Chapter 6 #2
“I have had purpose every time I have returned to these wretched islands,” Rayner spat, calculating her every movement.
“I have let you come back here. Let you get this vengeance you seem to need. I have not interfered once, but last time, my Ash Rider…” She trailed off, moving to another table. “Last time you made a very unwise choice in regards to whom you took from me.”
“Feris was always going to die. Just as the rest of them will. It was only a matter of time,” Rayner retorted.
“Feris is not of whom I speak,” Moranna scoffed, bracing her hands atop a worktable and leveling him with a cold glare. “One of my most powerful vessels disappeared that day. I can only assume it was you.”
“I took no one out with me that day,” he countered. He still hadn’t moved, still trying to figure out his best course of action. He’d scarcely killed anyone the last time he had come here. Three overseers and Feris. That had been it.
“I let you go out into the world,” Moranna continued. “I let you wander the continent, learn what you thought you needed, and waited for you to come back with all that knowledge. And you repay me in this way?”
“I was always coming back to kill you, Moranna.”
She laughed. “You cannot kill me, Rayner. You know if you do, your beloved sister dies.”
“Where is Aravis?”
Moranna held up her hand, a band of deathstone held between her fingers. “Put this on, and I will take you to her. Then we will discuss what must be done in regards to your poor choices.”
“And if I refuse?”
She smiled at him, the kind that told him she was humoring him. “You will never find her.”
Rayner stalked forward, snatching the band and sliding it onto his wrist. His ashes thrashed beneath his skin, unable to break through, before they eventually quieted into nothing. Moranna reached up, patting his cheek. “Wise choice, my Ash Rider.”
“I will kill you before the sun rises,” Rayner gritted out.
“You are powerful, Rayner, but not that powerful. Come.”
He fell into step beside her, grimacing internally at how natural this felt.
How he had done this thousands of times.
Escorted her all over the cliffs, but never here.
Never to this secret place within the secret colony.
How many did she keep here? And if he was one of the most powerful, why hadn’t she kept him here?
Moranna led him back down the passageway to the stairs where they descended to the next passageway. The Baroness stopped outside a room, her hand on the handle. “Remember that her survival depends on you.”
It always had. That’s why he was here.
And tonight he would ensure her survival was no longer in the hands of Moranna.
Moranna pushed the door open, stepping aside so Rayner could enter, and there she was. Sitting near a hearth, doing needlework. Healthy and whole. Raven black hair braided into a plait hung over her shoulder as she focused on her task.
And then she looked up.
Rayner sucked in a breath when grey eyes that matched his own without the swirling landed on him. They were haunted and broken like so many others he had seen, but there was also something in them he never glimpsed in the others.
Hope. There was a glimmer of hope there.
She dropped her needlework, lurching to her feet, a hand coming to her chest. Rayner reached up, pulling back his hood so she could see his face.
“Rayner?” she whispered, but he could only nod. Her eyes flicked over his shoulder before settling back on him. “What have you done?”
“Now you have seen her. Alive and well. Let’s discuss the terms for keeping her that way,” Moranna said softly from behind him.
The sound of her voice—the way she spoke to him about Aravis—had the monster she’d created waking deep in his soul.
Rayner descended to that place where the Reaper dwelled inside him.
Aravis must have noticed the shift because her eyes widened slightly, and she took a step back from him as he turned to face the Baroness.
“What are your terms?”
“You remain here, where you belong,” Moranna said. “I have let you roam long enough, and you have taken much from me. Too much. I was hoping when you returned you would have learned more about your gifts, but it appears even that was a waste.”
“You wish for me to return to being your personal guard?” Rayner asked. “Just go back to how things were?”
“Oh no,” Moranna purred, stepping up to him.
Her hand came up, brushing back hair from his brow.
“You see, your sister has been unable to produce any offspring of quality. But I suspect you might, with all that ash and smoke running through your veins. There are a few bloodlines I wish to cross with yours. I was hoping the blood you supplied me when you left would be enough, but it has not been. None of it has been enough.” She trailed off, muttering more to herself by the end.
“If I agree to this, no one touches Aravis again. No one ,” Rayner said. “I am given free access to her and her to me.”
“You will return to my bed, like before,” Moranna countered. “But I agree to allow you to visit her whenever your duties allow you to do so.”
“And no one else will touch her,” Rayner repeated. “I want a Blood Vow, Moranna.”
Aravis sucked in a breath, at the demand for a Blood Vow or the use of Moranna’s name, he wasn’t sure. Moranna’s lips tilted up in a victorious grin. “Of course."
He pulled a dagger from his belt. An unremarkable blade of Fiera steel. He sliced it across his palm, the deathstone stifling his healing abilities. Moranna held out her own hand, her smile growing when he sliced along her palm next.
“I agree to your terms of aiding you in producing powerful offspring.”
“Rayner, no!” Aravis cried, lurching forward, but Moranna held up a hand. Aravis immediately stilled, her features filling with horror as she watched.
“I will resume my role as your personal guard, in whatever capacity you require of me,” Rayner continued. “All these things I vow to uphold for as long as you remain on this side of the Veil. I vow and swear this with my blood.”
“I agree to your terms that no one touches Aravis again. She will remain here and be given free access to you, but she will not be required to perform her duties any longer,” Moranna said. “I vow and swear this with my blood.”
Their palms met, and when Rayner glanced at Aravis, he saw silent tears tracking down her face. She was shaking her head in disbelief, but Rayner had sworn long ago he would do whatever was necessary to keep her safe. To keep them both safe. He’d failed Breya. He would not fail Aravis.
“Welcome home, my Ash Rider,” Moranna said, intertwining the fingers of their still joined palms. “Let’s go celebrate your return.” She tugged on his hand, leading him to the door. He only had a moment to look back over his shoulder at Aravis.
The hope he’d glimpsed in her eyes was gone.