I exhaled and allowed my shoulders to drop. “Please, can I have some food, C’ael?”
He arched a brow, his lips twitching as if holding back a smile.
“What?”
“If you think you can use me to somehow get out of this place, then you’re sorely mistaken. There is no leaving here withouthisconsent.”
A spark of irritation flared in my chest. “Really? The devouring force seems to have managed just fine in his absence.”
“Things are different now.” He crossed the room to the table and returned with a plate holding grapes, berries, and small hunks of hard cheese. “I can’t be your ally, but I can be a friend.”
I looked up at him in surprise. “Why would you think that I’d consider making you an ally?”
“Because I know how you think,” he said.
I glanced up at him. “Youknowhow I think?”
He frowned slightly as if only now considering his words. “I guess I do.”
“You don’t know me, so how can you possibly know how I think?”
His brow cleared. “No. I don’t, buthedoes.” He smiled down at me. “Eat up and we can take a walk. All your questions will be answered soon enough.”
C’ael ledme from my cozy room into a network of tunnels.
The walls were smooth rock, as if polished down, not natural passageways. The ground was wooden floors. This place was definitely man-made, or god-made, or whatever.
“Where are we?”
“Inside a mountain,” he said.
“What mountain?”
He chuckled softly. “None that has a name. None that can be found, so you can save yourself time trying to extract theinformation. This place is hidden by powerful forces and has been so for eons. That won’t change any time soon, not unless he wills it.”
“What is he? This…primordial evil.”
“You can ask him yourself when you speak to him later, but for now…” He pushed open a wooden door, and amber light spilled into the gloomy tunnel. “Come meet the others.”
He ushered me into a vast chamber housing a market square lined with stalls and stores. Huge globular lights hung from a high ceiling, casting enough light for it to feel like it was daytime. Children’s laughter rang in the air, rising above the splash and tinkle of a pretty fountain that was a feature spot in the center of the square. People milled about. Hair in various shades of blue, green, or silver. Skin like burnished copper, golden brown, pale, or tinged red or blue.
Djinn…These were djinn. And among them walked others…Beings who glowed slightly. Powerfully built men and women. Asura?
“This is Old Haven,” C’ael said. “It’s the size of a small village created to house the djinn and Asura whoyoucall the devouring force.”
“I don’t understand. Where are the revenants?”
“They have their own area,” C’ael said. “They’re well taken care of. You do know what they are, right?”
“I was told they were born Asura who’d been infected and turned by the devouring force.”
He snorted softly. “Partly right. They’re oath-breakers. Asura who made a vow and then went against their word. Their touch can spread the curse to other oath-breakers. I’m surehewill explain it all. Come…”
Mind reeling with the evidence of my eyes, I allowed him to lead me through the market, past stalls of sizzling food, beads and scarves, and tiny wooden carvings. This place reminded meof the night market that Chandra had taken me to, except here, djinn and Asura stopped to stare at me, their curiosity open and raw.
“Nothing to see here,” C’ael said loudly, his lithe form cutting a path through the crowd.
I stayed close, his fresh scent guiding me through spicy aromas promising delights that would burn the roof of my mouth.
