I finished three bites before Dahes finally spoke. “I hope for your sake you were successful.”
The knife scraped across the plate as I cut into the next bite of meat. I’d never failed a hunt, had no idea what would happen if I did. Would he punish me? Torture me? Lock me up in the dungeon? Would he finally kill me? Or would he go toMasin, would he go back on our deal?
I nodded even though it destroyed something in me.
“Tell me.”
“I found out that drakins have magic through their dragons?—”
Dahes held out his hand, cutting me off. “Tell me more than spitting facts,little ghost.”
I stilled. Dahes wasn’t surprised by that, but Hael said no one knew besides drakins and Elion.
“I want his weaknesses, his desires. I want to know who and what he loves.”
“He doesn’t have any,” I said, forcing myself to not think too much. “He loves no one, but his duty. He isn’t allowed to.”
“What do you mean he’s not allowed to?” His pale gaze narrowed as his fingers stilled around his goblet.
I hated this, hated betraying Hael, hated exposing his darkest secrets. But I had to. If I told Dahes nothing, I had no idea what he’d do. But maybe I could make him seem untouchable. Maybe I could stop this before it started, make him not want to attack. Maybe Dahes would give up once he realized it was futile.
“King Elion made him his personal assassin when he became the Drakin Leader. Any task that’s too dangerous for the Drakin Army, goes to him alone.” It was one of the things Hael admitted to me last night.
“You said he isn’tallowedto love.”
“King Elion sterilized him. He forbade him from ever finding a lover. He’s the only drakin that doesn’t care about anything. He doesn’t even have a family.” I swallowed, leaving out the part about it being uncommon. Hael told me last night it made him an outcast. Since breeding was calculated, everyone knew exactly where they came from. “The only thing he cares about is his dragon.”
“Hmmm.” Dahes grunted, and I tried to breath slowly, to calm my heart rate that was beating out of rhythm. “We can work with that.”
“We can?” I looked up and my heart plummeted.
“If his dragon is the only thing he cares about, then that’s how we’ll draw him out.”
“How?” My mouth gaped as I tried and failed to compose myself.
“I’ll send a threat to the Perinth Islands. The land is too close toRyaranthia that King Elion will be forced to respond quickly. If Hael is King Elion’s assassin, he’ll only send him to cover it up.”
My lips parted. My food completely forgotten on my plate.
“It should be easy enough to defeat Hael.” He took a sip from his goblet.
“I thought… the triplets… they said you couldn’t kill him.”
He studied me for a moment. “I won’t killhim, only his dragon if he doesn’t cooperate.”
Aura…
“How do you know it won’t kill him too?” My voice was rising to a dangerous octave, but I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t numb myself, couldn’t calm my racing heart. “They have this thing called the Vinculum. It bonds the rider to the dragon, what if it accidentally kills Hael in the process? We know nothing about their bonds.”
“No.Youknow nothing of a dragon’s bond. The beasts once belonged to me. I know everything. Hael won’t die, even if he wants to, and if he wants to keep his precious dragon alive, then he’ll agree to my terms.”
His goblet echoed across the room as he set it back down.
“But how do you know King Elion will send Hael? How do you know he won’t send all the drakins?—”
Dahes rose. “Relax, Magnolia. You did well.” He walked toward me, and my transparency flickered the moment he was a breath away. He grinned as he reached his hand out, even though he couldn’t touch me. “I know he’ll only send Hael because he doesn’t want Viven to know that the dragons were oncemine, or that I still have one.”
My mouth gaped open as realization dawned on me. “You’re a drakin?”
