Insurance

Katherine lifted her arms to gesture at the lake around them. The knife was now securely tucked into her belt. "I would say you have enough water. Enough to completely drown in it."

Ethan's dry mud hide cracked further with his scowl. "You really are not nice to me, dearest cousin."

"Oh, how wrong you are." Annoyed with only a few words of him, Katherine grit her teeth. "I am much nicer and more civilized than you deserve. Instead, I wish I could fulfill the promise I gave you. You remember? The one where you lose fingers for touching me and your tongue for those poisonous sweet words like right now. But..." She paused, and her face turned ugly as if the following sentence left a bad taste in her mouth. "Sadly, you still need your tongue for a bit. And as for your fingers - I have something here to occupy them. Though you should wash your hands first. I don't want it to get dirty."

When Ethan didn't move from his place, Katherine soon turned to Nathaniel. "Sweetheart, could you roll this lazy crocodile into the water, please?"

"Ahh, wait, I - ouch!" Ethan's pained shout was followed by splashing sounds as Nathaniel didn't waste any time kicking him from the island. Coughing and spluttering, Ethan came up again, his armor of mud now fluid and dripping down his face like brown sauce. Or like excrements, as Katherine saw it.

It took Ethan some time to wash everything off. Below the dirt, lobster-red skin and wet clothes appeared, as well as the burn wound on his chest. Unexpectedly, it was healing well.

"You're a cockroach," Katherine muttered with one-quarter amazement and three-quarters disgust. Then she pulled something out of a leather bag in the boat. It was a scroll.

"You see this document?", she asked. "It details out all the properties and funds my parents had - and as soon as you sign it, they will be mine. I think they should have been mine anyway. And yes, I know this measure is a bit weak compared to imprisonment or anything else, but we have to make do. Additionally," she pulled out another scroll that was way smaller than the first, "this here is your confession that you continuously poisoned my uncle, Erick Balder, and made it appear like he is mentally ill. As soon as you sign this one, I will send it to someone trustworthy who will make it known throughout Dragsa should he not hear back from Nathaniel and me regularly. I believe that even with your connections, such a revelation will hinder you from marrying a princess and might even be the last spark for a rebellion. This land is in dire need of a rebellion."

"Okay... and why again do you think I would sign these?" Ethan's face was pure incredulity, underlaid with faint mock in the twitch of his mouth's left corner. "Because I love you so much?"

"Ew." Rubbing her arms, Katherine seemed like she had just been splashed with something unsightly - snot maybe. "You should sign these because they are your only way from this lonely island. Nathaniel and I will depart today, but we can spare some men to watch you here until we are back. Though that can take some weeks... months... years, maybe? Anyway, you get the idea."

"Depart..." This time, Ethan seemed surprised. "Where to? What about what I told you last time? Don't you want to find Loki's leader?"

This time it was Nathaniel who answered. "We decided it is not worth the risk. You see, we have no reason to trust you and the Icelands will soon be freed from the organization regardless of their leader, so..."

He shrugged, indicating that he didn't care, and as much as Ethan narrowed his eyes, he could read nothing out of this expressionless face. Finally, he had to relent. "Is that so... I thought after you specifically questioned me... then what did it bring to treat me like this? If you don't use the information, what did it bring?"

Now it was Katherine's turn to shrug. "Fun. It was fun to see you like this. To pay you back, even if it is just a bit. Of course, if you sign these two contracts, we might find you a bit more trustworthy. Maybe we will even pretend to believe that you can bring us to Loki's leader. But since you already said that you have no reason to sign, well, we can only return to our homeland. And with our homeland, I mean the Icelands. Did you know I'm a legal citizen of the Icelands now?"

The information seemed a bit much for Ethan, because he opened and closed his mouth a few times, his eyes wandering here and there as if to calculate. "I... really do know the way. I can also sign the second contract if you want."

"What about the first? All funds and estates that should be mine? You know that I promised to provide for those you wronged. I can't believe your goodwill if you don't regret what you have done before. And how can you better show your regret than by giving back all that you owe? You know that it is actually all mine, don't you? You are a thief if you still want to have it. Besides, I recall you having some money by yourself as well. I didn't even ask for your title, you see? Here. Just everything of mine."

As his hands were clean already, Katherine showed him the contract. The estates, lands, and sums written on it were high and numerous. Even though Katherine said she would leave his own money alone, it was barely a percentage of the overall sum. And about the title? What a Duke would he be with only enough money to run a dressing store?

Ethan rubbed his face. "Who is the thief here? All my possessions simply for some trust and freedom? That doesn't feel very 'free' to me."

"Your choice," Katherine said, seemingly indifferent. "If you just vanish, I will inherit all of this anyway. Like you once said, there is no other sane relative. Still, I thought that I should give you one last chance. After all, it seems you really want us to search for Loki's leader. Isn't that right? I wonder why that is the only thing you blurted out even before any torture or mistreatment."

"What do you mean, why?" Ethan's innocent blink might have fooled others, but not Katherine.

She just stood there, rolled her eyes, and finally sighed. "Will you sign now, or will you not?"

"Here is not even a table, ink, or a pen. How should I do it?"

Another sigh. "I thought it would be more dramatic to see you write with your own blood. But well, since you are such a snob... here. Make it fast. We want to depart."

Despite her words, Ethan hesitated a few times before he first signed the smaller document and then, after making a show of rereading it several times, the longer document as well. Afterward, he looked unsure if he had done the right thing for himself.