Either way, I’ve had to tuck Kiran’s gift away, as well as the black adamant box I’ve stuffed into my bags.
Just in case I happen upon Abra again.
Just in case the parasite, who now resides within Abra, needs to be contained.
Az watches me intently as he holds open the flap to the back of the wagon. “They’ll be safe with me. You know that, don’t you?”
“As long as I do as you ask,” I say, cutting my eyes away from him and tucking my hands into my pockets, as if I have need of the extra warmth.
Az puts his hand on my shoulder, and rather than squirm away from his touch, I snap my teeth at him. He appears undeterred. He knows I want his help badly enough to control myself around him, even if his blood does smell delicious, but he removes his hand from my shoulder all the same.
The wagon is tucked within the cover of pines that border the north side of Ermengarde castle. I carried the two bodies out here by myself. They think our initial plans for transporting the bodies have changed, that instead I’ve hired a mercenary to protect the bodies while I’m away. Though I’m fairly certain the idea makes at least Evander nervous, he’s walking on eggshells around me, so he hasn’t argued too much about it.
Besides, Kiran seems convinced that the amount of coin he offered couldn’t be outbought, ensuring Nox’s and Zora’s safety until we can find Abra, or until Kiran can send his personal envoy to look after them. At least I’d convinced him not to try to bring them back to Othian with us.
Of course, Nox’s and Zora’s bodies won’t be here when the envoy arrives.
“We’re going to get them back,” Az whispers to me, and for a moment, he actually manages to sound comforting.
I don’t know why it’s so much easier to believe when Az says it than when Evander says it. Perhaps because Az actually possesses the ability to carry it out.
Because he’s right.
We are going to get them back.
I’m going to get them back.
All it will take is Asha opening the Rip, the magic emanating from such a monumental event enough to sever Farin’s soul from Nox’s body.
And then I can finally let the tapestry run out, hopefully allowing Nox to wake up.
I just have to make sure the tapestry doesn’t write his death before then.
“Any intel you’ve been able to gather while the three of you’ve been stuck up in that castle?” Az asks, returning to business now that he’s spent his best efforts comforting me.
I shake my head, biting my lip and staring at the wagon, listening for Nox’s shallow breathing.
Az frowns. “Nothing?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I can’t help it if Kiran isn’t exactly the sharing type.”
“Maybe. But from what you tell me of Evander, he is.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean Kiran shares anything with him, either. I’ve already told you all I know. They have their sights set on Abra, which should be good news for you.”
Az levels a stare at me, and I force myself to meet it, even though it makes me feel as if he’ll see right through me.
But then something like sadness overcomes his expression, an anxiety I only get glimpses of.
“What?” I ask him.
His huff of air causes steam to appear in the chilled air before him. “It’s just that things would be so much easier if I could find a way to depose him.”
“You don’t think an army of Others will be enough?” I ask skeptically, hoping to get a tad more information about how Az plans to control said Others once the Rip is opened. So far, he hasn’t clued me in on many details of his plan, though I assume he has that part covered. Still, it would be comforting to know for sure that I’m not aiding someone in releasing a band of predators into Alondria unleashed.
“I just…” Az stares at the ground, tracing a path into the snow with the heel of his boot. “I just want to ensure she makes it out of this safely. Blaise, anything you know that could get her away from him…” He looks as if he’s about to choke on anguish.
The air chills in my lungs. “I thought you said you and Asha no longer saw eye to eye.”
Az frowns. “We don’t. But it shouldn’t be that way. He has a power, Blaise. The abominable type. One he shouldn’t have. One that allows him to control her.”
The memory of illusory comfort and ease washes over me, but it’s been diluted by time. It’s not as if I can access the feeling again. The feeling when Kiran picked me up and carried me out of my father’s manor, plunging me into a blissful peace before he deposited me back at Othian castle.
It seemed a kindness then, and I’m not entirely ready to say that it wasn’t.
Despite that, it’s a dangerous power, being able to control the emotions of others. “You think he uses that power to keep her in love with him.”
Az’s gaze snaps toward me. “Is there another option? It’s not as if Asha could love a monster like him.”
Somewhere inside, my heart crunches like the topmost layer of ice beneath our feet.
“I suppose only monsters love monsters,” I concede, finding my gaze drifting back to the wagon.
It doesn’t seem fitting, with everything I know about Kiran, that he’s controlling Asha’s emotions like that. But how much do I really know about Kiran?
I know he’s searching for a solution to Asha’s mortality. I can’t think of another reason he’d be researching liquid moonlight in the library. I also know he’s doing so in secret, without alerting her to his actions. On one hand, that seems like the actions of a male who would force a woman to love him, assuming he plans to make her immortal without her permission. On the other hand, if he’s controlling her emotions, why hide it from her when he could simply make her want immortality?
Unless he’s not completely aware of what he’s doing to her.
