Crown of Crimson (Underworld Gods 2)

“I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry,” Lovia goes on. “I told her to stay, I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s all right,” I tell her gruffly. “I’m not mad at you.”

I go over to the window and note that one of the horns of the gargoyle outside has been broken off, as if someone had been perching on it. “I’m not a detective, but I’m confident Rasmus brought her out through here. I just don’t know how.” I lean out and stare at the straight drop to the sea below.

“Rasmus?” Lovia cries out. “How do you know it was him?”

I sigh and straighten up, looking at my daughter and Sarvi. “Because Vipunen told me as much. He also said Hanna went willingly with him. But Rasmus might have said anything to get her to leave.” I study Lovia carefully. “Unless you knew Hanna was already plotting an escape.”

She shakes her head, looking innocent. That’s the problem with Lovia. She makes you want to underestimate her. While her mother outright looks like a demon (except when she shapeshifts into other women for short periods of time), Lovia’s demon blood is hidden inside her. She looks angelic, though I know she’s anything but. This daughter of mine has a world of secrets, and I don’t even want to know half of them.

“Are you sure?” I coax her. “Is it possible that Hanna and Rasmus were planning this for some time, organizing her escape when all our guards were down?”

“I really don’t think so…” Lovia says. She looks at Sarvi. “You saw her this morning, it’s not like we had to drag her to the altar or anything.”

“Yes,” I answer for the unicorn. “Sarvi mentioned something about her accepting her fate, which isn’t exactly the compliment you think it is.”

“Listen, she wanted to marry you. Believe me, I could tell. She even said ‘well who doesn’t want to be queen?’”

I frown. “Hanna said that?”

“Uh-huh,” Lovia says, nodding frantically. “If she’s gone, it’s not because she wanted to go. And there’s no way anyone could take her from the room, the wards were up, I made sure of it.”

“Some shamans can undo wards,” I say quietly, making a fist. “The same shamans who might control the weather.”

“Phhff,” Lovia says. “Rasmus is just a kid. A shaman-in-training.”

“Rasmus is your brother,” I tell her, the truth coming out like a weapon.

She blinks at me and shakes her head, confusion etched on her face. “What…what are you talking about?”

“Rasmus is Louhi’s son,” I say plainly. “Vipunen said so.”

She crosses her arms. “Yeah, well maybe Vipunen lies.”

“You know he doesn’t. This takes you by surprise, doesn’t it?”

She stares at me for a few moments, and while there’s no doubt that Lovia is shocked by this, there’s something else going on in her head. “It does. So, he’s Ilmarinen’s son then. Rasmus is my half brother.”

“That’s what we assume,” I say, my attention going back to my room. When I woke up this morning, I was certain I’d be bringing Hanna back here. I had made this bed imagining that I’d be throwing her on it later. I had dreamed of this moment, not because there was something binding about being husband and wife, but the opposite. It was freeing to me, knowing I could fully be myself with her.

I shake the thought away, a strange burning in my chest. Something bitter, like humiliation coupled with regret.

“I guess…being the son of a shaman would explain why his magic is stronger than I thought,” Lovia says. “Then we thought.” A strange sort of darkness comes across her pale face, making her look strangely unbalanced.

“Are you all right?” I ask.

She stares at me blankly for a few moments, then pastes on a smile and nods. “Yes. I’m fine. Sorry father, it’s just kind of a shock when you’re told you have a half brother, especially one that seems at odds with your family. That’s all.”

I nod. “I guess you’re feeling your mother’s betrayal too. That she kept him a secret.”

She licks her lips and shrugs. “You know how it is with her. I’m used to being betrayed. It never even crossed my mind to be upset about it.”

Some days I feel for my children. That things had to sour between their mother and I. I don’t know what life is really like in the other worlds, other than the time I spend in the library, studying the Book of Souls, but I don’t imagine most divorces end with one of the parents becoming a harbinger of doom intent on destroying the afterlife.

Sir, Sarvi speaks up. Just in case Rasmus wasn’t acting alone, we should question Hanna’s Deadmaiden.

“Good point.”

“What?” Lovia asks me, unable to hear Sarvi’s voice.

“Sarvi wants us to question Raila, see what she knows.”

She swallows. “Oh. Kalma took Raila right away. He assumed she was behind the attacks. I don’t know what he’s done with her.”