Chapter 1 #2
The silence stretched between them, filled only by the distant dripping of water and the occasional rustle of unseen creatures in the glowing vines above.
Raziel found himself studying her profile in the eerie light.
There was something different about her now that they were in her realm.
She seemed more solid somehow, more real. As if this was where she belonged.
It should have bothered him. Strangely, he found it oddly comforting.
His fingers twitched at his sides, fighting the urge to pull them into fists. Pulling in a slightly deeper breath than before, he let it out. He owed her an explanation. “I owe them for making this easy for me. For stripping it all away. All the pretenses of who I used to be.”
Nadi was silent for a long stretch. “Are you all right?”
“Better than I have been in a long time, little murderer.” He smirked. “I know who I am meant to be now.”
She shut her eyes. After a long pause, she nodded. She understood. Good. He watched as Nadi walked over to the waterline and reached down to pick up a small bag. Slinging it over her shoulder, she shifted her grip on the bolt cutters she must have used to free him from the coffin.
With a long sigh, he tore a section of his shirt off and wrapped it around his palm before gathering up a length of the silver chain and coiling it over the fabric.
The fabric would keep it from burning his skin.
The chain would have to do as a weapon. Silver was more effective against vampires than it was fae, but a chain was a chain and he knew how to wield it.
He huffed out a half-hearted laugh. “Reminds me of the good old days.”
“Oh?”
“Mael and I used to be sent to go knock heads together at some business or another when they’d get out of line.” He lifted his hand to eye the silver chain. He could remember coming back with it covered in blood.
“Most families play cards, you know.” Nadi had the faintest of smiles on her face when she said it, though.
“Hm. Yes. Well.” He lowered his hand. Looking back up at the cavern, he watched as a large, winged creature vanished through a hole in the wall. “You said we’re in the Deep Wild. How far do we have to go in distance, do you know?”
“Miles. Probably many dozens of miles.” She gestured at a dark tunnel some eighty feet away—an entrance into what was very likely a maddening network of caves. “Don’t expect it to be a straight line either.”
“Wonderful.” His legs still felt unsteady, but they held his weight. But weeks of hiking toward the surface did not sound entertaining. “And I suppose there’s no quick way back up?”
“No.” Nadi shifted the weight of her bag on her shoulder. “There might be a caravan closer to the surface. If we find one, we can rest, get supplies, and figure out our next move.” She started walking toward the entrance to the caves.
“And they will help us?” He arched an eyebrow. “They would rather skin a vampire alive than help one. And that’s before they find out my name.”
With a sigh, she didn’t look back at him as she started to climb up the rocks toward the cave entrance. “You’re assuming we have a choice. There’s no going back.”
That was true. She could drag his drowning, unconscious body back down through the water and to the shore, but she’d likely already thought of that, and she’d chosen this location for a reason. She’d brought him here to the Wild, specifically because of the fae.
Because among the fae, they might have a common enemy. Namely, his family.
“You think we can find allies here.”
“The fae clans hate your family as much as you do, Raz.” Even in the darkness, he saw her jaw tick. “Some of the fae are working with your siblings, and I know that’s not going to sit right with the other clans.”
“If we have come here for an army—if we have come here for soldiers—I will use everything I have at my disposal.” He grinned.
Perhaps a little too wolfishly than he should have.
But he did not care at the moment. Especially when it made those black opal eyes of hers go so deliciously wide.
“And I have so few cards in my hand at the moment, don’t I? ”
They were standing at the entrance to the cave. When he went to enter, she stopped him with a hand on his wrist. Turning, he looked down at her.
Her brow was creased in the center. “The other option is to run. We run as far away as we can go, and we live in hiding. We give up on our revenge, on your plot to rule the world—or whatever the fuck it is you’re really after—and go where no one can find us.
We live. The two of us. Together. Happy. ”
Part of that was tempting. Very tempting. A quiet life, on the edge of one of the far settlements of Runne. The two of them, living off the land, in love… They would be a kind of happy. He wondered if he could even sire children with her.
How idyllic.
Bringing up a hand, he crooked a finger under her chin and tipped it up to look at him. “That life was never meant for us. You and I are meant to drown in blood or stand triumphant in the ashes of this world, Nadi. And you know it. We will kill each other or die at each other’s side.”
Her eyes slipped shut and she let out a long, weary sigh. “I know… I just sometimes wish…”
Leaning down, he kissed her. Slowly. Tenderly. He could taste the salt of the sea on both their lips. How beautiful and how tragic—two killers, wanting nothing more than to set it all aside, but knowing they never could.
When he broke away, he watched as her face hardened into an expression of pure determination and set off in front of him, leading the way.
The fae assassin.
And the Serpent.
They would die.
Or they would rule the world.
Come what may.