He paused.
His voice… he hadn’t uttered the words in English, but rather inherlanguage. He’d spoken Dohrsaran as clear as day, as if he were fluent, and had been all along. But that was impossible.
She tilted her chin, removing the shadows from beneath the wide brim of her hat. Her eyes were a muddy brown, matching the strange dark streaks in her blue hair. Those eyes fell upon Karr and did not waver as she said, “And yet here you are.”
He understood that, too.
His face scrunched up as he tried to hide his shock.
She sat down, far enough away that his legs, sprawled before him on the rocky ground,could not reach her. But not so far away that she faded into the shadows without her torch.
“Where is Soahm of Soreia?”
More words, in her tongue, that he understood as easily as if she’d uttered them in English. She did not ask it like a question. It was more like a demand, and Karr remembered suddenly that she’d asked the same thing at the Gathering.
He hadn’t known then, so why in the hell would she think he’d know now?
He swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Again, in Dohrsaran.
She nodded once, her face impassive. But she gently slid her sword from her belt, twisting it round in her grip.
“Do you know, Wanderer, why a Soreian warrior gives a weapon a name?”
She ran her fingers across the steel, black with a stripe of blue running down its center. Was she going to kill him in one fell swoop? Or would she play with him first, the way a cat toyed with its food before sinking its teeth in deep?
If Cade were here, their situations swapped, what would he have done?
A mask,Cade always said. A mask to swap out for every situation.
Karr considered this, wishing he were as good an actor as Cade, but one could only work with what one had. And Karr had always had a decent smile. They’d used it to get into plenty of high-profile places on jobs. “I’m not very well versed in the ways of Dohrsar,” he said, placing that smile on his face. A little sideways grin that pulled at the dimple in his cheek. “I’m sure there will be plenty of time for me to learn,while you and I discuss whatever matters you brought me here to…”
Her sword spun in her fingertips.
The blade stopped an inch from his eyes.
“We give a weapon a name,” she said, “so that when it slays a man, he will remember it. Even in death.”
Perhaps the smile was a bad idea.
“Lazaris,” she said, flashing a grin that looked more like a snarl. “That is her name.”
Perhaps hewasto be her prey.
Karr’s hands began to shake, the fear spreading all the way down to his toes.
“Why am I here?” he asked, willing his nerves to settle, his heart to steady. “You asked me if I knew about this Soahm.” He tried to think back on the memory of that night. The chaos, the fire, the screams and Cade’s fury before Karr sank into that world of darkness and light. “You asked me and I told you I did not.”
“People lie. Especially Wanderers.”
“I don’t know a man named Soahm,” Karr said. “Iswear.I’ve never been to your planet, and I don’t even captain the damned ship. You’ve got the wrong prisoner if your goal is to find answers.”
This time it washisturn to glare at her.
Because God help him, suddenly Karr was no longer afraid. He was furious.
He’d died. He’ddiedbecause of this girl, but a miracle had brought him back.
“Why did you stab me?” he asked. It was the question that had plagued him more than the truth about the place he’d sunk towards in death. And if there was anything he knew about circumstances such as these,it was that you had to keep your captor talking. Or, at least… Karr thought you did.
