“You were everything to him. He committed all those atrocities for you, and you’ve stripped him of your love, the thing he cared most about.”
“Hugh outlived his usefulness. His life had been a series of uncomplicated tasks and eventually he became his work.”
And whose fault was that? “You plucked him from the street. He was raised exactly the way you wanted him to be.”
“He had potential,” Roland said, his voice wistful. “So much magic. He was like a fallen star, a glowing meteor. I melted it down and forged it into a sword. You are right, it’s not truly his fault, but the fact remains—the world is becoming more complex, not less. Some swords are meant to be forged only once. It’s better to start fresh.”
Julie. Julie was a glowing meteor too, young and malleable, easy to melt down and reforge. You fucking asshole. You cannot have Julie. Hell would sprout roses first. I unclenched my teeth and forced my voice to sound even. “It would’ve been kinder to kill him.”
Roland’s smile never faltered, but for a moment, the warmth in his eyes cooled and I glimpsed the icy steel beneath. “I am not kind, my daughter. I am fair.”
I had to get out of here before I did something I would regret. But I also had to spring Saiman free and avoid a war with Roland.
“Return Saiman to me.”
“The frost giant left the borders of your city voluntarily. My people didn’t trespass.”
So they lay in wait and nabbed him while he was traveling. Damn it. “It doesn’t matter. His residence is in Atlanta. His business interests are in Atlanta. He owns property, he employs people, and he pays his taxes in Atlanta. He’s mine.”
Roland pondered it for a long moment. “No. I need him.”
Right. Obey the letter of the agreement but not the spirit. “You’re forcing me to act.”
“You don’t even like him.” Roland’s eyes narrowed. “What’s the harm of me keeping the creature?”
“It’s the principle. I would do the same thing if I had never met him before. Return my frost giant, Father.”
“Or?”
“Or I’ll have to retrieve him. I won’t abandon my people.”
“I hate when we fight.” Roland tilted his head. “What if I offer you that life?” He nodded at the cross. “A consolation prize. It bothers you. I can see it in your eyes. You may take Hugh’s second-in-command, daughter. Do with him as you will.”
“Thank you. I will take him since you’re giving him to me. But I still need my frost giant.”
“Do not raise your hand against me, Kate. All you have to do is walk away.”
All of his promises went right out the window as soon as there was something he wanted. The urge to scream in his face was getting to me. Screaming would accomplish nothing, except plunge us into a conflict we weren’t ready for. “Not going to happen.”
He sighed.
“You’re not giving me a choice. If I follow your logic, then any of the people who leave the boundaries of my city are fair game. Since you’re parked right outside the city border, Atlanta is under siege and a siege is an act of war. You’re in breach, Father.”
Roland laughed quietly.
“This is solved very simply. Give back what you’ve taken. You started this. I’m merely reacting.”
“You’re not ready to oppose me. Don’t open this door. You don’t have the ruthlessness to fight me.”
I’d had enough. “Father, when was the last time you killed someone? I don’t mean with magic, I mean with your hands, close enough that you could look into their eyes? I killed a woman a week ago to keep her from sacrificing her children to some forgotten god. I have killed so many, I don’t remember all their faces. They blend. The door is already wide open and you were the one who opened it. Are you ready for me to walk through it?”
A shadow crossed his face. I felt the magic rise within him like a brilliant new star being born from the empty darkness.
“My proud daughter, my sensitive, kind child, compassionate toward her enemy, you have saved one man from his fate. But what will you do about them?”
Magic rolled from him. The empty field to the left of us shimmered. Crosses appeared, like a mirage in the desert manifesting in the wavering hot air. Men and women, young and old, hanging from the wood. Oh dear God . . . There had to be thirty crosses in that field. The bodies sagged, completely still. Nobody moved.
The odor reached me, the awful polluting stench of human flesh rotting. They were dead. All of them.
Ice rolled down my back. The horror of it was too much.
Roland looked at the lone survivor on the cross. The face of the Iron Dog contorted. His cross was facing the others.
“You made him watch.” They died in agony, one by one, and the Iron Dog saw it all.
“You have no idea of the things I’m capable of. You cannot stand against me. When I ordered him to kill these people, it was a kindness. He disobeyed and would not give them swift death, so I showed him what his defiance cost.”
The ice reached the small of my back and exploded into an inferno. Roland was watching me now to make sure I got the message. Oh no, Father. Don’t worry. I’ve got it.
“But for his disobedience, this wouldn’t have come to pass.”
My magic screamed and bucked inside me, trying to break free, leaking into my voice. “No.”
Roland’s eyes narrowed.