31. Uneasy Truce
Uneasy Truce
M ila could not shake off the shadow of Natalee’s situation. Despite her desire to escape and the fact that she knew she needed to earn Culis’s trust back enough for that to happen, it hung over her like a noose. As a result, she could not bring anything but a stony attitude to any interaction she had with him over the next week. He responded with his most suffocating air of disregard for it. Day to day, she avoided him as best she could, but that was no easy task. This was his manor, and Culis was everywhere and across everything.
If he wasn’t receiving visitors and furthering the notoriety of the demon trade, he was walking and talking with Baird, or Arran or Nemecca in the hallways, laughing as they recalled stories from their travels, or listening as they passed on information from the outside world that Culis could incorporate into his schemes.
Mila was just as likely to stumble across him overseeing the warehouse as reading in the library, taking great delight in showing Marie his vast collection of books that she now had access to .
Once, Mila even caught him with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows in the kitchen just outside her room, trading secrets with the cook and concocting something that smelled of rosemary, garlic and burnt butter.
Mila made a point of leaving any room he entered, and Culis made a point of ignoring the behaviour and engaging with her as often as he could. They existed in this uncomfortable dance for the whole week, with Mila pulling away and Culis leaning in, both of them determined not to let the other win.
After Worship Day, Frank Culis made another appearance, which was the only thing that could make Mila’s situation at the manor even worse. She braced for his impact on the household; however, to her shock, this time, he treated the three new demons with the utmost respect and civility, even organising an afternoon tea with them in the gardens, in order to get to know them better. Mila was excluded from this invite, for which she was grateful, but she still took up post at a library window and watched the entire affair from above, preparing to run down and intervene at the first sign that anything was amiss.
Thankfully, her concern was unwarranted. Frank chose, for some reason, to be perfectly congenial for this entire visit, and despite the fact that Mila breathed far easier once he departed, the other three ikarei didn’t quite understand her concern. All in all, they were relaxed and at ease around the manor, and Mila was grateful they felt this way. She also enjoyed the fact that the humans of the household now had new faces to peer at with curiosity. Tarett, in particular, seemed to be in his element, and spent most of his days flirting easily with the maids. He could often be found hanging about in the kitchen, acting as more of a distraction than a helping hand, but he was so damned affable that even the cook tolerated his presence with a silent grin.
The day after Frank left, Mila resumed her morning walk and, along the way, gave herself a stern talking to about not yet visiting Natalee.
“You’re going this afternoon,” she scolded herself. “You’ve put this off for far too long. Your cowardice is humiliating.”
“Mila!” someone in the distance called out to her and started jogging to catch up.
She squinted at the approaching figure in the haze of the rising morning heat, but once she realised who it was, she turned and continued to determinedly stroll.
“Good morning,” Culis said with a smile when he caught up to her, his golden curls flopping lazily onto his forehead in time with his stride.
Mila did not reply. She was still not ready to trade pleasantries and pretend all was well between them.
“It is a good morning, Mila,” he insisted. “Especially because you can stop quietly stewing in your hatred for me and start helping me again.” He had a lightness to his step.
“Oh really?” she bit out.
“Yes,” he said firmly. “Our Natalee stalemate is at an end.”
“You’ve decided to set her free?” Mila stopped walking and turning to him incredulously.
“Not quite,” he said. “But I thought you’d be pleased to hear that she’s no longer locked under the house. I’ve decided to send her away, on a voyage with Baird. Let her experience what her life could look like under one of our contracts. Maybe she’ll change her mind.”
Mila stewed on this information for a long while and considered how she felt about it. While it wasn’t granting Natalee freedom, it was certainly better for her than being locked in a basement indefinitely.
“What happens when she returns and still wants freedom?” she challenged, starting her walk again .
Culis followed. “Well, I suppose we’ll deal with that if it happens. But take it from me…Baird can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be.” He chuckled for a moment at his own private joke, then said, “for now at least, can you please accept this as a truce?”
“I’ll accept it as a lull in the battle.”
He sighed heavily. “Mila, mark this moment because it won’t happen often.” His tone became unusually serious as he said, “here and now, I will admit to you that what happened with Natalee up in the Highlands was a mistake, and the way I spoke to you about it was wrong. I…I am sorry.”
She stopped walking again and turned to look at him in shock. Was this what Arran and Baird had meant that night by the fire? This kind of admittance, and an apology, was the last thing she’d ever expected from him.
He ran a hand through the wavy mess on his head. It was infuriating how handsome he could look while sweating and uncomfortable. “My pride and enthusiasm got the better of me.” He continued. “I made the decision to detain her in that split second and it…it was wrong. I want you to know that it wasn’t premeditated. I didn’t – and I still don’t – want to betray your trust.”
“Why do it at all?” Mila said, determined not to let him off lightly. She’d seen him act out a range of emotions perfectly. What proof did she have that any of this was sincere?
“I suppose…” He took his time considering his answer. “I suppose I was fearful that I’d misjudged the situation, and that no demon would come willingly. That the entire venture would fail.”
“You could have listened to me,” Mila said. “You could have trusted me. I told you there would be others who would be willing.”
“Mila, at the time, not even you seemed to believe that a demon would join us! I could see how conflicted you were about the hunt. If you didn’t even believe in the cause, why would any other demon? Why should I?”
“So, it seemed better to abduct the unwilling instead?” she snapped.
“Well, when you put it like that…”
She’d never seen such a deeply uncomfortable look on his face before and desperately wanted to touch him, to discover if it was real.
“Look. That wasn’t my finest hour. I’ve admitted that. I’ve apologised. I’ve even tried to make amends. I don’t have a better answer for you and I’m sorry if that’s unsatisfactory. This is who I am.” He tossed his arms into the air, resigned and frustrated. “You can hate me for being greedy and selfish. I am. I haven’t tried to hide any of that from you. But, while I know it might not seem this way to you now. You should know that…. I am trying to be… less, like that.”
Mila ate back a chuckle at the earnest discomfort in those words and she fought not to soften her gaze. He caught the glare and smiled at her. “It’s good to have you around, Mila. New energy in my house, someone who isn’t afraid of me.”
They began walking again, their sandals crunching in unison on the gravel path.
“I am,” she finally said to break the silence.
“Am what?”
“I am afraid of you.”
“Really?” he asked with a small laugh. “Surely not still afraid you’ll be sacrificed in my room of death?”
It was clearly intended as a joke, but Mila didn’t lean into it. Instead, she rounded on him. “There’s more than one way to hurt someone, Culis. You bought me from Jezebel as a way to force me into slavery and make you money. I am bound to your location by this necklace. You’ve threatened to sell me back to Jezebel if I’m not useful to you. You’ve betrayed your word to me and forced me to break mine to Natalee. If our history is anything to go by, you actually seem to find it very easy to hurt me!” she accused.
“What a list,” he said uncomfortably. “If only it were all true. Then your hatred would truly be justified.”
“It is true!” she snapped.
“Not all of it,” he corrected. “The necklace? Yes. That binds you to me, but on the very first morning you were here, when I’d treated you with nothing but civility, you tried to escape and renege on our contract. You broke my trust first. And I saved you from Jezebel. I didn’t need you for my trade. I could have started it another way. I’ve already had Arran working for me for years. It would have been harder without your power, but I would have found a way.”
“And for that I should be eternally grateful, should I?”
“Yes…no! I just…dammit, Mila.” He sighed in evident frustration and, despite herself, she felt a tiny sliver of flame alight in her gut at the sight of him. There was something about the way he seemed to be twisting himself into a knot, maybe revealing a smattering of shame that was so…endearing, vulnerable even.
“Look,” he said eventually. “You…you don’t need to do anything with the information I’m about to give you. It might not change your opinion of me at all. Which is fine, it’s fair even. It shouldn’t. It’s far better for you to see me as dangerous and untrustworthy. That attitude will probably keep you safer in the long run. But if there’s one thing I need you to know, it’s this.” He stopped walking again and ensured she was looking directly into his stern, earnest face before he spoke. “I didn’t take you from Jezebel simply to have a demon I could use to make profit. I took you from her because something about you and your fierce will to live spoke to me, and the more I watched you, the more I realised that, if she’d hurt you again, I…would have regretted not acting to save you. ”
Mila considered his words in shocked silence, then said, “So…so you won’t sell me back to her if I don’t obey you?”
“No,” Culis said, his voice almost returned to its usual balance. “I want you to join me because you believe in my ventures. I don’t want to have to force you. Life should be fun, or at least entertaining. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
Mila was still processing this when he spoke again.
“So,” he said, collecting himself, “now that you know you won’t be sent back to Jezebel…I’m headed to Traders Bay tomorrow and could use your help. Would you be willing to join me?”
“I am still your slave,” she reminded him. “You could still simply order me to.”
He rolled his eyes. “You are, and I could, but…do you want to come with me?”
Mila considered the question. Did she want to make the trip to Traders Bay? It would mean spending considerable time alone with Culis. Did she want to do that? It was certainly a good opportunity to continue to understand him a little better. She’d seen enough glimpses of his humanity peeking out from the merchant prince facade that she couldn’t help but be curious and drawn to him, just a little. It was a very unsettling feeling, particularly as she also knew she could not trust a word that passed his sweet, honeyed lips. In fairness, they didn’t look honeyed right now. They looked pursed with concern, waiting for her answer.
Mila held out her hand, wanting to read his energy before she fully committed. Culis reached out happily to shake it, not knowing her true intention. At their touch, his energy surged through her.
Happiness, earnest joy. He really wanted her to come, and it meant something to him that she wanted to come of her own volition .
“I’ll come for the journey,” she said finally, silently reminding herself that being in Traders Bay would be an ideal opportunity to research a way to get passage to Keras. “But I can’t promise I’ll use my power to help you with your business dealing. Sending Natalee away with Baird doesn’t absolve you of that whole horrendous situation. I’m still figuring out how I feel about it all, and about you.”
To her surprise, Culis’s joyful energy did not diminish an inch at her words. Nor did he try to argue or convince her otherwise. He simply nodded.
“Deal.”
She withdrew her hand first.
After he left, Mila considered what she’d learned from that brief touch. The great Christopher Culis, the selfish trader who loved nothing and no one but his own company, wanted her to join him for this trip. And it wasn’t because he wanted something from her. His energy had revealed that he didn’t care if she used her power for his benefit or not. He was genuinely happy to simply have her company for this trip.
Keras , she reminded herself, shaking her head free of the image of the windswept, golden bun of hair and green eyes that gleamed down at her with sheer delight.
Earning Culis’s trust enough for him to let down his guard. Stealing the sister stone. Finding a ship heading to Keras and paying for passage that would take her far away from Artor and Christopher Culis. That’s what she had to focus on.
If she’d hurt you again, I would have regretted not acting to save you.
The words echoed in her head, and a lick of flame sparked in her gut and would not go away.