Malek cringed at this, his smile faltering. “Pirrin was never supposed to die. That was a mistake.”
“A mistake?” Vaskel ground out each word, fighting off memories of his ranger friend.
Malek looked down at his hands as if they weren’t his own. “The dark magic was too much. I didn’t know how to control it. I didn’t…”
Vaskel steadied the slashing of his tail as the mage’s words died on his lips. He didn’t want Malek to know how hard it was to keep from lunging at him through the bars. He also knew he needed the mage for information, which meant he couldn’t strangle him. Not yet, at least.
He opened his arms wide. “But you welcomed the dark magic, and here we are.”
“Here we are,” Malek repeated woodenly, and for a beat he sounded like the old Malek, the one Vaskel had known before dark magic consumed him.
Vaskel reminded himself who he was talking to as he peered through the darkness. “We’ve all made our choices, haven’t we?”
Malek’s breathe a sigh that sounded more weary than anything. “You made the choice to come down here.”
“You said you know something about Marina and Cali.” Vaskel schooled his voice into something approaching civil. “Tell me know you know Marina.”
Malek took a step forward, and his chains jangled. Vaskel glanced at the metal that encased the mage’s ankles. The shackles were forged from nerillium, which absorbed magical powers, and were the only reason he could face the mage without fear of being hit with a spell.
“I know you never told us about your days running with another hellkin and…was it an orc and a one-eyed dwarf?” Malek fluttered a hand as if brushing away the details. “I know that you did plenty of things for coin that you never would have admitted to when I knew you as the honorable and brave Vaskel.”
Heat burned Vaskel’s face, but he straightened. He was done hiding his past. Even if it was only Malek and Thrain listening, he wanted to own up to the mistakes he’d made. “All true, but I’m not that hellkin anymore. I left him behind long ago.”
“And you think you can do that?” Malek’s voice cracked. “Leave darkness behind you and step into light?”
The hellkin narrows his eyes. Was he imagining things again, or was his old friend asking because he wished to leave his own darkness in the past?
“Are you asking if I believe you can be forgiven for dark deeds?” Vaskel thought about the bounties he’d collected when he’d run with Marina, the treasure he’d stolen, the lives he’d hurt. He swallowed a hot lump of shame. “I believe we all falter, we all make decisions out of fear and hurt. It’s what we do after we fall that defines us. It’s what we do with the second chance that makes us who we are in the end.”
Thrain cleared his throat. “You can’t take back the steps you walked, but you can always start a new path forward.”
Malek flicked his eyes to the dwarf, and then stared at Vaskel hard, his lips a white line. He dipped his head, finally raising it and meeting Vaskel’s gaze. “And you, Vaskel? What have you done with your second chance?”
Vaskel thought of Lira and the others at the tavern. He thought about the villagers in Wayside. He thought about Iris and the way she’d kissed him. Then he thought about Malek and Marina and how both were skilled at manipulation.
“I’ve made friends I refuse to abandon to a vengeful hellkin or the mage she’s convinced to help her.”
Malek’s black eyes glinted. “You think I’m in league with her?”
The tip of Vaskel’s tail vibrated, a sure sign that danger was near. “If you aren’t, tell me where she is and where she has Cali.”
Malek folded his hands in front of himself, lacing his bony fingers. “Our dear archer is unharmed and here of her own accord, from what I’ve seen.”
Vaskel found it hard to believe that Cali would have seen Malek and not been alarmed that he and Marina were connected. Unless the mage was lying. He still hadn’t told Vaskel anything to prove his claims held any truth.
“Then where is she?” Vaskel took a step closer.
Malek tilted his head. “You came here all alone to rescue Cali? You truly have changed. The Vaskel I knew would never do something so foolish.”
A shiver passed through Vaskel. It had been a mistake coming to see Malek. It had been a mistake to think he would be any help at all.
He spun on his heel, his cloak flapping around his legs as he turned to go. Strangely, he didn’t spot Thrain right away. The dwarf must have hidden in the shadows. “Goodbye, Malek.”
“Everyone is in the main hall,” Malek said, a note of desperation in his voice. “Marina arranged for a banquet. Everyone is there.”
“A banquet?” Vaskel turned. “There hasn’t been a banquet at Grayhelm in years. Why would she throw a banquet?”
“To celebrate your return, of course.”
