Nadi held his gaze, unflinching. He could see the calculation behind those opalescent eyes—weighing what to tell him, what to conceal. Finally, the words hanging in the air like the daggers she loved to wield, she spoke. “They want me to kill you.”
Despite having anticipated this, hearing it spoken aloud sent a cold sensation rippling through him. Not fear—he’d long since had that beaten out of him—but something else. Something almost like disappointment.
No. Worse than that.
Rejection.
“Both of them? Separately?” He kept his tone and his face neutral.
“Yes and no. I think they’re working separately most of the time, but together for a single goal at the moment.” She moved past him to pour herself a glass of alcohol, her movements fluidand precise. “Mael approached me first. He claims he wants to protect me from the monster he believes you to be.” She turned back to face him, a sardonic smile playing at her lips. “Ironic, considering what I am.”
“And Lana?”
“Lana is more direct. She offered me your seat at the table once you’re gone.” Nadi sipped her drink, watching him over the rim of the glass. “She thinks I’m a spy, though she doesn’t know what kind. She finds it ‘fantastic,’ to use her word. I don’t think she’s told Mael her suspicions.”
Raziel laughed, the sound echoing in the quiet room. “Of course she does. My sister has always appreciated audacity.” He studied Nadi’s face, searching for any sign of deception. “And how did you respond to these generous offers?”
“I played along.” She set her glass down with a clink. “I let them believe I’m considering their proposals. That I’m afraid of you, that I might be willing to betray you if given enough incentive.”
“And are you?” He asked the question before he could stop himself.
Something shifted in her expression—a flicker of surprise, perhaps even hurt. “If I were, would I be telling you about their offers now?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Slowly, he took a step closer to her. “If you thought it would gain my trust. Make me lower my guard. If it served a purpose for you.”
She didn’t back away. “Then why ask? If you’ll only doubt my answer?”
It was a fair question. Why indeed? He’d spent centuries trusting no one, questioning every motive, seeing manipulation in every kindness. It had kept him alive. Why change that pattern now, for this fae assassin who had infiltrated his life with the express purpose of destroying him?
“Because I find myself wanting to believe you.”
Nadi’s eyes widened slightly, the only visible reaction to his admission. “Bullshit. You wouldn’t be so reckless.”
“It is reckless.” He reached out, tracing the line of her jaw with his fingertips. “Nearly as reckless as sparing my life was for you.”
She didn’t flinch from his touch. “Yet here we are.”
“Here we are,” he agreed. “Both of us making choices that go very much against our…better natures.”
Her hand caught his. She held it against her cheek for a moment before lowering it. “I’m not betraying you to your siblings, Raziel. Not now. We have a deal—your family falls, and then we settle our score.”
It wasn’t quite the declaration of loyalty he might have wanted, but it was honest. And honesty, he was beginning to realize, was a rare and precious thing in his world.
“Then, we’re still allies.” He stepped back to give her space.
“We’re something.” Her voice was softer than he was accustomed to hearing from her. “I’m not sure ‘allies’ fully captures it anymore.”
The admission hung between them, neither of them willing to define that “something” more precisely. To name it would be to acknowledge it, and acknowledgment would make it real. Dangerous. Potentially fatal for them both.
“Tell me more about your conversation with my siblings.” He proverbially retreated to safer ground. “What exactly does Mael claim he can offer you?”
Nadi followed his lead, her posture relaxing slightly. “Protection. If you do have to live, a place in the family hierarchy, positioned as the bridge between you and him. He seems to genuinely believe that keeping you alive but controlled is preferable to killing you.”
“How magnanimous of him.” Raziel’s lip curled. “And what does my dear brother think would control me?”
“Me, of course.” She huffed a laugh. “He thinks I’m your weakness.”
The statement should have angered him. Throughout his long life, he’d systematically eliminated anything that could be used against him, any vulnerability that might be exploited. Weapons had no hearts to break.
