“You’re scary,” I managed to say.
“Not as much as the tale of the Soulless Man. Why would they say I sneak into little girls’ rooms to braid their hair at night if they don’t wash it before sleeping? Again, why would I lurk under beds and lick people’s ankles if they don’t sleep? Very deranged and insulting.”
A startled laugh ripped out of me, my body folding over. I clutched my stomach as the absurdity hit. Never in my life did I imagine hearing those words from the Soulless Man himself. And never did I think he’d be so disgusted with them. I knew those tales were exaggerated and he didn’t actually do them. But watching him confirm it was something else.
“Whenever I lied, my nanny would tell me you steal the tongues of liars and string them on trees?”
His brows arched. “That is the most creative one yet.”
When my laughter subsided, he asked, “How did you find out?”
Slowly, I raised a hand and touched the back of my neck, indicating what I’d seen on his own nape. “Here.”
“The mark?”
I nodded.
His eyes narrowed slightly. “How did you know what it means? I don’t think there’s a book out there that does.”
“Well,” I said, lips tugging. “There’s one. The only one. Written by someone’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. I was lucky enough to read it that night. Before that, I’d seen it on the archer’s nape, and my brain connected the two of you together.” I locked eyes with him. “You were the archer, right?”
Slowly, he nodded.
“And that wasn’t a dream?”
He nodded again.
“It happened, like, over one thousand years ago.”
He confirmed again by nodding.
“Before the moon’s wrath.”
Another nod.
Heat crawled across my skin, my pulse hammering. “She was the moon’s offspring you...killed.”
He hesitated, then nodded.
My breath stumbled out raggedly. “Why did something like that come to me as a dream? It happened in reality. And yes, it did feel like I didn’t belong there. Why did I see something that happened those years ago?”
He leaned back, his gaze unreadable. “Maybe too much interaction with me?”
I frowned, but then it would actually make sense like that. It was unsettling but believable. Nimorran itself breathed with magic, and I was sharing space with a man from over a thousand years ago. My dreams bending around him almost made sense. Almost.
“Your third question.” His voice cut through the fog of my thoughts.
My mind suddenly snagged on the day the box of beads had stopped, as though time had paused for it. “That day with the beads, itwas you, right? You stopped that box. I read in the book that your kind possessed magic.”
He chuckled softly. “I, in fact, did not stop time. I can’t stop time.”
My brows pulled together. “So…telekinesis?”
He nodded. “I can move things with my mind. My control slipped when you panicked and tried to reach for it. Last question.”
A reckless spark lit in me, and I pointed at the plates, trying and failing to smother my smile. “Not a question. More like a request. Can you lift the plates with your mind? Show me.”
His eyes narrowed. “You can only ask questions.”
