She pushed on the gate, but he’d latched it shut.
She was too weak, too small …
And she was trapped.
‘Let me out.’
‘Best to keep calm,’ he said. ‘And never turn your back on a predator. Just a little tip.’
At that, she spun.
Her entire body was trembling, head to toe.
For even though the raphon had not moved, even though the dark lump of fur and feathers was still facing the wall opposite her … she knew it was fully aware of her presence. And fast enough to attack, the second it wished.
‘Let me out,’ Ezer begged Kinlear, without turning around. ‘Please.’
‘No,’ he said to her back. ‘Because I believe in the gods. I believe in fate. A little trust in the process, Ezer, and I think you’ll believe, too.’
She hated him.
She hated him so much she wanted to take the blade from his hip, the blade that was to end her … and thrust it into his chest.
Lethimbe the one who died, again and again and again.
That would turn her nightmare into a dream.
‘Please,’ she said one more time.
‘Kinlear,’ Arawn tried. She didn’t turn to face him, but she couldhear the rage in his voice. Careful, controlled. ‘This is madness! Let her out. Try another way.’
She was going to die.
And both men were going to stand back and watch it happen.
‘Trust me,’ Kinlear said.
Arawn practically snarled. ‘The way I trusted you with Soraya?’
That name again.
She risked a glance back as he actually moved to try and open the gate, but Kinlear lifted his cane and placed it on Arawn’s chest.
‘Leave her,’ he said, his voice a low, menacing purr, ‘or defy a direct order from Father. Defy the godsagain,Arawn, and see what becomes of you.’
Ezer locked eyes with Arawn, all her desperation hopefully passed to him.
But his face was pained and broken. His gaze fell from hers as he backed down. As he left her there to die.
No.
This was cruel, this was wrong, this was …
Behind her, the raphon shifted.
She wouldn't have heard it, were it not for the sound of clinking chains. A sound she knew all too well.
And she saw, then, how the beast’s ankles were covered in shackles.
