Wiping his soaked, dripping hair back away from his face, he considered all the bits and pieces of his life that had led him to this singular disaster. Finally, he took a slow enough breath in that he could form words. “How long?”
“How long what?” Nadi was watching him carefully, clearly disturbed by his strange behavior. And he did not blame her. He was acting erratically. She wasn’t wearing her glamor, save for her human legs. And in the bizarre, purple glow of the vines that arched along the cavern’s ceiling far overhead, her pale blue-green skin took on an almost iridescent sheen. The way the color reflected in her spilled-oil-black hair was almost hypnotic, like looking at moonlight on water.
How odd to realize that this was how she was supposed to look. Beautiful.Other.Somehow even more alluring than she had been before. He wanted to reach out to her and draw her close. Something about her reminded him of the firebugs that he recalled seeing out the windows of the ruined estate at nights as a small child—ethereal and impossible, too beautiful to be real.
Suddenly, keenly, and violently—hewantedher. Wanted to throw her to the stones and fuck her. To take her right there and sink his fangs into her throat and drink her dry. His little faeassassin. The Serpent’s toy. He wanted to reclaim her and ensure she knew precisely who and what she belonged to.
But he was half-drowned.
And she was holding a pair of bolt cutters like a weapon, staring at him warily. He might be a serpent, but she was no fool and was a dangerous animal in her own right.
He had no desire to get his jaw bashed out of place.
There was a time and place for everything.
The Serpent would have his fae. When she least expected it. Prey had to be hunted, after all. He forced himself to focus on the matter at hand. Where was he?Whenwas he? “How long was I”—he gestured at the silver casket in revulsion—“in that?”
“Five days. Maybe five and a half.” She paused, then added more gently, wrinkling her nose, “I can’t imagine how long it felt. I got away from them as fast as I could.”
Grimacing, he bit back accusations. She wouldn’t have crawled into Mael’s bed. Or Lana’s. That wasn’t like his little murderer.
Five days. It had felt like decades. Like centuries. Like an eternity spent in that silver prison, the water in his lungs keeping him trapped as his body betrayed him with each involuntary attempt to breathe. But the memories, which had once terrified him, now felt…distant and cold.
Like he was looking down into the casket that contained his own, cold corpse at a funeral.
Raziel Nostrom trulywasdead.
He was smiling. He probably shouldn’t be. It was making poor Nadi nervous. He forced his expression into a more neutral one. “You came back for me.” The words felt strange in his mouth. Foreign and impossible. When was the last time someone had come back for him? When was the last time someone had chosen tosavehim rather thandestroyhim? Especially when it was so very clearly the wrong choice.
“You don’t get to die until I say so, Nostrom.” Nadi lifted the bolt cutters and placed them against her shoulder. “We’ve been through this.”
“Trust me, I know.”
She turned her attention to the cavern, and let out a long, wavering breath, taking in the sight around her with an unreadable expression. “We’re in the Deep Wild. Far from the surface. No fae clans live down here. It’ll take us a while to get close to them—and it won’t be easy.”
Naturally.
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, morereal. 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 ofthe 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?”
