Chapter 1 #5
I gaze down at my hulking form, and notice a couple on the next table who are pretending not to be keeping an eye on where exactly I am in the room at all times. ‘I definitely don’t look human enough without a conjure on me.’
‘Ah, well. At least we help where we can,’ Jak mutters and I nod.
‘Aye, at least we help where we can,’ I echo. ‘And at least no one’s run off screaming at the sight of me today. Perhaps the village is finally beginning to accept that I’m not here to hurt anyone.’
Jak raises his tankard. ‘I’ll drink to that.’
I clink mine with his and sit back in my chair, glancing around. Actually, most of the humans are drunk enough now that they don’t seem to care that I’m here anymore.
‘Any idea when they want us back in the Dark?’ I ask, conscious of the fact that it’s not often that I have more than a few days here at any given time before I’m given a new mission, which is probably why the humans have never got used to my presence.
Jak shakes his head and takes a drink. ‘Haven’t heard. S’pose we have to wait for Locke to return. Have they heard anything from Tori or Soreno?’
‘I don’t know a bloody thing,’ I complain. ‘They must have had something from them by now though.’
Jak looks down into his drink. ‘Unless it didn’t go to plan.’
‘Jak,’ a voice purrs from close by.
We look up to see Freeda, one of the first humans freed from the Dark who decided to stay here and make a life in Halsford over five years before.
She’s standing very close, wearing a dress that’s low-cut and tightly laced, her long blond hair well-brushed and shining in the firelight. Freeda is known to enjoy a good time.
She doesn’t give me any of her attention. Her eyes are solely for Jak. I glance away a little awkwardly at the smoldering look she gives him.
‘Freeda,’ Jak nods, eyes moving over her boldly and seeming to get stuck around her bosom.
‘I haven’t seen you in a long time,’ she murmurs, drawing closer.
‘We were out in the Dark Realms on a mission,’ Jak replies, giving her one of the charming grins that make women melt.
‘Oh, dear. Was it dangerous?’ she asks breathily.
‘Very,’ he says low, turning his body toward her slightly. ‘Perhaps I could come to you later and tell you about it.’
She nods. ‘You remember where I am?’
‘How could I forget?’
She titters a little and moves away. He lets out a relieved sigh.
‘Well, that sorts my evening out,’ he says, picking up his tankard and toasting to me. ‘When was the last time I even had a female? When did you for that matter? Gods only know. It must have been?—’
His words stop abruptly and the color seems to drain so quickly from his face I wonder if something is wrong with my eyesight.
‘Are you all right?’ I ask in concern.
His body shudders and his eyes flicker, not seeing me, not registering my question, and then his tankard falls to the table with a clatter, beer spilling over the rough wood and pouring down onto the floor.
He stands in one swift motion, almost upending the table we sit at.
‘What the fuck?’ I snarl, righting the table with one hand and grabbing my own drink with the other while trying to remain calm so as not to terrify the humans around us.
He drags in a harsh breath and looks at me. The horror in his eyes has me standing as well.
‘Gods, what is it?’ I ask, my heart lurching and my gut twisting.
‘Bryn,’ he whispers.
My eyes search his uncomprehendingly. ‘Who?’
But at hearing the name, images flood my mind like a wall of snow coming down the mountain, flattening everything in its path, forever altering the landscape.
A woman. A human woman. A slave in the Dark.
Too thin with beautiful, expressive eyes, long, dark hair, and a laugh that could melt even the stoniest of hearts.
Like mine.
Bryn.
I’m absently aware of my own tankard clattering to the floor.
‘We left her,’ he breathes. ‘We promised her we’d save her, but we just…’
He sits down hard as if his legs can no longer hold him.
The devastation in his countenance mirrors my own.
I stare down at my spilled drink, memories of her and of our journey rolling around and around, the feelings that I felt for her that were gone suddenly rushing back, filling my heart with joy and yet utter anguish. How could I have let this happen?
I was to protect her…I just didn’t realize it would need to be from someone I trusted, someone I considered my kin.
‘I let Locke pull her around by that collar,’ I whisper, feeling sicker and more bleak by the moment. ‘I let her be treated like she was worth nothing to me.’
‘I walked right past her. She called out to me. Kings hit her. I remember thinking it was regrettable that we couldn’t save all of them and then I just…forgot about her. We left her to her fate in Merediea.’
He lurches up and runs from the tavern, the door slamming hard behind him.
I follow as slowly as possible, letting the humans move out of my way so I don’t start a stampede. I find Jak outside retching by the wall in the light of the doorway torch.
‘Gods, Morgan,’ he chokes out. ‘What have we done? How could we…? Why did we?—?’
‘It was Locke!’ I snarl.
My fists clench, knuckles popping with the force of it. Saying it out loud makes me even angrier.
What has he done?