Did something happen to her while I was gone?
“Talk to me,” I say quietly.
“Ravager, I need you to do something for me, without asking questions.”
“Anything.”
She laughs brokenly. “I really hope you mean that. Because I need you to help me destroy Annordun and everything in it.”
14
When Ravager leaves me alone in the room with Drosselmeyer’s possessions, I don’t even try to get free.
I just lie there, too empty for tears.
The rage I felt at his departure was almost a relief, but it didn’t last. Once I saw him disappear through the hole, I felt as if every emotion was wiped right out of me. All I can do is stare ahead, eyes fixed, yet unfocused.
Whether he intends to come back to me or not, he likely won’t survive out there in Annordun alone.
He’s gone. Maven is gone. Boulder and Flex are gone. Scriv is gone, good riddance.
Even if I did make it home, nothing would be the same. So what’s the point?
What is the fucking point?
My mind has gone dull and blank. I am too deeply hurt to feel the hurt anymore, like when the nerves in a damaged limb have been thoroughly destroyed. It’s as if Maven churned up everything inside me, and then Scriv scooped it all out and dumped it at my feet, leaving me hollow.
In the emptiness, I begin to hear a tiny voice. A familiar refrain, one that’s haunted me again and again since I was a child.
It’s all your fault.
Of course my crew wouldn’t want to stay with me. Of course they don’t understand me. People usually like me at first, but once I let them in past a certain point, they inevitably turn away.
It’s not them. It’s me. Something about me is wrong, different, unlikable, unlovable.
I want to rage at them. I want to feel aggrieved and offended. I want to crave vengeance. But I simply can’t summon the energy for any of it.
“I give up,” I whisper. “I’m fuckingdone.”
“That’s unfortunate,” says a cool voice. “And after I went to so much trouble to bring you here.”
I turn my head, trying to see who’s speaking. The next second my ropes untie themselves and slide away. An unseen force lifts me upright and deposits me on my feet. I stay put where I’m placed, scarcely daring to breathe.
A tall man in golden robes stands a half-dozen steps away from me. His skin is a smooth, pale green. Wavy emerald hair curls around his pointed ears and cascades far past his shoulders. His arms are gigantic, and his stance radiates a commanding power that makes me want to collapse helplessly where I stand.He’s watching me with keen silver eyes beneath dark green brows.
“Lord Steward,” I say faintly.
The Faerie’s lip curls. “I am no Steward. I am Nocturis of the Wild Hunt.”
“The Wild Hunt…” I hesitate, trying to recall Maven’s stories. The termWild Huntsounds vaguely familiar, but my brain is too paralyzed by shock and fear to conjure up any specifics. “I’m not familiar with that term.”
He waves a bejeweled hand, as if it doesn’t matter. “My dealings with you and Ravager are of a different nature than my usual interactions with humans. I was gifted a vision of you by the god-star whom I serve. He assured me that you were the ideal candidates to carry out a task for us. Two desperate and volatile humans who, when thrown together, would create widespread destruction within this fortress.”
“Why would you want this place destroyed?” I ask.
“The Stewards in charge of Annordun have been conspiring together and deceiving their rulers,” he replies. “They are preserving artifacts and creatures that should be destroyed, all for the purpose of working on a project that, if allowed to continue, would be cataclysmic for this realm and others.”
“So why not inform their rulers of this? Why not kill the Stewards or destroy this place yourself?”
