24. Archer #3
“Archer.” The voice is calm, soft and feminine.
Saige.
But she’s not here. She’s still somewhere by the stream; I can feel her distant presence through the tether of our bargain. I blink myself back to the present moment, grounding myself by wriggling my toes in my boots and hearing the leaves shift beneath my soles.
My brother is watching me curiously.
I don’t like the attention, I don’t like the way he’s assessing me, not when I don’t know what’s happening myself. All I know is that the power of a bargain sealed with a kiss is something I was wholly unprepared for.
I grab his arm. “Do not tell me you’re staying.”
Daemos presses a hand to his chest as though wounded. “I missed you, brother.”
“Don’t push me.”
“Perhaps you need to be pushed,” he counters smugly.
“I swear to the Triad, Daemos…”
“I’m staying,” he declares. “Like it or not, this is bigger than just you, Archie. For all this time you were alone, but no more. I want to help. And I won’t let Malevron take you from us again—”
That familiar flush of shame creeps over me, like a disease. “No one let him. He was stronger, he—”
Daemos shakes his head. “He’s not stronger than you, brother. He used your own goodness against you, your friendship and loyalty to him.”
“You don’t know anything about it,” I mutter. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Of course not. And the mortal? Saige? There is more here than you’re letting on.
Why is she here, truly?” I don’t know what his damn whispers have told him, but I know well enough by now to give him nothing.
Instead, I let my lips curl into the sneer I know infuriates him as I say, “I made a bargain with her. She is bound to me.”
“You stupid prick.”
I huff a humorless laugh. “Takes one to know one.”
“You have no idea, do you, Archie?”
“Don’t call me that.” Flames burst from my fingertips, and I singe the grass around us, smoke hissing from blackened fronds.
“All power begins with knowing what others wish to remain hidden.” Daemos’ features soften.
“You feel too much, brother. You always have.” He takes a breath, looking around.
“I’m surprised by how quiet it is here,” he comments, perplexed.
“No sign of the house sentries or guards. I know the outer regions of the territory aren’t as occupied anymore, but we’re almost in the Eldergrove.
It’s supposed to be sacred to the Reveries. I’d have thought—”
“The Reverie Azkari are hardly known for their defensive strategies,” I interject.
“And what are they known for, brother?” Daemos presses with a note of amusement.
“Being pricks. Like someone else I know.”
“What can I say, you bring out the best in me.”
“A miracle, considering how little there is,” I retort.
Daemos’ expression turns serious. “You need to go back to your house, brother.”
A few yards away, I hear Saige’s laugh as Grim splashes in the shallows, trying to catch fish. Despite whatever haunts her, there is light there too. That’s where we differ. With me, there is only dark.
I turn back to my brother, steeling myself as we speak of the place I haven’t stepped foot in since the Reckoning. “No. Not until this bargain is fulfilled.”
Daemos stares at the black flames flickering at my fingertips once more. “But at what cost?”
My gaze drifts to Saige who is just beyond the edge of the camp, humming something softly to herself and pushing her golden hair from her eyes as she fills the next canteen from the river.
She’s wearing a white, billowy shirt with a wide, open collar that reveals the graceful lines of her neck and collarbones.
The fabric looks thin and slightly translucent, draping softly over her shoulders and hinting at the curves beneath.
Over the shirt, she wears a fitted brown leather vest, weathered from years of use.
She pauses for a moment to splash water on her face, glistening droplets running down the curve of her neck.
I want to lick the moisture from her skin and learn what sounds she makes.
But that’s wrong. I can’t want her. Not with everything I need to accomplish to defeat Malevron, not with the bargain between us.
She’s not mine to claim like that. Even if she was…
it would only end in pain as she tries and fails to put my jagged, broken pieces back together.
And she’s had enough pain to last a lifetime.
Daemos follows my stare and lifts a brow.
I glare at my brother, irrational anger churning through me. “What are you getting at?”
To my surprise, Daemos smiles sadly. “That if I can see your weak spot… It won’t take much for spies to do the same. This thing between you and the mortal? It’s nothing but trouble.”
I glance back at Saige. An ache blooms in my chest. A pain that is unfamiliar amongst the rest. Pain that comes with finding something you want that you can never have…
Nothing but trouble, my brother’s words linger, long after he’s left me there to go and introduce himself.
I still can’t tear my eyes away from Saige.
Trouble never looked so fucking beautiful.