“You’re becoming a-a monster,” Endi sobbed, kicking and writhing in his grip. Wild eyes angled to beseech aid from the two males who made no move to interfere. “Surely you agree with me, Tor’en! You, of all people, know what he’s done, what he is willing to do.”
“It is not my place to harass my king, Endi. I have spoken my feelings, and he has decided not to heed my advice.” Tor’en stuffed his hands into the opposing sleeves of his robe, his lips a taut grimace though he did not look away.
“Er’it, listen to yourself,” Endi pleaded, the dewy tracks of her sorrow turning her rounded cheeks glossy. “The man I knew, the man I loved, he would never have done what you have. She’s making you into this-this thing of unspeakable cruelty. She will take away what humanity you have left to you, and then what?”
“Then this entire fucking world will be mine, and none will be able to stop me,” Er’it said with a growl that resonated through the clearing.
Birds shrieked their surprise, their harried flapping filling the forest as they took to the air in droves. Other creatures of the woods crashed through the undergrowth to escape the sound. Kal pawed at the dusty earth, tension riddling his bunched shoulders as if he prepared for battle. Er’it’s lips twisted up at the corners as he tossed Endi away. Nodding once at Tor’en as he passed, Er’it gave Kal a sturdy pat on the neck and ignored the sniveling cries behind him. Leaving Ath’asho to soothe Endi’s dust-caked pride, he walked away with back straight and shoulders proud, not letting his staring soldiers view even a hint of his dismay.
“I know you’re not as heartless as that,” Tor’en said, hurrying to catch up and fall into step with Er’it. “I understand why you did it as well.”
“Makes one of us.”
“I heard what she said, same as you. I think perhaps things are not so simple anymore.”
Line forming between the dark sweep of his eyebrows, one quirked at the old mage’s toothy smile, Er’it gave Tor’en a sidelong glance. “What are you blathering about?”
“Strange, isn’t it, that when she appeared to be losing all control, she sought you?” Tor’en gave a delicate sniff, waving knobby knuckles in a vague circle.
“I don’t believe Endi has lost control over anything in her entire life, Tor’en.”
“Are you that dense?” Tor’en snorted and shook his shaggy head, flinging his arm out toward the forest and pointing to deep within the thick trees. “The girl, Er’it. The one you cannot resist, who tore Otaso down to nothing for trying to take what she’s given to you in abundance. Sound familiar yet?”
“Old man, you are on my last nerve,” Er’it ground out as he ducked into his tent to strip out of the sweat and dirt-caked pants he’d lived in for far too long now, rolling his eyes toward the sky when Tor’en followed tight on his heels. “A bit of privacy, if you please?”
Tor’en grunted and settled his aging bones onto a plump cushion, the pointy bulges of his knees held akimbo. “I’ve thought much about what you said to me during our last talk. Watching how you treat the girl, how you act around her, I thought more on it, especially my words.”
“Is this your way of apologizing for making the same accusations you just told Endi were none of her concern?” Er’it found no relief in tugging the ruined trousers free, less in sliding on a new pair. Falling hard onto a pillow opposite Tor’en, Er’it pulled on his boots.
“Not in the slightest. What I am saying is that I see things differently now.”
“What in the name of the Hat’or—”
“Shut your mouth and listen, Er’it.”
Er’it opened his mouth for a scathing response but found he hadn’t the energy for it. As angry as he was, even Tor’en’s nonsensical rambling could incite enough rage to begin an argument. Instead, he fell back into the large cushion at his elbow, pushing at the tray of dried meats and water someone had left for him.
“In her moments of need, she goes to you, Er’it. I do not pretend to understand the violence that you share at night, but I’ve never heard her cry for you to stop. Quite the opposite. She is drawn to you in ways none of us understand, least of all you. And I see that it is much the same for you.”
“I am not drawn—”
“You never let her leave your side. Become angry when others come too close or dare to touch her. I see the way you stare at her when you think no one else is watching. Now you’re driving your men past the point of reason to find her.”
“She is the key to the power I must possess and nothing more!” Er’it didn’t believe his vicious statement any more than Tor’en, the wry quirk of the mage’s lips grating over his nerves as he shoved the tray. The sturdy metal stuttered over the floor, sloshing water and scattering stiff mahogany strips over the varnished silver.
“She’s come to mean much more than what you claim, my friend. I still say you teeter at a precipice, threatening to fall into the darkness of your power. Yet I believe that Aida has a far more important role to play in your destiny than a meager sacrifice, no matter the power promised you in those insane ramblings of mages long dead.” Tor’en linked his fingers between upraised knees, his bushy brows soaring upwards as he waited.
“You’re forgetting my visions,” Er’it murmured, casting his gaze toward the door flapping in a gentle breeze. He swore he could smell her still. No doubt her fragrance was ingrained in every fiber, but he imagined the wind brought it to him, guiding him toward her.
A foolish, dangerous notion.
“Could they have been giving warning and not sanction, Er’it?”
“I cannot question deities. They showed me victory and the path I needed to get there.”
“A path bathed in blood.”
“Fitting, when you think on it,” Er’it said, a bitter laugh scalding his throat as he lurched to his feet, measuring the tent with stiff strides. “Born in blood, I’ll end this cursed place with it, especially if I do not find her before…”
