Chapter Eleven #2
“Except for your human, for which I have questions.” Magnus offered and I felt my entire body stiffened. Elara being mentioned again added another layer to a game that I had not wanted to play.
“Please, ask.” I smiled, my teeth showing a little too much as I tried to unclench my jaw.
“You sleep beside her, you would have me believe she is bound to you. Yet she is human?” Magnus asked, studying me with a predator's patience.
“Yes.” I said simply, one word answers would suffice, especially when it came to the human who, unknowing to the wolves, was actually bound to me as a slave rather than a lover.
“She is a weakness. You say you do not value trust, but yet she is here, trusting in your arms. Such a fragile breakable thing,” he mused, and for a moment I wanted to reach across the table and slam my fist into his face.
In the time I had known Elara she had never once been breakable. At first, it had irritated me, but now I valued the consistency of her defiance, of the honesty no one had afforded me in years.
“She is not breakable.” I countered, watching his face as he surveyed me.
“All humans are,” Magnus shrugged. The Wolf King’s disdain for the human race was clear. Like most creatures the humans were seen as lower than dirt.
In Lycanthyr they weren't even seen as worthy of being slaves. If the wolves had their way, they would pretend as if they did not exist at all.
“Then you have not met many like her,” I smirked, knowing that if Magnus shared that sentiment in front of Elara, she would show him exactly how breakable she was, and it would come with a flow of words in the form of insults I dare not repeat.
“You defend her so fiercely for a King who would have me believe he feels nothing.” Magnus chuckled, standing to move across the room to pour himself a drink.
I watched as he filled two glasses with amber coloured liquid and returned. Sliding one across the table to my waiting hands
“She is mine,” I kept my voice steady, simple as I lifted the glass to my lips, savouring the way the honeyed liquid burns my throat.
“You value her,” Magnus smirked, a knowing look in his eyes that reminded me too much of my brother.
“That is irrelevant,” I curse under my breath. I know we are both playing a game, the false camaraderie, the probing questions and avoidance dance that we did so well.
I let him follow me through the steps. Making my feelings for Elara seem genuine enough to keep him interested, but not too complex to reveal the lie.
“Do you love her like you loved your brother? You burnt the world for him too.” Magnus asked and instantly the world around us turned cold. Shadows encroached at the edge of my vision as the words stung like lightning between us.
The love I felt for my brother was world ending, incomplete, broken.
“Do not bring him into this. My relationship with Elara is nothing like that of my brother and I would be inclined to remove myself from the conversation!” I snap, slamming the glass down onto the table with a little too much force.
“Do not lie to me Rhael. Do you love the human?” Magnus asked, although it was more of a demand. His gaze locked onto mine. I thought of Elara’s sharp tongue, her refusal to bow.
The way she trembled when she thought no one was watching. Or the way she had challenged me when I had told her the only path for survival.
“Yes,” I lied. The word tasting like blood on my tongue replacing the sweet burning liquid, making everything else taste like ash.
“That was quick.” Magnus raised an eyebrow, regarding me as if he had expected me to give another answer.
It was possible he knew I was lying, I had told Elara they could sense a lie, even smell it. I hoped my Fae lineage was enough to hide my true meaning. At least for now.
“I am decisive, I know what I want,” I smirked, keeping my shoulders steady, trying to hide my surprise.
Thoughts of Elara still lingered in my mind, and I wondered if her presence had impacted his decision.
Or perhaps it was his belief that some part of me, in that moment, had changed to care for someone other than myself.
“Then I will consider your reason for an alliance and let you know in the morning,” Magnus announced as he braced his hands on his knees before standing up walking across the room towards the door.
“Thank you,” I nodded, remaining in my seat, not bothering to get up. There was no point if he was prepared to leave. Although I was surprised, clearly the vampire attacks on the werewolves must have been worse than I thought.
“You were once an old friend, I would hope if all this ends the way it should, I will be able to call you that again,” Magnus called over his shoulder lingering at the edge of the doorway. A ghost of something like old camaraderie flickered between us for a brief moment before it died.
“Perhaps,” I said, keeping my tone flat. In reality, sitting there with him, remembering how things used to be, I wondered if perhaps burning all my bridges had been a step too far.