AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That is neither here nor there, Lady Thorn. If you have merely come to scold me like a child, I will be on my way.” He began to turn his iron stallion, knowing that would motivate her to speak. And he was not wrong.
“Wait.”
He turned his horse back to her. The creature was annoyed at the change of direction and snorted, pawing at the dirt and leaving a heavy gouge on the surface, despite how heavily packed it was.
Thorn took a breath, held it, and let it out in a rough sigh. “We have come to make a deal with you.”
That inspired him to laugh again. He was, to be frank, honestly surprised.
Thorn did not take his laughter well. She bared her teeth at him like a feral animal. “If you will not listen, so be it!”
“I am still here, am I not? Speak, Lady Thorn. I will hear your proposal.”
Thorn hesitated before speaking. “We will assist you in killing the demon Grinn. We know where he is.”
It was his turn to sit in silence for a moment. He had his suspicions—but it was only just that. Suspicion. Proof would be valuable. If it was trustworthy. “And what do you ask for in exchange?” Ten elementals on his side against the demon would help—not simply because it would aid in his search, but when it was time to do battle against the bastard, they could at least provide a significant distraction.
But he knew it would not come free.
The question now was simply the cost involved.
“You surrender to us when he is dead.” Thorn lifted her chin in defiance. “You should stand trial for what you did to us—to Avalon.”
“A trial you are very well aware I will lose, and promptly lose my life shortly after. That is your end goal here, is it not, Lady Thorn?” And, if he were to reverse their roles, perhaps he would not blame her so very much.
She shrugged. “I have made my feelings for you well known.”
Shutting his eyes behind his helm, he let out a weary breath. Grinn’s life for his life. Thorn would see them both dead. What did he have to lose? What of value was left to him, once Grinn was dead?
Perhaps Percival is right. Perhaps I have grown weak and tired of this game. Perhaps I do secretly wish to seek a permanent end to it.
Gwendolyn was gone.
He had sent away the woman he loved.
Caliburn had been destroyed in the name of protecting her—an act that had set forth this new turn of events. The sword that had been entrusted to him by King Arthur, he had cast aside and allowed to be destroyed.
He had already broken his oath to his uncle a thousand times over. What else did he have to gain? An eternity of being despised, of being alone? Of recapturing all the magic of Avalon and imprisoning it—and the elementals—into the new Iron Crystal? Or he would be left constantly guessing at the shadows, wondering if an elemental assassin had come to end his life.
He had vowed to free Galahad, the only one of his knights who could even pretend to have for him any semblance of empathy or camaraderie. He found himself asking one simple question, over and over again?—
What was the point in it all?
What good had he truly done in all his years?
None.
The villagers he sought to protect despised him. The elementals who he sought to protect them from found him equally loathsome. Perhaps, if he had not known love, he could have tolerated it all for a thousand years more.
But now…without Gwendolyn at his side? Without her smile, her laugh, her touch?
Even in their dreams, it was a poor facsimile. And he knew her well enough that she would “save” herself for him and ignore all other suitors in an attempt to stay honorable toward their love. It was unkind. Deeply unkind. He had banished her for her safety.
And now, he had to die for her happiness.
Thorn and the others watched him, curious but patient. Letting him think through his decision. All that mattered—all that was left—was the death of the demon. Grinn had to die.
After that?
