Crown of Crimson (Underworld Gods 2)

I give him a loaded look. Why the fuck are they piling on me this morning? I shouldn’t have to put up with their tyranny. They shouldn’t even be questioning a single thing I do.

“And what do you know about love, old man?” I ask him.

“I would ask you the same thing,” he retorts calmly. “Considering how your first marriage went.”

“Hanna betrayed me,” I say through gritted teeth. “She was set to marry me and she ran. She went off with Rasmus, someone she barely knew. He broke through the wards and all the protections she had, and she went with him willingly. Didn’t even try to say goodbye. How do you know she won’t do it again? How do you know she hasn’t already sold our secrets?”

Kalma gives me a steady look. “I don’t know Hanna well, but she didn’t set out to betray you, nor did she give any secrets. What could she possibly say, and to whom? She’s just a mortal woman trying to survive, who only wanted to see her father again.”

“She’s a traitor,” I repeat. “And she’s in the oubliette because she cannot be trusted. She got what she deserved. End of story.”

Oh, come on, Sarvi says with a scoff. This isn’t about trust. This is about her humiliating you, so you in turn must humiliate her. Eye for an eye. I know how you operate.

I glare at the unicorn. “Careful there Sarvi, or you’ll end up as glue.”

“What?” Kalma asks. “What did Sarvi say?”

“Nothing,” I say quickly. “Let’s talk about the bigger issue at hand, shall we? I called you to this meeting because we need to talk about Rasmus and Louhi, not Hanna.” I pause. “Although, I did find a bit of information that might make you sympathize with my position a little.”

Sarvi rolls an eye. I ignore that.

“Hanna says that Rasmus is her brother. Half-brother. His father is Torben, not Ilmarinen.”

They both stare at me blankly.

“Torben and Louhi?” Kalma says in disbelief. He runs his hand over his face. “The sneaky devil. I would never have thought.”

“Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that this is the first I’m hearing of it, and it rankles me that Hanna found it out before I did. I need to know what else I’m missing. What else don’t I know.” I look at Sarvi. “You have your ear to the ground, so you say. Rumors, outlandish or not—I need to know about them in the event they end up being true.”

Regretfully, I had heard nothing of the sort, Sarvi says. Everything that Louhi does is done in secret. It is the way of a demon.

“Not much of a secret if Hanna found out from the mycelium network,” I point out.

The mycelium network will always favor those that bring the most decay, Sarvi says grimly. They need death to survive. In your rule, those which are dead cannot die again once inside the City of Death. In the rule of the Old Gods, death can happen again to all in the afterlife. The city will collapse, offering no protection. That is the meaning of Kaaos and thus brings more decay. The mycelia claim to be impartial in politics, but they will always favor the ruler who brings the most death and destruction.

“Another reason not to trust Hanna.” I clench and unclench my fists. “Rasmus took her right there to the mushrooms.”

“Hanna wouldn’t have known,” Kalma interjects. “And I doubt Rasmus would either. The fact that Hanna and Rasmus are related shouldn’t change anything, regardless.”

“No? She just found out she has a brother. That would only make her trust him more.”

Except we both saw what happened, Sarvi says. Louhi tried to kill Hanna. Rasmus was completely captured and under Louhi’s control. I don’t doubt that Rasmus is compromised from here on out, but he broke Hanna’s trust in the end, whether he meant to or not. That was a shock to her, and it looked like a shock to him too.

“I can tell by the look on your face that Sarvi made a good point,” Kalma says. He slides a book towards me. “In any rate, Rasmus is a threat and Louhi’s power may be growing exponentially with him in her clutches. With Illmarinen’s shaman blood-magic harnessed, and Rasmus’ half-demon, half-shaman blood, we can all agree that she will be coming for us with more power than we’ve seen before. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but she will come. Rasmus broke through your wards with ease, Tuoni. Louhi will be able to do that and more.”

“Don’t remind me,” I mutter. I take the book, turning it over. There are strange symbols etched into the peeling snakeskin hardcover. “What is this?”

“I thought that desperate times called for desperate actions,” Kalma says solemnly. “Desperate spells, so to speak.”