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“Oh, that’s to be more accommodating to Nox’s sleep schedule,” Farin says, not helping in the slightest. It’s technically not a lie, though it only barely borders the truth.
“In our homeland, most of the game is nocturnal,” I explain. “Those of us who hunt must do so under the cover of night.”
I’m fairly pleased with my answer until she looks me up and down and says, “Forgive me. You don’t look same as hunter.” Then she turns to Farin. “You look like hunter.”
A smile flickers at Farin’s lips, but his eyes don’t partake. “That was my father. I’m afraid I didn’t inherit his skill.”
It strikes me then that Farin is speaking the truth.
“Hm. Too bad,” she says before looking at her berry-stained, empty hands with a forlorn expression. Then, without warning, she curls up on the ground and goes to sleep.
I decide that when I manage to wake Zora from her enchanted slumber, we’re having a long talk about safety awareness.
Farin retires next, leaning against the cave wall and closing his eyes. I listen to his breath until it slows, though I don’t trust him not to be faking sleep.
I spend the next several hours playing over my plan in my mind, though calling it a plan would probably be more generous than it’s worth. More like the beginnings of a dozen plans, none of them actually taking form, since all of them seem to have unpleasant consequences if they go wrong.
My inclination is still to kill Farin, but there seems to be a fifty-fifty chance that this will send his consciousness back into my body. My body, which resides in the same world as Blaise. That’s not exactly something I’m willing to risk. We seem to be on our way to fulfilling whatever Blaise’s tapestry has in store for us now that we’ve met Zora. Because of the ritual Abra performed on my body, I’m still fairly certain this will end with me waking in my own body, but trapped under Farin’s influence, so I’m less than enthused about his plan.
I could kill myself, hoping that would send my consciousness back to my body, but again, this seems risky, given that if I die here, I don’t know that I won’t die there too. Or worse, die here and allow Farin free rein of my body with me out of the way.
Free to sweep into Blaise’s life and take my place.
There’s a part of me that feels guilty for even thinking that way, for doubting her. For entertaining the idea that Blaise could allow herself to be entranced by a monster like Farin.
But she’s fallen for a monster already, hasn’t she?
She discovered I was a bloodthirsty murderer who preyed on the innocent, and she’d seen herself in me.
There’s a part of me that worries Blaise loves me because of the darkness that haunts me. A part of her that loves that we’re no different. That I understand her.
That same part of me worries that Farin’s darkness might be just as intoxicating, if not more potent.
I try to trust her, but it’s a struggle between the two sides of my consciousness, and I’ve never learned to master the balance.
Besides, there’s no unfeeling her kiss on my lips, hungry and desperate and consuming. But that kiss wasn’t for me.
It was for him.
I know I should give Blaise more credit than that. I know I should have more confidence in her. After all, that kiss hadn’t been without intention. She’d used it to lull Farin into a false sense of security before she pricked him with Gunter’s spindle and sent both of us barreling into this unfamiliar realm.
I asked her to kill me, and instead she bought me more time.
I understand. I really do. But I think maybe understanding, being able to walk myself through the logical sense of things, is different than believing.
It’s the believing I have a difficult time with.
Blaise’s kiss haunts me until the heat of it lulls me into a restless slumber.
I wake to a sharp pain cracking my skull.
CHAPTER 5
BLAISE
“I’m going to help you get him back.”
Evander’s voice startles me; I didn’t realize he’d entered my room. I quickly stuff Nox’s tapestry into my satchel as I pack my things for our upcoming journey to Othian.
