Until the crystal chalice situation. Though that didn’t explain the very first time they’d met.
“And Eldric?” she asked. “Is he royalty, then?”
Tarian shook his head. “He’s in the order of scribes. It’s a subsection of fae who devote their lives to knowledge. If they rise high enough in the order, magic burns their irises.” He paused. “Daisy, listen, there’s something about…our next steps that you should know.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “How many secrets do you have?”
“A great many.”
In fairness, she was sitting on a big one as well.
“You go first,” he whispered.
She wanted to move closer. Hell, she wanted to cuddle up next to him, her skin flush with his. But this needed to be hashed out. They needed to make plans.
She pulled her hand back and threaded her fingers together to focus. The sheet was still at his waist, his defined and tattooed torso on full display, distracting her.
He moved a pillow behind his head, sitting up to rest against the headboard. Getting comfortable for their talk. She watched the play of muscle as he did so before swallowing, her mouth suddenly dry. It was almost painful how much she wanted him. To taste him. To take him deeply into her body until neither of them could focus on anything but the other.
She inhaled and tried to get her head in the game. “Eldric had a side conversation with me in the hallway while he was talking to you.” She told him essentially what had been said, and ended with her potential for a choice. Her potential for a power that was useful toher, not just to someone else.
“I heard that conversation, yes. I also heard your thoughts about it,” he said when she’d finished.
Her eyes widened. “He said it would be safe in my head. That his kind know all, but don’t share all.”
“Yes, that is usually the way of it. ‘As the gods will it,’ he always says. Well, it seems the gods are giving him the same fucked-up treatment they arewillingon us. Usually, mindgazer magic won’t work on his kind?—”
“And a scribe is actually different from a fae?” They looked the same.
Images, emotions, and, most of all, information flashed through her head. Eldric the Timeworn, he was called. All of Faerie produced such beings, no matter the kingdom or station in life—someone with more capacity for mental information storage, a better grasp on difficult concepts, a master of many dialects, cultures, and languages, and someone who could endure a mental transformation that turned them into a different kind of fae. No one knew what that transformation entailed unless they’d been through it, because to fail was to die.
They thought of themselves asapartfrom fae. They were the protectors of information that in turn protected the realm, as the gods willed.
They sounded like genius, scroll-hoarding zealots, but whatever.
Tarian spat out a laugh. “They are, in many respects. I am warning you, they are very literal creatures. Your humor will not register.”
“Half the time you laugh at things I say that aren’t jokes, so maybe that’ll be refreshing,” she drawled. “So you knew all of that? You heard him say I should see him as soon as possible, without your knowing—that I’d have a choice to help or not—all of that, and you left me to my own devices in here?”
One of his shapely eyebrows lifted. “Do you assume I have any control over you? I recall one instance in particular where you stabbed me with my own knife. I knew instinctively, early on, that you’d need to choose your path. I tried to force you where I could, and it always backfired. It was when I offeredyou a choice, and you chose to help, that we were most effective. That we lived through obstacles that would’ve killed most. You’ll remember that I let you talk yourself out of running after I arrived at the camp. I didn’t restrain you when you could’ve run through the portal. You are smart enough to stay alive. I figured last night would be no different.”
“You had your people—fae, whatever—watching, though, right? Just in case?”
“Obviously. I’m not a fool. Your unpredictability is endearing…until it is a pain in my ass.”
She huffed out a laugh. Then she licked her lips, unsure, studying his face. “And so you already knew the other half of the chalice magic has the ability to nullify magic?”
“No. I only knew there was something more to the magic. The texts have vague references to an additional element of the power. When I asked about it, Eldric verbally did what scribes always do when they don’t want to answer a question—spout enlightened nonsense until I was so bored I gave up. They think they are so very intelligent, but study with enough of them and you learn their tricks. His mind would then usually clue me in, but in those instances, I couldn’t hear his swirling thoughts over the din of his verbal nonsense. I couldn’t make out what the additional magic was. I assumed it had something to do with the setup of the chalices. But I could never find the answer.”
“Until he outright told me. You wereallowedto hear it that time.”
“Yes, and it was for the best. I’m not sure how I would’ve handled things if I’d known you could cut out my magic and stab me in my sleep. I would’ve been a lot more…strict with you. I realize now it would’ve backfired. There is no way you would’ve softened to me if I had remained hard with you. We wouldn’t be in this situation we’re in now, where you are consenting totrap yourself to me because of vengeance and plain bad decision-making.”
“Let’s get one thing clear—it’s also because you’re hot and incredibly desirable. But yes, there has been a lot of bad decision-making when it comes to you.”
“So…” He studied her again. “When you figure out how to nullify magic, what will you choose? Are my days numbered?”
He was surely joking. She’d seen his sword work.
