"I need to hear your voice, Prince," Draven told him. "I need to hear the confirmation that you can do this."
Dorian was glad Draven was talking low enough that no one else in the crowded square could hear him. "I remember what to do," Dorian managed.
"Firmly," Draven said. "With the same confidence you banter to these women with."
A small smile rose on Dorian's face as he looked up at the King, and Draven gave him a subtle wink. His arms settled over his muscular chest, and Draven waited for Dorian to speak.
Dorian straightened, a deep inhale piercing his lungs, and he locked eyes with Draven. "I remember how to kill the Infi," he said, his voice stronger. "I can do this on my own."
A whispered smile quirked on Draven's lips. "You don't have to shout," Draven mocked. "Kill the bastard then if you're so eager."
Dorian almost laughed, and Draven returned the crooked smirk, merely nodding at him before clapping his shoulder and walking away.
He didn't realize he was tossing his knife up and over in his hand until Reverie spoke.
"I will never understand how you can smile at such moments as these," she muttered, bringing him back to reality.
"I was just thinking of the Infi at Scindo," he replied, and he met her blank eyes. "Were you there for that execution?"
Reverie seemed to have forgotten how to talk. She stilled, gaze dissipating down at the creatures, and Dorian frowned at her.
"Rev?"
She blinked, but her eyes didn't leave the Infi creatures on the ground. "I was there," she managed. "The Infi you killed was the one my father kept beneath our home."
Dorian balked. "What?"
"What are you talking about?" Corbin asked, coming to stand beside Dorian.
Reverie didn't look away, but a lone tear stretched down her cut cheek. "The one you killed... It had not come in the middle of the night the week before as my father told you," she said, her words flat and emotionless, as though she were numb from the inside out. As though she refused to let emotion settle in her bones.
"That creature had been living in our basement for ten years," she continued. "Chained to the wall. When my father found out other towns had been infiltrated with Infi, he didn't want it to seem like our village was the only one that didn't have a problem. So he brought it up. And he let you kill it."
Dorian remembered the Infi that had been brought forward in her village. How it had slashes and burns on it. Its wrists red with cuff marks. Slashings on its back as though someone had used it for target practice. He remembered Draven giving it a long stare, but he had not questioned it before allowing Dorian to take care of the creature.
"Why would your father keep an Infi beneath your home?" Dorian asked, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.
Reverie didn't look at them.
She crouched down in front of the one she'd caught herself, and she used her knife to tilt its head.
"To train me," she said softly. "To punish me." Her knife dropped along with her head."Seeing all of them today… Walking around that town so freely, like they owned it. They had no care of needing to be shifted. And that eerie silence... It reminded me of the times I was locked beneath our home with it. There was one corner it could not reach with the chains. I would have to fight it to get to the corner. But once I did, it would sit a few feet away from me and stare. Just...Stare. Crosslegged on the floor. Hands in its lap. Breathing like a scared, dying animal. Sometimes it sat all the way at the very edge of the chain just inches from me. It never slept. That yellow gaze constantly poured into my own like it could own me if I looked at it for too long."
A rage filled Dorian, but he stifled it, knowing she was not telling them this so that he could get angry. It was then Dorian remembered the claw marks on her throat, and he realized why she'd been holding her neck the night before. She'd been so covered up with furs in the mountains, he'd nearly forgotten about them.
"How old were you when it clawed you?" he asked.
Reverie rose from the ground, and she finally met his eyes. "Thirteen.”
Dorian pushed back the shudder over his body and moved his hands through his hair.
She turned again to the Infi. "This one goes first," she said firmly.
Dorian knew by her tone that it was an end to the conversation about her past. And he respected her enough that he wouldn't push her. He couldn't imagine how difficult it was for her to reveal it, and the fact that she'd trusted both he and Corbin meant more to him than if she'd only trusted him.
With one step, he came flush to her side, and he gave her arm a squeeze just above her elbow. She stepped back as he crouched down and held his knife ready.
"I want both of you to be ready in case something goes wrong," he said without looking back. "Stay together."
