‘Are you human?’
‘Yes.’
It’s not a lie, at least I don’t think it is.
He nods after a moment.
‘Why do you want sanctuary here?’
I regard him with some measure of surprise. ‘Have you never been to the Dark Realms?’ I ask incredulously.
‘I have,’ he says simply, his bland face betraying nothing.
I’ll bet he’s a good spy, I decide. His face is so unexceptional that not one of his features stands out. Even when he’s noticed, whomever sees him probably forgets what he looks like as soon as he’s gone from their sights.
‘Then you already know why,’ I reply.
‘Answer,’ he grinds out, eyes moving over me as if I’m worth nothing, the way I’ve been looked at for so many years of my life.
Gods, I want more than that. Ineedmore.
‘Look at me!’ I hiss, suddenly angry that I’m having to play these games.
He does, his eyes narrowing.
‘I’ve been a slave since I was a child. I know the worst of the Dark Realms. I want to know the Light. I want to walk up a street and not have to lower my eyes. I don’t want to have to call anyone ‘master’. I don’t want some cunt who owns me to decide whether or not I have babes, whether or not I eat, where I sleep, if I’m allowed to speak, if I’m to live or die. I need my fate to be my own. I wish to build a life. I wish to be free. That is why I’ve come here, and it’s why I should be allowed to remain.’
He steps back and actually rolls his eyes at my impassioned speech and my spirits sink. This is but a pretense, I realize, likely for Locke and Dane, and others in Halsford who think like them, so that they believe the process to be an impartial one. But, as Morgan said on the way here, it’s not fair in the Light either. They have no intention of letting me remain. This is a farce.
I sit back in the chair and observe him.
‘How long must we waste our time in here?’ I ask.
He snorts and doesn’t even bother to lie. ‘A few more minutes, I suppose, to make it appear real.’
We don’t speak again, and the moments tick by. He paces the room, muttering about having better things to do, and then, as if some invisible sandglass has run out, he grabs me hard by the shoulder and hauls me to my feet.
‘Your fate will never be in your hands,’ he snarls. ‘Time to face the destiny that was always to be yours, human. The Dark Realms await your return.’
I let out a cry as his fingers bite into my upper arm, taking his anger out on me for stealing his time, I suppose.
He opens the door to take me back to the Hall, but falls headlong into the corridor hard, Fate wreaking its revenge as I rub my skin where it smarts.
He stands, shaking sense back into his head and holding the side of his face where he must have hit it against the stone wall.
His eyes widen as he looks at me, perhaps properly for the first time.
‘How were you able to lie to me?’ he hisses.
‘I-I didn’t,’ I stammer.
‘You’re no human, but I would hear the truth aloud from your lips.’
I say nothing, and he stares me down before pushing me back across the threshold into the room and shutting us both back behind the wards with a very ominous click.
He pushes me hard into the wall and curses when the sword at his belt falls, scabbard and all, straight down onto his booted toes.
‘Say it!’ he booms, and I cower before him at the sudden change in his demeanor.
