himself. Eventually, he'd lose enough blood to pass out. Until then, what little time he had left, he'd spend with her.

The door burst open. Someone had come to change the blood bag again. Two men rolled into the room. One was Killian, Helena's hunter. The other was Gaston. They grappled on the floor, trying to outmuscle each other.

It's a hallucination.

Audrey dashed through the door, a dagger in her hand.

Killian's mouth gaped like the unhinging jaws of a snake. Gaston clamped him down. Audrey dropped by them and stabbed the hunter in the neck again and again, blood spraying from a wavy dagger in her hand.

Behind them, people screamed and roared. The sound of gunfire and the clashing of steel filled the room.

Killian's head dropped to the side. Audrey rose, bloody, and dashed to his bed. "Are you alive?"

"How are you, love?"

"Great! I'm marvelous." She sliced open his restraints and held up a coin in front of him. "Bet me you'll survive, love."

Heh. Funny. "I bet you I can get through this alive."

The coin pressed into his hand. Magic shot through him in a welcome surge, and he realized it was real.

"Audrey, are you fucking out of your mind? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Saving you. Grab him."

Gaston heaved him over his shoulder. The tube attached to Kaldar's arm jerked the needle in his vein. He swore.

Audrey pulled the needle from his arm and yanked one of his grenades off her belt. She squeezed the grenade and rolled it to the wall. Gaston crouched behind the bed.

The wall exploded with a sound like thunder. Dust filled the air. Kaldar coughed and felt himself lifted. Gaston ducked through the new opening in the wall and took off running. Slung over Gaston's shoulder, Kaldar saw Audrey emerge through the rubble. She ran after him, the ruin dark behind her, the moon rising over it.

He was being rescued. It finally sank in. She had come to save him.

Gaston jumped. Kaldar saw the ground end and realized they were sailing off a cliff. They plummeted down and crashed into the wyvern's cabin. His exhausted body screamed in pain. Audrey landed next to him. He had never been so happy in his entire life.

Wind fanned his face as the wyvern banked. The cabin began to close.

The wyvern careened. Boxes and trunks rolled across the cabin floor onto them.

"Jack!" Gaston roared. "Watch where you're driving!"

Gaston scrambled to his feet and lunged into the front of the cabin.

The dragon righted itself.

"You are marrying me after this," Audrey told him.

Kaldar laughed.

"Don't give me that smirk. There is no way I went through all this just for some roll in the hay. I want a dress, and a big party, the whole thing."

"Of course I will marry you, you fool," he told her.

She bent down and kissed him, her face wet. He tasted tears. "I love you," she told him.

Kaldar strained and managed to put his arm around her.

"I love you, too."

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