“It must not be too bad of a habit if you’re so willing to give me to your sworn enemy on a silver platter,” I shot back. “It’s only inconvenient when it doesn’t serve your needs, I guess. You can’t have it both ways.”
He clenched his jaw, then leaned away and ran his fingers through his wavy hair. “I didn’t kill the Lightbender, Devora.”
My brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. I heard?—”
“Youthinkyou heard,” he snapped. “I removed him from his rebels, yes. I helped him and his family relocate to Feywood, far away from Scarven’s suspicions. I killed one ofScarven’sown guards in order to get them to safety. It was still a loss, in a way, since I took the Lightbender from his home and people. But he knew the alternative—that IamScarven’s blade, whether I want to be or not. I gave him a choice.”
“Get out or be killed,” I murmured, my lips parting as I took in his words.
“Scarvenmustbelieve I’m doing as he says. My actions—” Nox cut himself off, scratching the back of his neck. “I’ve been forced to hurt people. There were times I couldn’t find a way out of it. But I’ve made every effort in the years since to give those Scarven targets a second chance at life.”
I swallowed hard, shame snaking its way through my veins. Something else I’d misread. SomethingelseI’d been wrong about. Why was I so eager to find the darkness in him?
Every piece I discovered seemed to lead me to the same conclusion: Nox Duma wasn’t the man I once thought he was.
I saw what it did to that Duma freak. The memory from the ship washed over me, and I put the pieces together.
“Scarven has someone, doesn’t he?” I asked softly, pulling his cloak tighter around me. “That’s why you keep working for him. Why you can’t leave him. He has someone you love.”
Nox slowly ran a finger over his lips, and my eyes caught on his mouth before I jerked my gaze up.
To my surprise, he didn’t look angry anymore. Merely…resigned.
“You know, that mind of yours is going to get you in trouble one of these days,” he murmured.
I rolled my lips together. “Good trouble, or bad trouble?”
“I don’t know yet.” Those dark eyes held mine a heartbeat longer than normal before he looked away. “You’re perceptive. That’s what we need.” He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Yes, he has someone. My sister.”
My eyes widened. The pain in his voice hit me like a stack of bricks. I lifted a finger to push my glasses back up the bridge of my nose. “I—I’m so sorry, Nox.”
He dipped his head curtly, and I tucked my hand into the crook of my neck. I was never sure how to handle these kinds of moments.Especiallywith someone like Nox. I had no idea where we stood—enemies? Captor and prisoner? Reluctant allies?
But no matter what we were to each other, nobody deserved to have somebody they cared about locked away.
“Is she—is she like you?” I asked. “A dragon?”
Nox stiffened, then shook his head. “No. She’s not a dragon.”
I waited for a moment, then realized he wasn’t going to offer anything else. He was already beginning to retreat, the brief glimpse into the Nox that everyone else saw now covered once again by the armor he wore around me.
For the second time that day, I instinctively reached out a hand. I stopped it before I touched him. “Nox, I—I know this mission is important. For more than one reason. I’ll do everything I can to help.”
He gazed at me, his face unreadable. The air around us was charged even through the icy wind. When he didn’t respond, I licked my lips and hastily unclasped his cloak. “Here. Thanks for letting me borrow it.”
His brow furrowed slightly when he looked down at my outstretched arm. “Keep it. You need it more than I do.”
Then he turned on his heel and strode back to his horse.
17
Nox
Ipulled the reins to slow Tempest as I crested the final hill and the training grounds of Tenebra came into view. Five days later, and we’d made it.
The wheels of the carriage carrying Devora, Arowyn, and Everett weren’t far behind me. My legs and back screamed at me for subjecting them to so many days on the back of a horse, but it was far better than being cramped in that carriage with them.Her.
My blood boiled every time I was near her, and five days together was far too much time to spend controlling the impulse to silence that smart mouth of hers before it got her into trouble.
