The look she gives me is disbelieving. ‘I think I have a question. Would you answer it?’
‘Go on.’
‘I’ve been wondering, what did I do to you that would make you hate me so, Locke? Was it just because I’m a slave? Or is it more personal perhaps? Were you angry that your friends seemed to like me? Is that why you continue with all this? Trying to make me believe you so that you can rip it all away again? Or is it just that you love the feeling of it, of hurting me?’
She taps her head. ‘I heard of masters like you in The Barrack, you know. Many times. The ones that like to play with our minds, or emotions, to break us completely. You caught me off guard once, but I’m not a fool. I won’t let you again. You should just get the final reveal over with. Show me my new life as a slave. You’re wasting your time with this charade.’
She keeps walking as I stop and stare at her back.
‘Bryn,’ I whisper after her, wishing I hadn’t made so many mistakes with her, but she doesn’t stop, likely preparing herselffor more cruelties from me, or others. Maybe for someone to jump out of the trees, declare her an escaped slave, and cart her to a block for her punishment on my orders.
My stomach rolls and I stride after her, catching up as the main thoroughfare of Halsford comes into view. It’s larger now even than it was the last time I was here, over two seasons ago. The tavern, one of the first buildings to be rebuilt after the fire, is now larger. There are two bakeries, more than one smithy, and even the Trading Post looks bigger somehow.
I steer us in the direction of the Hall, the tallest building here, of course, a tribute to the Underhill’s love of rules and regulations these days.
‘We have to go to the Council Hall first,’ I tell her. ‘I’m not allowed to keep the amulet and they’ll…’Want to know about you. Who you are. Where you’re from. If you’re a dangerous Dark Realmer.
But I don’t say any of that. I don’t want to scare her, and I know I can get Dane to circumvent the rules for her once I explain. He doesn’t like them either. She need not worry about the morrow once we’ve seen him.
‘…want to speak to you,’ I finish.
She shrugs. ‘Of course, my lord.’
I grimace.My lord. How I hate that moniker.
The large stone building looms in front of us, the house attached to the side of it where Dane and his family live looking much more inviting than the governing chambers. But the rules must be followed. The Hall first.
‘The others will be close by,’ I say to Bryn in case she still thinks they aren’t here. ‘They have to pretend they didn’t see you, though. They weren’t meant to travel to the Dark Realms without permission. It would be best if you didn’t mention it.’
She gives me a nod, her mask fully on her blank face. Her eyes are cast down as we walk up the stone steps and enter withher behind me. Even when I shorten my steps so she can catch up, she stays back.
As a slave would.
Inside, we find Dane sitting at the long Council members’ table with a goblet of wine, reading a pile of parchments as he often is.
When he hears the door, he looks up wearily, and then does a double take when he realizes it’s me.
‘My friend!’ he exclaims, standing and coming around the table with a wide grin to greet me. ‘We hadn’t heard from you. It’s been weeks. When Morgan and Jak returned and you didn’t after a few days…well, we thought the worst. Are you well?’ He eyes my face, still bruised despite the potion I drank yesterday. ‘Do you need a healer? I could request Jak?—’
I almost laugh out loud. Likely Jak would give me some potion to make me sick to my stomach and inflame my bowels for days instead of a healing vial, if he had the chance.
But I simply put my hand up to stay Dane’s words.
‘I’m well enough, thank you. I could just use some rest. Secondly,’ I hold out the amulet and he takes it from me.
‘My thanks. You know how they begin to worry when these fucking things are out in the wild, even if they do only lead here now. I’ll put it in the lock box directly and it’ll be returned to the Underhill by one of the enforcers in the morning so they don’t come knocking at your door for it.’
‘I’d be most appreciative,’ I say with a small roll of my eyes. ‘The last thing I need at the moment is to be interrogated by Voss or Avendel because I forgot to return a bloody bauble.’
Dane chuckles, though it sounds a little forced to my ears. Now isn’t the time to get the past six months’ worth of news though.
‘I’ll give the Council my full report in the morning,’ I promise, and he nods, looking relieved that I’m not going to request thatthey convene tonight. ‘But the mission was a success. I believe I have information that will prove useful.’
Dane grasps my shoulder, looking even more relieved now. ‘That’s good news. There are some who grow impatient with what they see as a lack of progress. They consider Fiana to be too great a threat to the Underhill. They want her captured or dead as soon as possible.’
I raise a brow. Now isn’t the time for politics either, but it’s becoming plain to see that the Underhill is only lending its help to our cause to save the Light Realmers from the Dark because they’re afraid that Fiana, like Varrik, will find her way to the Underhill and try to destroy it. They don’t give a fuck about humans being stolen from the Light, and they aren’t even bothering to hide it anymore.
‘I agree,’ I say.
