Chapter 10
Xaviel’s awakening was not a pleasant one.
He was dreaming of the hunt—in some form with sharper claws and teeth than his own—when a swift blow connected with the bottom of his boot.
He jerked awake with a snarl to find the human standing over him—a tiny, fiery ball of indignation, with her arms folded across her chest and gray eyes flashing.
She’d kicked him.
Of all the indignities. He could not remember the last time anyone had dared.
And it would not do for her to think she could take such liberties, so he rose to his feet, every motion fluid and graceful thanks to his magic and long centuries of practice.
Hair unbound, eyes aglow, he leaned forward, towering over her as his lips curled to reveal the slight points of his canines—points that lengthened as his magic surged and his frustration grew.
He would never actually use such a crude method of defense against an enemy, but the point was that he could.
“A foolish way to awaken one who could tear your throat out without blinking,” he told her, allowing a hint of menace to creep into his tone.
“Well, as it turns out, I’m foolish,” she snapped.
She did not flinch or cower or even step back.
Instead, she glared up at him, looking almost hurt.
“Foolish beyond belief, not to realize what you were doing. How you lured me here with unanswered questions, using my curiosity as bait for your own trap.”
Well, this was unexpected. And regrettable.
What could possibly have happened?
She’d fallen asleep, he’d covered her with her dry clothing, and then he too had drifted off. He would have awakened if she’d stirred, and besides, the sky was only now beginning to brighten with the first glimmers of dawn.
And yet she was suddenly furious with him, as if she’d somehow discovered his deception.
But how?
“A bold claim,” he said coolly. “And perhaps a cruel one. I have done nothing but protect you from predators, bring you to a place of safety, and feed you with my own hands. Whatever game you are playing with your questions and your bargains… That is your own affair.”
“Don’t try to play word games with me,” she shot back, undeterred. “My entire life is words. And you understood our bargain as well as I did.”
True, she was more astute than he’d expected, but he had far more experience with manipulating such agreements. With the ways that one word omitted could change a sentence, a story, a life, or even an entire world.
He’d omitted a part of the truth, yes, but he had not broken the rules or told a lie.
“Be careful, human child,” he murmured softly, “that you do not accuse me unjustly. I have answered your first two questions in good faith, despite your rudeness. Perhaps you have decided you no longer wish to hold the third one over my head?”
Her lips turned down, and he could see the turmoil of her thoughts written across her face.
“I want to ask it,” she admitted. “I know what I must ask now. But if I do”—she bit her lip and focused that piercing gray gaze on his face—“I lose the only assurance I have that you will not hurt me.”
Oh.
He had forgotten how deeply words could stab.
How much it could wound him to be reminded of who he used to be.
He’d awakened with the desire to make her afraid, and he had succeeded, and discovered in the process that he did not care for the price of success.
When had he become the despicable sort of person who wished for soft, helpless creatures to fear him? When had the spirit of Lesh begun to erode his soul even here, at the heart of the valley?
With a long sigh, Xavi passed a hand over his face, willing his anger to fade. He could not lose control now. Not before his task was complete.
“I have already promised there are no monsters here that will hurt you,” he said quietly. “And that includes… myself.”
His admission fell heavily into the silence, and for a moment, he could hear only her breathing—forceful and harsh as she considered his words.
“I don’t wish you to think I can’t see the loopholes in that,” she said at length.
“Because I can. But I have no time and therefore no power, so I don’t have the luxury of poking at those loopholes right now.
” Her cheeks were pale and the set of her lips apprehensive, but she still held herself without fear.
As if she’d learned early not to reveal her vulnerabilities through body language, but forgotten to tell her face.
“All right then. I will ask.” Her gray eyes blazed, even in the dim light, even without magic. “Xaviel ven Arazul.”
She’d remembered his name. All of it. He had no idea why it should matter, but it did.
“Answer this final question and be free of the terms of our bargain.” Her chin lifted. “Why did you bring me to this valley?”
Ah. That question. Xavi paused as a million equivocations rose to his lips and died unspoken.
There were so many possible answers. So many ways to skirt the truth without actually lying.
But in the end, the truth was unavoidable, so perhaps the only way to get what he wanted was to do exactly as she said—use her curiosity as bait.
Clearly, it was a powerful force to have carried her this far, undaunted and unharmed.
So if it could be turned to a new purpose…
“I brought you here for one reason only,” he said flatly. “You, Lady Camryn Halivard, are to be the King of Mists’ next bride.”
And then he watched as her legs folded beneath her. She sat down heavily, hands clutching her skirts, and let out an audible gasp of horror.
Her eyes were wide and staring, and her mouth hung open—rather insultingly, he thought—but then her whole expression began to brighten until he was forced to reconsider his first assessment.
Not horror at all.
She was delighted.
Wait, why was she delighted?
“Then it was all true. All of my dreams were true. That means… That means the murals are real! All of those amazing paintings are really real.” She jumped to her feet, reached out, and grabbed his sleeve.
Xavi began to wonder whether his admission might have actually unhinged her.
“You have to take me there,” she pleaded.
More demanded, really. “I need to see the cavern. There is so much history on those walls—of people and places we have no idea of. An entire world to be catalogued. Now I wish I had more notebooks, but I can write on the backs of pages if I have to. Whatever it takes. This opportunity is far too significant to miss!”
“You did hear what I told you,” he reminded her, eyeing her grip on his sleeve with growing concern. “That I brought you here with dishonorable intentions, planning that you would be my king’s next human bride.”
“Yes, I heard you.” She waved him off as if that monumental admission were no more than a buzzing gnat. “But we both know that’s utterly preposterous. I would be a terrible bride, and anyway, I absolutely decline. The murals are far more important!”
When he didn’t respond, she let go of his sleeve, but only to cross her arms and glare up at him. “I feel like you aren’t actually listening.”
“It’s you who are failing to listen, human.”
“My name,” she retorted, “is Ryn.”
No. It was “human.” He did not dare to name the brides. Not with what little he understood of their fate.
“Your name,” he said grimly, “is Sacrifice. Because that is what you truly are.”
Finally—finally—his words seemed to penetrate the shell of her enthusiasm, and she jerked away from him sharply.
“You mean…” She began to look genuinely sick. “Then it really is an altar.”
He had no idea what she was talking about, but now that she’d seized on the topic, she became a tiny, unstoppable storm of recrimination.
“Do you slaughter the brides yourself? Lure them here with your stories and your kindness, and then shape-change into a monster and eat them afterwards?”
What? He’d only told a story because she demanded it, and it had been centuries since anyone called him kind. Also…
“I have never eaten a human,” he growled. “In any shape. Nor will there be any slaughter. I might be a monster, but not that sort.”
In truth, he was worse.
“Then what kind of monster are you, Xaviel ven Arazul?”
He flinched.
“I am a monster who bargains,” he replied harshly. “Never in all these past centuries has my king taken an unwilling bride, nor will he in those to come.”
Her foot began to tap, and she bit her lip as her thoughts turned visibly inward.
“All right then,” she said at last, lifting her chin with a martial light in those clear gray eyes. “Why don’t you try bargaining with me. Tell me what becomes of the brides. Tell me why they become willing sacrifices. What do you have to offer that has lured so many women to their own deaths?”
Here it was. His opportunity to fulfill his purpose. To free himself from the weight of this compulsion for the next hundred years. And now that the moment was here…
He didn’t want to do it.
He did not understand why this one was different, but she was. With all her absurdities and her contradictions and her innocence and her guile.
But what choice did he have? The time was nearly up, and if he failed here, this entire land would be obliterated. Every life wiped out. Including hers.
“Time,” he said heavily. “I offer them… time.”
She looked taken aback. Clearly, she’d expected something else. Given her apprehensions of blood and slaughter, he could see how it might prove confusing.
“Time,” she repeated slowly. “What does that mean?”
He could explain. But for someone like Ryn, that explanation would only give rise to more questions. Now that there was no longer a bargain to bind her tongue, she seemed a veritable font of curiosity.
But it meant he had read her aright, and that curiosity was now the only bargaining chip he had.
“Perhaps,” he said, “it would be better if I showed you.”
Her eyes lit up as if he’d promised her the moon.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Oh, yes, please.”
And in that moment, Xavi felt like the worst kind of betrayer. The kind who would kick a wolf pup or lure small, fluffy animals to their doom.
This… This was his curse. Whether he deserved it or not, he no longer remembered.
But he who had once prized his honor and integrity was now doomed to betray over and over again.
To use every bit of his centuries of guile against soft and helpless humans, who could not possibly understand the web of magic and mystery they’d become entangled in.
Because once she entered the cavern—once the enchantment had her fully within its grasp—there would be no going back.
“I will show you,” he said. “So long as you acknowledge that you follow me of your own free will. I neither constrain nor coerce you.”
“So acknowledged,” she said fiercely. “Now lead the way. I’ve waited for this moment for over half my life, and I will not falter this close to finding the answers I need.”
His eyes closed. It had been so easy. If only it would prove so easy to rid himself of the guilt once this business was over and done.