AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And do not mistake my generosity for favor,” he spoke in a hushed voice. “I saved you once, but I’ll happily watch you perish next time.”
I writhed beneath him, trying to free myself from the snare of his fingers. “There won’t be a next time.”
“So be it.”
He pushed off my wrists and stalked away from my bruised and battered body. I watched as he crossed the clearing with his back facing me the whole way, never turning around to witness me awkwardly stand to my feet. White hair tousled as his wings began to stir up wind, preparing to ascend.
“Wait!” I shouted after him above the whirr of the air. He cocked his head back at my command, more out of curiosity than obedience.
“What?”
“You never answered my questions.” My voice sounded pathetically small.
He pressed his lips in a tight line, hiding the pleasure my curiosity gave him. I tried not to laugh at the perfect handprint growing a vicious red on the side of his face.
“Why? Why did you save me?” I repeated.
He turned around completely to look me dead in the eyes, yet only offered a shallow shrug. “I wanted to.”
I swallowed back a nervous breath. Not exactly the answer I was anticipating. My intuition wanted to believe him, but my experience reminded me people were never quite so simple. But then again, this guy wasn’t human. “You don’t want something from me? You’re not going to threaten me or try to take advantage of the fact you saved my life?”
“Wha… No.” He winced. “Has no one ever helped you just out of the kindness of their heart?”
I shook my head. My life was usually a favor for a favor, an arm for a leg, no free handouts expected, especially when it came to something as serious as life or death. Favors meant strings attached, and I didn’t like playing anyone’s puppet. He gave me a half smile out of pure pity. “No, I do not expect anything in return for saving you. But if you’re offering something, I’d gladly accept.” He finished with a wink.
I crossed my arms, feeling uneasy at the situation, like I was still somehow in his debt. “And you? If you’re not a vampyre, who are you?” There was no chance I missed the lecture over winged creatures with faces molded by the divines themselves. Our instructors taught us many things in our brief lessons about the outside world. We were taught on aneed-to-knowbasis concerning anatomy, horticulture, taxonomy, religion, and—my favorite—history. There was nothing in the books on this guy.
The corner of his mouth lifted, as if reading my thoughts. “My name is Azriel. I’m a watcher, one of the many secrets I’m sure the queen has spared you knowledge of.”
My chin dipped in a slow nod as I rubbed the pointed edge of my elbow that had twisted during the fall. “She might have forgotten to mention…Watchers.” Queen Eivor apparently liked to keep her runners in the dark, both figurately and literally.
“And yet you still run back to her.” He cocked his head slightly in question, as if trying to understand me better.
“Like I said before, I have no other choice.” My gaze focused on his eyes, where his emotions seemed to speak clearest. There was a sadness there, a look of disappointment no one had ever given me before. I didn’t know if I liked his compassion or resented it.
“What if you did?”
My heart raced at the idea, sending a cold sweat down my back and a twitch across my palms. I would’ve left the mountain a long time ago if I knew for certain there were other ways to survive in this world. “Don’t tease me, Watcher. There is nothing besides the eternal night beyond the mountain.”
“More lies,” he said with a small smile. “What would you risk to discover the truth?”
I was transfixed by his words, bewitched by the suggestions he was throwing across the space between us. “I would do anything to survive without her,” I simply replied. Because it was true.
“You sound like someone who wants to die.”
“Not at all. I want tolive,” I replied with steadfast conviction. “Loren always said I’d kill myself trying.” I said his name without thinking, after all, this guy had no idea who I was talking about.
But his eyes grew wide at the mention of the name, and he gradually started back to where I was still standing, each step slow and precise against the decayed earth. “What did you say your name was?”
I retreated from his strides, letting my feet fall at a similar pace. “I didn’t.”
A small smile danced on his lips. “Arya?”
My heart raced into full panic mode now. “How… How do you know my name?”
He stopped his advance, abruptly halting in the center of the clearing as I stood just paces away. His wings stretched wide in anticipation for flight. “Meet me here after your visit to Grimsbane. Find out what you can about the Dark Army and their latest mission and report back to me. Do this, and I will tell you everything you desire to know about the world beyond your mountain.” He crouched slightly, bending his knees in preparation to pounce. “It was lovely meeting you, Arya. I look forward squabbling again with you soon.”
5
