Gilded Serpent Danielle Jensen (i can read with my eyes shut .TXT) 📖

“An expensive life.” Rufina knelt in front of Killian, her eyes roving over him, her palm curving around his cheek. “But well worth it.”

He felt the pull and recoiled, but Rufina caught him by the back of the head, holding him in place. “This will be a pleasure,” she whispered. “I think I’ll do it slowly. Savor the thrill of consuming one of the Marked.”

Another pull, and there was nothing he could do to get away from her. It had always been a slim hope that he’d survive this, but all that mattered was getting Malahi free.

Then Agrippa caught hold of his shoulders, wrenching Killian from Rufina’s grasp. “Before you get too far along there, Your Grace … I want something else on top of the gold.”

This wasn’t part of the plan.

A frown creased Rufina’s forehead, her eyes flicking away from Killian. “What?”

“I want an end to our arrangement.” Agrippa rocked back on his heels. “I wish to be free to go my own way.”

“Tragically, I have need of you,” she said. “I’ve not found another commander with your … prowess, so I’m afraid you’ll have to content yourself with gold and women.”

“I told you I brought you a prize, and I meant it,” Agrippa said, and Killian’s blood chilled. “Who better to lead your armies than the man who beat them on the field?”

“He won’t fight for me,” she answered. “My master says he can’t be turned.”

“In my experience, it’s all about finding the right incentive. Or the right threat.”

No. Please, no.

Rufina cocked her head, eyes glittering with interest, and Killian lunged, trying to grab Agrippa, desperate to stop him, but the other man only stepped back.

“You give me what I want, Rufina, and I’ll give you the reins to the Dark Horse,” Agrippa said. “I’ll give you the girl he’s in love with.”

Rufina laughed. “He’s not going to destroy his kingdom for some girl.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Agrippa answered with a smirk. “Because the girl who possesses his heart is none other than Kitaryia Falorn.”

 105MARCUS

Marcus had been on his way to find her. To tell her that she needed to remain in Celendrial and to make arrangements with Valerius to hide her away with her mother. To keep her safe.

“Lydia was my best friend.”

The pain in Teriana’s voice was like a knife to his heart, and he wanted to fall to his knees. To beg her forgiveness, though he didn’t deserve it. To hand her a knife and tell her to kill him herself, if that was what she wanted.

She deserved the truth.

“Marcus?”

And if it were only him who would suffer for it, he would confess everything. Would walk to the gallows and allow them to string him up for murder, because he deserved it.

But his family would also pay the price for what he’d done. Valerius would use the information against Cassius, and the consul would take the loss of his power out on Marcus’s family.

He felt her tense. Knew he’d been silent too long, but neither truth nor lie would come to his lips, so he said, “I knew her. When I was a small child. I used to play with her in her father’s library. She was…” He trailed off, faded memory washing over him of a dark-haired girl who sat patiently with him while he gasped and wheezed. Who’d held his hand and told him that he’d be all right. “She was kind.”

“Yes.” Tears rolled down Teriana’s cheeks. “Did he hurt her?”

“He was using her to gain Valerius’s support in the elections.”

“I know that much.” There was an edge to Teriana’s voice, as though she knew he was stalling. “I’m asking if Cassius had her killed, Marcus. If you know anything, you owe me the truth of it.”

He owed her everything, the truth most of all. Except giving it to her wouldn’t bring Lydia back from the dead, but it would condemn the living. And while some of them didn’t deserve his protection, his younger sisters did. The unborn child in Cordelia’s belly did.

“I don’t know.” The lie slipped off his lips. “Cassius only told me the things I needed to know—he doesn’t trust me.”

“So you weren’t involved?”

He could hear the hope in her voice, the silent plea. “I didn’t order her assassination, if that’s what you are asking.”

I did it myself.

“If you’d known something, it might have been enough to strip him from power. Maybe have him executed.” A tear ran down her dark cheeks, glistening in the moonlight. “But as always, he wins.”

Without thinking, Marcus closed the distance between them, pulling her against his chest. Her shoulders shook as she cried, but still she wrapped her arms around his neck.

End it. Tell her she needs to stay in Celendrial. That you’ll deal with finding the path and then free the Quincense.

Except what he really wanted to tell her was that he loved her.

“Teriana—”

Shouts from his family’s home filtered through the gardens, and he turned, unease rising in his chest. And then a woman screamed.

“Get back to Valerius’s villa,” he said. “Tell Austornic and his men that something’s wrong. To be ready.”

“What’s going on?” she demanded, but Marcus only caught hold of her waist, lifting her up the wall. “Go!”

Another scream cut the night, desperate and terrified.

Trusting Teriana to take care of herself, he sprinted back through the gardens, knife in hand. Only once he was close did he slow, crouching low as he made his way toward the rear of the home.

Inside, his mother was on her knees, a man he knew to be one of the Twenty-Ninth holding her by the hair, a knife to her throat. His brother and father, as well as Tiberius, were bound at the wrists, and another man was holding Cordelia down on the floor, his sister violently struggling. They wore civilian clothing, nothing about them, not even their blades, suggesting this was a legion kill.

“Where is he?” one of them growled, and Marcus recognized his voice. Carmo,