Red eyes were buried under the misty cowl, but bits of his gray skin were visible, not so shielded. His golden rope, which disappeared into the distance, was tattered and weak.
But the new strand that fashioned between us during the rank melding was thicker and stronger.
I looked away from the unwanted golden rope tying me to a monster, more vengeful than afraid. “Why him? He does not have craft and he isn’t selfish or cruel. The prince is no threat to you.”
Billows of darkness rolled over Skul Drek’s shoulders in greater swells, and I was beginning to think the heaviness of his shadows was his only tell of emotion, a source of feeling. Cruel or gentle, I couldn’t know. He’d left me in peace to work, but still studied me like he craved the sight of my blood.
“Four souls were stolen, four souls must take their place. It is not a matter of choice, but purpose.” There was tension in the rasp of Skul Drek’s voice, like he spoke through his teeth.
I followed his burning gaze to the bone under my hands. Perhaps it was the exhaustion from a day of worry, perhaps it wasanger that the prince—who’d been kind and safe—had been harmed, but I faced Skul Drek, fists tight at my sides. “Then change your damn purpose. He deserves to live, you bastard. Give one soul away, even this once.”
Skul Drek took a moment to speak. “Perhaps.”
Was he complying or mocking me?
“What do you want? You attack without care, slaughter men with lives, homes, with people who love them. You’re amonster.”
“Like you will be.”
I looked down at the threads of golden light fastening my heart to his. With a cry of frustration, I pulled and yanked, desperately trying to be free of him.
“You’re keeping me here with you.” I bared my teeth. “Is that what happens when I meld? Is this how my heart is corrupted? You destroy me.”
For a long pause, Skul Drek said nothing. “You brighten the dark. It calls to me, it reminds me…”
The shadows of his form shifted, as though he turned his back on me.
Bursts of warmth cut through the cold. I was falling back. I made a move to turn away, but let out a scream when all at once, Skul Drek’s phantom was a mere pace away. The cruel shade of his eyes pierced through me, like he’d never seen me before.
“Melder.” The word hissed against my skin, a scent of brine and sea, as though a storm made the shadows. “Not all is as it seems.”
My chin trembled. “The prince did not deserve your wrath.”
“Then the Thief King must stop the search.”
“Tell me what he wants me to find, then.”
Another hesitation, another pause. The rope keeping Skul Drek chained to the darkness flickered, almost growing dimmer.He faced me again. “Hear me—let him rest. More blood spills if he does not rest.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” I tilted my head, watching as the great Draven assassin—or the ghost of him—looked about, almost like he expected an attack from behind. I followed his gaze into the unknown darkness. “Are you…are you protecting something? Does that strand of craft that holds you lead to something hidden?”
“Something hidden.” Skul Drek’s words were jagged as broken glass. “Not all is as it seems, Melder.”
There was something of power here. Something King Damir wanted. Something Skul Drek did not seem entirely free to mention.
“What is here? What is the king looking for?”
Skul Drek faded more into his darkness while the heat of the bedchamber called me back.
But his final words cut against my heart like the crack of a lash. “The Wanderer.”
29
Roark
Emi slept, curled on apad of fur on the floor near the foot of the bed. She did not want to leave Thane.
I didn’t blame her.
