“Two favors?”
“I’ve made you formidable, making sure everyone is afraid of you, while also making sure you’re as marketable as the next fucking Vargothi winner. Everyone wants you. Everyone’s intrigued. You’re the talk of the tournament just as much as the actual fighters are.”
I shrank into myself. That’s not what I wanted.
“So yeah, you’re welcome. All you need to do is find someone that’s interested in you. Doesn’t really matter if it’s a rider or a Wielder, but you’ll have an easier time with a Wielder. Then you’ll have another reason for the king to keep you and…”
I stopped hearing Bran’s words as his meaning hit me. He wastrying to get me to stay, so I’d have a permanent place in Viven. I stared at him in bewilderment for a second before I closed the distance between us and engulfed him in a hug.
He was so taken aback that he staggered backward for a second before he finally wrapped his arms around me.
I wasn’t sure how long we stayed like that before I realized it was the first real physical contact I had purposely made with someone in the past seven years.
For some reason, I couldn’tnotlike Bran. I instantly trusted him, despite the fact that he was rude and lacked civilized manners.
Tears ran down my face, but I didn’t care.
“Oh, Suns, why are you crying from ahug?” he pulled back appalled, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
I definitely did not say it was because it was the first time I wasn’t even remotely scared of somebody—that I touched someone without my Token manifesting, that I wasn’t getting flashbacks from that night…
“Ugh, you ruined your makeup. Here.” He leaned toward me as he fixed whatever smudge I had under my eyes. “Now, don’t cry again or I’ll throw you into the Triovian wearing more jewels than you can hold.”
Bran left before I could even respond and I found myself smiling as I rushed after him. I didn’t have time to care that what he’d been doing was actually the worst possible scenario for me.
But to have someone care about me…
I hadn’t had that in years. I forgot what it was like to have someone look out for me, to have someone in my life that matters—to matter to someone in return.
The fleeting moment of blissfulness washed away as soon as it came because it dawned on me just how lonely I truly was and always would be.
As soon asI walked into the dining room, I felt Arrik’s eyes on me. I didn’t care if he hated me for not taking his advice. I wasn’t running away, although I thought about it all last night.
Was I really protected from Dahes here? He told me he would go to the sinking islands to enter my head, but I still hadn’t felt him yet. Maybe he miscalculated?
I had the location memorized of where he wanted me to go. He told me he’d send a thatcher, but would he even be able to enter my mind to tell mewhento go there?
I shook my head, forcing the thoughts to leave as fast as they came.
It was a delusional fantasy.
It didn’t matter where I was in the world, I was never safe.He would always find me.
And even if by some miracle he couldn’t, I still had to go back—because ofhim, because of Masin. He’d be the first person Dahes would go after if I didn’t return, and if Dahes hurt him, then these past seven years would have been for nothing.
Even without selling my soul to the devil, I was trapped, because Dahes knew my weakness, he knew the one person I would do anything for.
I zoned out half of breakfast, trying so hard to push him from my mind, to not think about Masin’s dimples or how blue his eyes were.
It wasn’t until the entire table went silent that I realized everyone was staring at me.
“What?” I asked.
Cash was the one who spoke. His blonde hair looking more brown from freshly showering. He ran his fingers through the thin strands, pushing it off his forehead. “I asked if you’ve ever seen Dahes’ whore when you were in Moriann.”
“Hiswhat?”
“His whore.” Cash smirked as he eyed me. “Come on, convict, don’t tell me we know more about Moriann than you do?”
