AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His sage-green eyes gaze down at me in concern, his tanned face partially obscured by the shadows. Wherever we are, it’s dark. But that makes sense, because if Blaise was working with Az, she would need somewhere dark to hide during the day.
The ground shakes below me, and it takes me a moment to orient myself, to realize it isn’t the ground at all, but the floor of a wagon.
Az has me tied up in the back of a wagon, one that looks as though it was made to block out the sunlight. The only light in the space comes from a lantern sitting on the floorboard next to Az, who kneels above me, still stroking my cheek.
“I promise it won’t be like this forever,” he whispers. Like I’m a child who doesn’t understand why my wound must be stitched. I want to spit at him, but the gag clogs my mouth. “We’re just too close to the Rip to risk you drawing from its power and speaking. But as soon as we’re back in Naenden, I promise, Asha, the gag goes. I can’t—I hate—seeing you like this,” he says, “but you have to understand, I don’t know how long it will be until the king’s powers over your emotions wear off. You’re safer this way.”
I can’t speak with my mouth, so I give him a piece of my mind with my gaze. Not for the first time in my life, I find myself thankful for my missing eye. It makes it rather easy to communicate fury and disgust.
“I’m sorry, Asha. I really am. You’ll thank me for it later, though. Once his powers over you have worn off.”
I want to scream, want to shriek at Az to untie me, to never ever put his slimy hands on me again. I want to shout that he’s the monster, not Kiran, and that he knows better than to think otherwise.
But I can’t scream. I can’t shout. I can’t do anything that I want.
So I do the opposite.
I calm. I force my anger into submission, and allow a look of relief to overcome my features.
Az looks startled, but then the tears fall from my eye, and he wipes them away.
“Oh, Asha. It’s okay. You’re safe now. I’m going to fix things. I’m going to fix everything.”
It seems he truly believes it.
It seems I’ll have to make him think I believe it, too.
“I want you to know I’ve thought this through,” Az says, caressing my fingers though my wrists are bound in front of me.
My back aches from the constant bumping of the wagon, but Az has reassured me it won’t be much longer. That we are getting close.
“I want you to believe in me again, Asha. I’ve been thinking about you so much over the past year. Every stupid decision I made that cost me your trust. I was foolish, sick on a craving for power, and it blinded me to what I really needed. The only thing that’s ever made me feel whole. I need you, Asha. I’m empty without you.”
I force water to my eye as I watch him. It isn’t all that difficult, given I have a tendency to cry when I’m enraged.
“You see, there was more to my plan than I told you last time we saw each other.”
He means when he betrayed my entire family and also his lover for good measure. It’s probably for the best he has me gagged, because I’m not sure I could keep from tearing into him otherwise.
“I’ve been doing my research on the Rip for the past couple of years. On what sort of creatures stalk the other side of it. They’re massive, Asha. So much so, they almost hunted the fae to extinction.”
I want to say that given such knowledge, he might want to put some thought into what such creatures might do to humans, but alas, I cannot.
“If we could have those creatures under our control, if we could raise an army of them, we could bring the fae to their knees. Their rule would be just a blip in our history. The dark ages tutors will teach future generations because they won’t have to live it. We could win our world back, Asha.”
Or hand this world over to a bloodthirsty race of beasts, a familiar voice says inside of me.
Oh, how glad I am to hear that voice.
My, my, perhaps I should be drugged by vampire venom more often.
We’ll have to add it to our daily diet.
“I know you’re thinking I’m crazy, out of my mind, but I found a way to control them, Asha. And really, it’s so simple. I can’t believe it took me so long to figure out.”
Any chance he’s going to get on with it and tell us what it is?
Doubtful. I don’t think he trusts me that much.
