AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I clamp my mouth shut. I worked with him for a long time. There’s something big in it for him.
“We’ll hear your offer,” I say, straightening my back. Elva is staring at him, but her eyes are slits. She doesn’t trust him. I know her well enough to recognize her expressions like this.
“Not so fast, Sprigg. Let me invite you to dinner first.” An unnerving smile spread across his face. He bends down, and magic from his hands skitters across my wrist as he takes hold. I grimace.
I’ve forgotten how much I hate Warlocks.
My former employer pulls me to my feet, but before he can move to touch Elva, I cross in front of him and wrap my arms around her. She is on her feet, but something about her feels feather-light. I don’t like it, but I don’t think commenting on it is wise.
“Come on, friends. I have some new clothes for you. Especially you,” he looks directly at me. “Blue doesn’t suit your complexion.” A gruff laugh escapes him. This is part of the game. He needs to be in a good mood for us to get the best deal possible. I reach deep inside myself, past the intensity and the grief, and find the levity.
“Excuse me?” I feign some sort of offense and smooth my hair. “I’d look good dressed like bird dung.”
He lets out a laugh, and I relax just a bit.
“In fact,” I go on, “one summer solstice…”
The Warlock yelps with wild laughter as I tell the story, but when I glance at Elva, her face is like solid ice. Unmoving, unfeeling. I squeeze her hand and wait.
She doesn’t return the gesture.
We walk down a corridor made of ice and stone, our feet clattering on the stone floor. I am constantly looking over my shoulder to take in Elva. Directly behind her are two guards grasping their weapons menacingly. I want to shout at them.She is resigned; she won’t try to escape.I let out a long breath because the words would fall on deaf ears. They are ready for a fight and will see what they want to do.
Akron leads us to a room. The guards wait outside on both sides of the door while we take in the curtained corners of the space. A wash basin full of steaming water is in the center before us.
“Get clean and put on the clothes over there.” He points to a golden rack with blue dress clothes. I groan. There is a long, revealing dress for Elva and a thickly padded suit for me resembling his outfit. He is out the door with a choppy arm flourish, slamming it against the frame.
“Alone at last,” I drawl to Elva. She looks at me, and the look in her eyes is unreadable. Not even a flicker of amusement passes across her features. It has become unbearable to continue coughing up jokes only to be met with that look.
I cross to her, grab her shoulders, and crush her against my body. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t let you come here alone. I’m sorry.”
“They will kill you. Brutally. And I will spend the rest of my miserable life reliving it.” Her icy eyes look up to take me in. There is no promise of threat; there is just calm, resigned truth.
It coils my insides so tightly that I can hardly stand to be conscious. I want to curl up and sleep, get as far away from this place as possible. For the first time since I’ve gotten here, I understand how dangerous this situation is.
Love has made a fool of us, and it is too late for me to laugh it off and say, “Lesson learned.”
I drop my hands. They are dead weight against my sides.
“Akron will save us,” I say defensively. Never mind that he had tried to kill me before. Surely he will save us now.
“He will not. My mother has done work with him for years. That’s how I got the contract with him.” Elva is speaking more now, which is good. Hopefulness swells in my heart as I savor the sound of her voice, storing it safely in my mind in case she stops again.
“Right then, let’s get dressed before he comes back.”
She nods and moves to the washbasin before undressing in plain view. I avert my eyes. There is no warmth, no heat in the space where we exist now. It is a hole clawing at my chest, hollowing out my insides.
The sound of water splashing against her arms fills the silence as I walk to the clothes.
“Nathan… I love you, too.”
I turn around and find her looking down at the steaming water. The burrowing creature in my stomach stops digging for a moment. For some reason, it feels like I’m in a movie. One of those human romance dramas. There isn’t any way this could be real life.
Except that she is not human and cannot lie.
“Love me… how? Like a friend? Like a brother? Like a toy you played with for a while and then grew bored with?” I know as soon as I speak the words that the questions are unfair, but I have to be sure she feels the same as me. It wouldn’t change my decisions, but it might influence the ones I’m about to dive into.
She inhales deeply, lifting her eyes to mine. She’s crying.
