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The way he kissed me often, combed my hair with his fingers, and read me stories too difficult for me to decipher… There was a gentler side to him whenever he wasn’t busy breaking my legs. If Njala had seen more of it, had not been a plaything but a companion, might she have loved him?
I gave my nod of approval. “I think she might have.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw, quickly hidden beneath the sly curve of a self-satisfied smile. “You think me worthy of love?”
“No,” I said, watching the grin slip off his lips like molasses in winter. “Some two hundred years ago, perhaps, before you turned your back on your duty.”
The sun retreated behind clouds, casting his face in terrifying shadows, but he said nothing.
When he slowed to a walk by the edge of a dense forest, I asked, “Why are we stopping?”
“There is little bone in these woods. We’ll have to ride around it. Follow the trail of the dead so I can call on them should mortals be foolish enough to corner us.”
“Corneryou,” I corrected. “You cursed their loved ones to wander, not me.”
“If the King of Flesh and Bone rides these lands after nearly two centuries, tell me, Ada, what might be the worth of the woman he holds in his arms? If they took her from him, what would the King be willing to do to get her back?” The more I thought about the question, the more I tortured my lips, but I didn’t break skin until he added, “From the moment we left the Pale Court, you were hunted.”
My stomach convulsed, dread seeping into my core, where it clashed with bile. “Is that why you took me with you? To put another shackle on me once I understood that even escape would bring me no freedom?”
That bastard patted my thigh as if rewarding me for a lesson learned. Priests all over the realm called on people to capture Enosh. High Priest Dekalon wouldn’t want a god to ride the lands again, undermining his power and authority. Once word spread of Enosh’s presence, there would be no safety from my own kind… for both of us.
Except at the Pale Court.
That realization sunk in.
Sunk in and festered.
I blinked back useless tears. They neither untwisted bone nor changed how he’d tricked me. “Did you lock her up, too?”
“Njala came and left as she pleased until wicked mortals stole her from me in their never-ending pursuit of power.” A kiss to my head. “You will remain by my side for eternity.”
I stole from me Master.
My fingertips numbed, so I stroked them through the horse’s mane. “That’s why you condemned Orlaigh to your service… She’s the one who stole her?”
“In a lapse of judgment only; otherwise, she would grace my throne like those responsible for Njala’s death.”
Her death.
The more I learned of all this, the less sense it made, mostly because everyone told me something different. What did Orlaigh have to say about this? She once told me that mortals feared what they didn’t understand, and I had no inclination to spend eternity in fear. Who was this creature who held me captive?
A god with no conscience?
A man with a grudge?
His next words came calm, but concise. “Heed my words, little one, you have no friends out here, not anymore. Word will spread of the woman who rides with me, eats with me, beds down with me. The wicked might go to great lengths to get me to remove this… curse, as you call it, stealing you away to use as bait.”
Bait.
My mouth turned dry.
I truly was doomed, wasn’t I?
My voice came out a mere whisper, vocal cords thin. “And how far would you go to see me returned?”
Did I have any value anywhere?
His answer came as the click of his tongue. The horse galloped over the land, hooves thundering so loudly underneath, it almost distracted from the deafening rush of blood in my ears.
