As Mikkel’s gaze pins to my chest now like he can feel it, the little stone sends a hum all through me. That sensation ripples through my blood even as it chimes through my bones. Because the drakaina it belonged to was a Bloodwalker, and her Truthstone contains both sides of that energy.
Part of that energy Bone Magic—which Mikkel can feel, as he stares at me.
He moves forward then, reaching out a hand with fingers splayed as if he might touch that powerful object at my chest. With a quick hand, Bjorn halts him, griping his wrist. Seething gold is in Bjorn’s eyes, because Mikkel is not my Bloodmate and doesn’t have my permission to touch me.
Or the powerful magic embedded in my chest.
“What is that?” Mikkel asks with hooded eyes, as if in a trance now from what he’s feeling. “I thought I felt something flare before, when our powers resonated, but now, it’s like it’s… calling to me.”
“It’s something ancient.Powerfullyancient.” Lærke has come forward also, as she blinks. “Why did I not feel that on you before?”
“It’s a Bloodwalker’s talisman.” I pull down the black strap of my dress so they can both see it now. “I imagine it can hide its own energy pretty well, when it has a mind to.”
“And this talisman… this thing has returned your missing memories?” Mikkel is intent as he glances at Ström. Though his demeanor is often sharp, I’ve not seen him this sharp yet, as his look penetrates Ström hard. But I know suddenly that Mikkel and Lærke have a secret they’re not telling us.
As Aesa’s Truthstone hums upon my chest—revealing it.
“You both have missing memories, too.” I know then, as the stone sings upon my chest, confirming my deep instinct that I know is so very right. “Like Ström, you have places in your memories you both can’t touch, because you get a flare of nasty Bone Magic curse-work searing through you which drains you, and prevents you from seeing through it, or trying again.”
“Lærke and I have tried for decades to thwart it,” Mikkel says with cold ferocity now as he stares me down. “In all our empire, we have found nothing to undo whatever was done to us. It is old Bone Magic, and powerful. We cannot recall who did this to us… only that certain days, weeks, even a few months are missing from both of us. It was done so thoroughly, we cannot even corroborate our memories with each other. They are simply… gone. We only have club records from those times to fill us in, but those are too mundane to tell us the truth of why our memories were erased. Or what we were involved in.”
“It was while I was here in Copenhagen, wasn’t it?” Ström says now as he watches the twins. “You remember me, you remember us meeting and all of us becoming friends… but you can’t recall other pieces of that time. At all.”
“How did you know?” Lærke’s blond eyelashes flicker, as I see something stricken in her.
“Because I’m the same.” Ström reaches out, taking her hand. She lets him, though she startles at his touch. “Lærke, we’re both fighting the same thing, don’t you see? You, me, and Mik. We’ve been tampered with, memories hidden from us by someone who didn’t want us ever knowing what was going on at the time. I know from nightmares that I was involved in some kind of thief ring, which looked for and stole high-magic artifacts. And I’ve retrieved a full memory recently, thanks to that silver stone in Rikyava’s chest of a thief woman with long, wild red hairand goddess-like features, here in Denmark. She was liaising with a drakaina who is our enemy—one of the renegade Bone Mages wielding the Black Dragon for reasons unknown. They’re the group causing all this trouble with the Black Dragon Knights. I know from my memory that I was deeply in love with her. Do you know her? Can you tell me her name?”
“Alfhild Fey…!” Lærke’s face gets stony as she pulls away from Ström’s touch. Fury boils all through her as she clenches both fists now, her dragon’s energy roaring.
For blood.
“Thatbitch! Iknewit!!” Lærke snarls as her eyes go all-crimson now, lost to the power of her dragon.
“Who is Alfhild Fey?” Ström frowns at Lærke’s sudden vehemence, even as Mikkel sets his hands on his sister’s shoulders, soothing her from going ballistic.
“Alfhild was the Danish Blood Dragon drakaina you were life-mated to, back when you were here in Copenhagen. You two were lovers, but you were waiting to tell your great-grandfather the Jarl about her, because your clan had not approved her. Do you not remember her, Ström?” Shock is in Mikkel’s face as he watches Ström.
Who seethes with passion nearly as wrathful as Lærke now, as Bjorn and I set hands to his shoulders to calm him.
“You’d think I would remember a woman who was life-mated to me,” Ström says with the coldest tone I’ve ever heard from him, as brimstone crowds his eyes from the fury of his drake. “Except I don’t. I think she’s the one who ripped all these memories out of my head, and made me relive them on my coldest, most terrible sweat-filled nights as nightmares. From the memory I retrieved, thanks to Rikyava and that silver stone on her chest, plus a taunt that woman left me in the form of a jewelry box, I’m pretty sure she’s the one I seek. And if she cursed my memories, then I’m almost certain she cursed both of yours, as well. For all of us to forget her… or at least, the parts of her she wanted us to forget.”
“We have plenty of memories of her,” Mikkel says, as he and Lærke glance at each other now.
“Only casual ones, though. Like us all partying here at the club,” Lærke finishes as a dark energy snarls inside her. She looks back at Ström. “Even back then, Iknewsomething was off about her. You were so wild and wanton when we all first met here in Copenhagen. But then… you just became sobesottedwith her. You were still a cad, but you just… came whenever she called. Like a dog.”
“Thanks. What a wonderful image to have of myself,” Ström says, wry, though I see the bitter truth in his eyes as he seethes at what this unknown woman did to him. “Have either of you seen this Alfhild lately? The warehouse we found where the thieves used to run a few operations was cleared out. Except for a littlefuck younote for me, personally.”
“We haven’t seen Alfhild in decades.” Mikkel glances at his twin as she nods. He looks back at Ström, his gaze serious in that sudden, deeply frank darkness he does. “When you left Copenhagen so suddenly, she stopped coming around. We assumed something had gone bad in your courtship and so we simply never pried into it—we were always better friends with you than with her. When Lærke and I secured The Vault up in the Old Palace’s city, it was only natural for us to resume our relationship with you.”
“For business or for personal reasons, knowing Ström would eventually become Jarl of his clan?” I ask, curious if it’s only business that motivates the twins’ relationships.
“Both. It’s good business to be close friends with powerful people. Especially when they control your leases. Our businesses mean everything to Mikkel and me.” Lærke is frank as she regards me, though with less hostility than before. It’s like she’s actually curious about me now, since I’ve been so quiet about this whole revelation with Ström.
“I knew you couldn’t let all your businesses close, not for long, even with the Knights on your tail,” Ström says now as he glances at Mikkel. “You two would never let your empire fail. It means everything to youboth, no matter any pressure you’re under from the Knights or anyone else.”
“You know us well.” Mikkel’s gaze is keen, though a smile haunts his lips as he regards Ström. He claps his hands now, as I feel his indomitable energy sear back. Copper blazes in his dark eyes as his dragon rushes to the surface with all its unfathomable energy.
For the good business of a mystery.
