Chapter 55
“You’re supposed to be dead,” Thane snarls as he swiftly draws one of his swords.
“Look at me,” Maliek shoots back. “I am dead.” The blue light fades from his hands, bringing emphasis to his gray, pallid skin. It was pale before, but not this pale.
Shuffling footsteps gather around us. My heart sinks in my chest as a handful of assassins surrounds us with their weapons drawn and eyes pinned on Thane.
“Let me guess.” Thane levels his sword at Maliek. I grunt as Maliek lugs me backward. “Seferin used the blackest magic he could conjure to bring you back to life. Tell me, how many lives has he stolen in order to restore your body?”
Maliek doesn’t answer. Instead, he presses the blade deeper into my throat. It stings as he holds it close, and I fight a whimper. One yank of his arm and I’ll be dead.
Just like Koa.
Thane doesn’t want to show it, but I’m certain I see his eyes flare as he focuses on the knife at my throat. “Let her go.”
“Now why would I do that?” Maliek wraps his arm tighter around my chest. “She’s your noble one, no?”
Thane lifts the sword as the other assassins close in.
“It’s amazing how far you’re willing to go for your selfish needs, Valkor.
” Maliek chuckles darkly. “We barely had a problem crossing the island because you and your strange little crew did most of the work for us. And the hounds? Thank you for taking care of those for us as well. There were only two around the temple when we arrived, and despite losing four men, they were quite easy to take down, considering how distracted they were by the mess you made.”
Thane clenches his jaw.
“Now,” Maliek rasps, holding on to me tighter. “I want two things. The Sunderstone and Azidel’s tome.”
“You’ll get neither,” Thane bites back.
I drop my hand, slowly reaching for the dagger sheathed at my waist. Thane watches the action, then gives a discreet nod.
“Has he told you yet, pretty little mortal?” Maliek yanks me sideways, and I pull my hand from the dagger as he twists me around, forcing me to face him.
His eyes are just as cold and blue as they were, and there’s a massive scar on his forehead that wasn’t there before.
Black veins resembling spider legs crawl from his throat to his chin.
He definitely looks dead. “Did he tell you why you’re really in this temple? ”
“I know why I’m here,” I seethe.
“Do you now?” Maliek flashes a wicked grin, taking a childish peek over me at Thane. “Because during our hunt for him, we heard you were looking for the prosperity stones.”
“Maliek, I will kill you!” Thane barks.
“Did he tell you that all the prosperity stones are gone? That they were used centuries ago to save previous lives? He’s known all along.”
Everything inside me becomes hollow. “What?” I whisper.
I look at Thane, tears forming in my eyes. He gives Maliek a blank look, and Maliek laughs as he studies the shock written on my face.
“Oh, come on now, Valkor. Tell her the truth for once.”
My body goes more numb with each second Thane avoids my eyes. I don’t trust Maliek, but I can’t help remembering the words Thane said to me before.
Promise me that you won’t be too disappointed if none of the stones are there.
Those were his words exactly.
Did he really know all along? Could he have been lying this whole time just to get me here for his own selfish reasons?
“Zaira, just listen to me…” Thane puts his hands out, pleading with me.
This time, I look away, my bottom lip trembling.
Maliek laughs at Thane’s supplication.
“Did he tell you he knew this information before your ridiculous quest even began?”
I want to look at Thane to confirm this is true, but my body won’t let me. I’m too afraid the disappointment will sink in, the heartache. The pain. The anger.
He knew. All this time, he knew.
He never intended to help me. He used me.
You wear your heart on your sleeve, Quinlocke, and that’ll get you killed one day.
“You’re lying,” I whisper, directing my anger at Maliek.
“Oh, believe me, I tell no lies.” Maliek is gloating now. “He got you to trust him, all so you could win him that beautiful tome there…and you fell for his bullshit.”
This time, when I look at Thane, he’s angry. His eyes are lit a bright gold, and his teeth are bared. The other assassins inch closer, but he doesn’t bother giving them attention. He’s only looking at Maliek.
But I want him to look at me.
I need him to look at me.
I manage to maneuver myself out of Maliek’s grasp, and one of the assassins rushes my way. Maliek holds up a hand to stop him. “No, no. Let’s see how this plays out,” he says with humor in his tone.
I run to Thane and take his face in my hands. His eyes are sad—no. Defeated. I’ve never seen Thane Valkor defeated. A rawness accumulates in my throat as I hold back my tears.
“Tell me he’s lying, Thane!” I beg, holding his face tighter.
He’s quiet for a few seconds, which increases my dread. Then he says, “We still have time to figure it out, Zaira. That tome is powerful. I’m sure there is a spell in it that I can use to break your sister’s curse—”
My hands fall as I stare at him, feeling a heaviness settle on my chest now.
“See?” Maliek bellows. “He’s using you, little mortal. Just like he uses everyone! He lies and manipulates because that is what he’s best at! All he needed was someone desperate enough to come here. He gave you false hope! Listen to him! He’s still trying.”
I look from Maliek’s shit-eating grin to Thane’s now-unreadable gaze.
Confusion shakes me to my core as I take another step back. My brain is telling me one thing, yet my heart screams another. I want to believe Thane can find a spell in the tome, but what if he’s wrong? What if there’s nothing he can do?
I’ll have no stones. No spells. Nothing. Analla will be dead based on yet another possibility—only this time it’ll hurt twice as much because I trusted him.
My breathing quickens, and eventually I wheeze as my tears fall.
I can’t lose my sister.
I can’t.
Thane rushes to me and tries holding me by my shoulders, but I shake my head and back away.
“No,” I say through labored breaths. “Please—don’t touch me.”
He gives me a baffled stare as I do my best to control my breath and fight off the panic swirling inside me. Gods, how could I be so stupid?
“Zaira, I’m sorry,” he pleads. “I told you this shouldn’t have gotten as deep as it did between us—”
“But it did, and you lied to me, Thane! For days, you’ve been lying to me! I’ve sacrificed so much just to come to this island! You got what you wanted, but now my sister is going to die. Don’t you understand that?”
His head shakes quickly. “I won’t let that happen, Zaira. We have the tome—I can figure something out. I can still help you save her.”
Maliek chuckles behind me, and I want to slap him, but I’m too pissed at the man in front of me. The man I had so much faith in. The man I thought could change.
Thane comes closer, taking my hand in his. “You can still trust me. I can help you.”
I keep my gaze on him a few seconds longer, doing my best to fight the anguish.
Then I close my eyes and breathe as evenly as possible.
As hurt and devastated as I am, I can’t let this end here.
Not like this. I have to find another way to save Analla, and if I can’t, I at least have to get back to her.
I still have time. I can figure something else out with or without Thane.
But first I need to make it off this damn island.
I snatch the dagger from my waist and move past Thane. Sliding the edge of the blade across my uncut palm, I fight a wince as I march to the pedestal and raise my hand above it.
I’m the so-called brave and noble mortal they need.
Okay.
So be it.
Let’s see if it’s true.
Blood drips down rapidly, coating the leather cover and dripping over the edge of the pedestal.
To my surprise, the book drops to the pedestal with a loud smack, and the glittering green aura dissolves. I pick it up. It’s heavier than it looks. My blood is smeared on the cover and the edges of some of the pages.
“Get him,” Maliek orders. “But keep him alive. We still need the Sunderstone.”
The assassins charge at Thane, gripping him by the upper arms. Oddly, he doesn’t fight them off this time. He just stares at me with a lost look in his damp eyes.
I don’t know what he’s thinking.
I wish I didn’t care.
I turn toward Maliek.
“Hand it here.” Maliek sticks out his hand while using the other to point a sword at me.
“Only if you talk to Seferin,” I demand, holding the book back.
Maliek’s head tilts. “What about?”
“My sister. Tell him that he has to break her curse—that he has to set her free and never bother us again.”
He sneers, looking me over. “Is that all?”
“Yes. I’ll travel back with you, and you can tell him that I willingly gave you the tome. Because you work for him, right? You follow his every order, and he trusts your intel?”
Maliek’s smirk slips.
“He’ll have the tome, and he’ll be even more powerful,” I go on.
“Zaira, no,” Thane pleads. One of the assassins forces him to his knees, slamming him down so hard something cracks. He groans in pain.
“I just want her back,” I whisper in a broken voice.
“Fine.” Maliek sticks his hand out farther. “I’ll tell Seferin you cooperated.”
I stare into Maliek’s eyes for a moment, then look at Thane. His head is hung low, lashes fanning across his cheekbones.
He looks…broken.
“Thank you for telling me the truth,” I say loudly, peering up at Maliek again. I rush in to hug him tight, and he freezes, unsure of what to do with the gesture.
Then he roars in agony as I plunge my dagger through his cold, dead heart.