Chapter 16 Devora
Devora
Every night on the road was the same. We’d stop in some secluded area, set up camp, eat a quick dinner of dried meat and fruit by a fire, then sleep until dawn and do it all over again.
Day three and part of day four were spent traversing the rocky mountain pass of the Mistwood Mountains.
It was overgrown with twisted trees and wide bushes, with dangerous holes the carriage had to maneuver around.
Strange howls and animals rustling through the leaves echoed outside my tent at night, making sleep impossible.
When we finally emerged on the other side into Tenebra, I didn’t think life could possibly get any colder than Drakorum.
I was wrong.
“Holy F-Fates,” I said, teeth chattering when we stopped to relieve ourselves and let the horses get some water. “Wh-why would anyone l-live here?”
I pulled my scarf up to cover my mouth and nose, tugging my cloak tighter around my shoulders.
I should’ve brought five more of them. A thin layer of gray ice coated nearly every surface in sight, from the rocky ground to the treetops to the small hills in the distance.
The dry, cold air sucked the breath out of me, making my lips crack and my hands throb.
“I suppose you can ask your family when you find them,” a voice said from behind me. I whirled around, surprised to find Nox standing there. He’d been avoiding me since we left.
“Yeah, I’ll p-put it at the t-top of my list,” I replied.
His shoulders moved up and down as he let out a disgruntled sigh, then unclasped the cloak from his neck. All he was wearing underneath was a thin button-down shirt tucked into black pants. The muscles in his arms strained as he gripped the cloak in one hand.
“Here.” He held it out to me.
I blinked. “Wh-what’s this f-for?”
“It’s called a cloak. You wear it.”
When I continued to stare at him, his lips thinned into a straight line.
With another sigh, he stepped closer to wrap the thick cloak around my shoulders.
My breath hitched when he moved to secure the clasp at my neck.
It always surprised me how massive he was.
His frame towered over me, easily a foot taller, his broad shoulders blocking the view of the dreary landscape.
His warm fingers grazed my collarbone. “Your teeth are about to fall out of your head.”
“W-would make it hard to talk. M-maybe then you’d like me better,” I mumbled, the tremor in my limbs already beginning to settle with the weight of his cloak. That sweet and spicy scent, like amber and smoke, enveloped me when I took a breath.
The corner of his lip twitched, but he flattened his expression into a glower once more. “Are you ready for this?”
I raised an eyebrow. “To find my family, learn magic, or be your bait?”
“Take your pick.”
“No,” I said. “To all of the above. But I will be. I won’t let you down, if that’s what you’re thinking.” He hummed and turned to the side, crossing his arms over his chest. I reached out without thinking.
“Hey.” I grabbed his forearm. He pulled away so quickly, it was as if I’d burned him. “I’m not going to betray you. That person you think I am…” I shook my head. “You don’t know me.”
His eyes landed where my hand had touched him, then back up to my face. I hastily pulled both my arms back inside the cloak.
“We’ll see,” was all he said. He looked like he was about to go back to his horse, when he pursed his lips and added, “You have eight days here. That’s all I can give you.
Eight days to train and hunt down whatever you can find about your past. Then we head back to Drakorum to get ready for the ball. ”
I nodded, then something occurred to me. “Does he know you’re here? Scarven?”
He ran his tongue along his teeth, as if contemplating whether he would even bother answering me.
I knew I was being nosy, but trust went both ways.
Scarven had Nox killing people for him. I hadn’t forgotten about that Lightbender rebel leader they spoke of.
The others may stand by and blindly trust him, but I needed more than that.
I needed to be able to ask questions and make judgments for myself.
“Yes,” Nox finally said. “I made him think it was his idea to send me. There have been whispers coming from Tenebra of an embargo against Drakorum. They seem to be suspicious of what Scarven’s been doing. He wants me to…take care of it.”
I ground my teeth together in frustration. “So you’re going to kill them. Like you did before.”
He took a step toward me, and I could’ve sworn his dragon glared back at me from his navy-and-silver eyes. “Why are you so convinced you know what happened, Devora, darling?”
“I heard what you all said.” My shoulders straightened. I refused to be intimidated, even if my heart was racing. “That Emberfell would feel this loss. That Scarven wanted him gone, and that you’re good at making people disappear. What would you think if you’d heard that?”
“I would think,” he said, his voice low, “that I was somewhere I shouldn’t be. A habit you seem to have a difficult time breaking.”
“It must not be too bad of a habit if you’re so willing to give me to your sworn enemy on a silver platter,” I shot back. “It’s only inconvenient when it doesn’t serve your needs, I guess. You can’t have it both ways.”
He clenched his jaw, then leaned away and ran his fingers through his wavy hair. “I didn’t kill the Lightbender, Devora.”
My brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. I heard—”
“You think you heard,” he snapped. “I removed him from his rebels, yes. I helped him and his family relocate to Feywood, far away from Scarven’s suspicions.
I killed one of Scarven’s own guards in order to get them to safety.
It was still a loss, in a way, since I took the Lightbender from his home and people.
But he knew the alternative—that I am Scarven’s blade, whether I want to be or not. I gave him a choice.”
“Get out or be killed,” I murmured, my lips parting as I took in his words.
“Scarven must believe I’m doing as he says. My actions—” Nox cut himself off, scratching the back of his neck. “I’ve been forced to hurt people. There were times I couldn’t find a way out of it. But I’ve made every effort in the years since to give those Scarven targets a second chance at life.”
I swallowed hard, shame snaking its way through my veins. Something else I’d misread. Something else I’d been wrong about. Why was I so eager to find the darkness in him?
Every piece I discovered seemed to lead me to the same conclusion: Nox Duma wasn’t the man I once thought he was.
I saw what it did to that Duma freak. The memory from the ship washed over me, and I put the pieces together.
“Scarven has someone, doesn’t he?” I asked softly, pulling his cloak tighter around me. “That’s why you keep working for him. Why you can’t leave him. He has someone you love.”
Nox slowly ran a finger over his lips, and my eyes caught on his mouth before I jerked my gaze up.
To my surprise, he didn’t look angry anymore. Merely…resigned.
“You know, that mind of yours is going to get you in trouble one of these days,” he murmured.
I rolled my lips together. “Good trouble, or bad trouble?”
“I don’t know yet.” Those dark eyes held mine a heartbeat longer than normal before he looked away. “You’re perceptive. That’s what we need.” He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Yes, he has someone. My sister.”
My eyes widened. The pain in his voice hit me like a stack of bricks. I lifted a finger to push my glasses back up the bridge of my nose. “I—I’m so sorry, Nox.”
He dipped his head curtly, and I tucked my hand into the crook of my neck. I was never sure how to handle these kinds of moments. Especially with someone like Nox. I had no idea where we stood—enemies? Captor and prisoner? Reluctant allies?
But no matter what we were to each other, nobody deserved to have somebody they cared about locked away.
“Is she—is she like you?” I asked. “A dragon?”
Nox stiffened, then shook his head. “No. She’s not a dragon.”
I waited for a moment, then realized he wasn’t going to offer anything else. He was already beginning to retreat, the brief glimpse into the Nox that everyone else saw now covered once again by the armor he wore around me.
For the second time that day, I instinctively reached out a hand. I stopped it before I touched him. “Nox, I—I know this mission is important. For more than one reason. I’ll do everything I can to help.”
He gazed at me, his face unreadable. The air around us was charged even through the icy wind. When he didn’t respond, I licked my lips and hastily unclasped his cloak. “Here. Thanks for letting me borrow it.”
His brow furrowed slightly when he looked down at my outstretched arm. “Keep it. You need it more than I do.”
Then he turned on his heel and strode back to his horse.