“Your sky is clear and your sun shines. It’s beautiful.” I said, my voice hollow and distant as I stared above me. I felt his glare on my face, yet I refused to let him darken this for me.
“I do not like the sun,” he muttered.
Why would he appreciate the sun when he was pure darkness?
“Why do they call you the Commander of Death?”
“You don’t know?” he asked, an eyebrow quirking. But my eyes darted past him and my words died. Sparkling water gushed down a sheer wall of stone, tumbling into a basin below. I stepped past the Commander, surprised that he didn’t follow me to the water’s edge. Mist hung in the air, kissing my skin and scattering sunlight into fractured rainbows that danced across the surface. The soft grass gave way to smooth pebbles as I grew closer, crouching by the edge. The water was so clear I could see smooth stones beneath the surface. It glittered with impossible colours, faint blues and silvers that rippled when Ireached out. My fingertips brushed the surface, and it hummed.
“Bathe. You reek of death.”
The commander didn’t even look at me. He’d turned his back, sitting near the bank with his gaze fixed on the path we’d come from. I crinkled my nose. Unfortunately, he wasn’t wrong. The stench of Skathari blood clung to my skin like rot. After checking he wasn’t looking at me, I peeled my clothes off. They stuck to me uncomfortably, crusted with dried blood and dirt. The water was cool against my skin, the pebbles beneath my feet as smooth and soft as they looked. I scrubbed at my skin before submerging myself under the water. For the first time in days, I felt clean. Energised despite the sleepless night.
The Commander was a monster in his own right, but he was different to the evil I was used to. I was naked less than two meters away from him and he hadn’t so much as looked my way. It was strange. Most men couldn’t help themselves.
I had sung to him last night and brushed my lips against his. It was the same thing I had done to Orin and the Fae warrior, but I’d been able to twist something inside their minds until all they saw was me.
Why didn’t it work on him?
My power had slid off him like water over stone. It was clear he wasn’t like most men, maybe that was what made himmoredangerous.
He sat there amongst the grass with his back turned to me, either keeping guard or making sure I didn’t run. Either way, his silence brought a strange sense of safety after last night.
A towel and a folded set of clothes materialised from the darkness on the bank like a gift I wouldn’t thank him for.
I waded out quickly, drying myself before slipping intodark blue riding pants and a simple black blouse with loose sleeves. Fresh socks and boots followed, and for the first time in days, I felt almost human again.
“Are you… alright?” The Commander’s back was still to me, his voice clear and sure but, he seemed to shift uncomfortably.
My laughter rang through the air like a cracked mirror catching the light. Jagged and broken.
“I need you to be cooperative. So, I apologise. For taking away your voice, and for the pain my shadows caused.”
His words hung between us like a branch waiting for me to grasp it. Thin, fragile, and possibly a trap. I stared at him, dumbfounded; no man had ever apologised to me before. Maybe my kiss had affected him after all. But when his eyes turned to me, there was no iridescent sheen shining back at me. Just those soulless, dark pits.
“You killed the only man who had ever loved me, and you killed my friend. Fuck your apologies.” I clenched my fists at my sides, nails digging into my palms.
He scoffed and the corners of his mouth returned to that arrogant smirk. “That man was under your spell; he did not loveyou.And yourfriendwas about to shove his sword through your chest for being what you are.”
The sheen in Orin’s eyes flashed in my mind. He had looked at me like he was waiting for my command. It’s because hewas.
Something splintered in my chest becauseIhad threaded those words into him with my magic. He didn’t love me. OrinandBohdi died because of me. I unclasped my shaky fists and wrapped my arms around myself to hold the frayed edges together.
“That’s right, Little Drownling.” His words grated overme, pulling every bit of self-loathing to the surface. “It was your fault.”
“You should have let them kill me.” My voice cracked with tears that burnt behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not in front of him.
“No.” His voice was low and steady. “I need you alive.”
My chest tightened.Hewas the reason I was still breathing, the reason the monster inside me hadn’t been silenced.
The edges of my vision darkened and that was the only warning I got. I moved before I knew what I was doing. My hand lashed out, nails sharpening mid-motion as I aimed to claw the smirk from his face.
His hand caught my wrist in a bruising grip. His other hand reached up to tuck the damp strands of my hair behind my ear. His touch sent a shiver through my body. My fingernails had darkened, pointing into lethal tips. My eyes widened, and as quickly as they had come, they shrunk to my normal, blunted tips. The Commander studied me, his jaw clenching and unclenching. He released my arm, fingers loosening.
“You don’t know what you are, do you?” He asked, gaze searching me for answers I didn’t possess.
“Do you?” I shot back, glaring up at him as the silence stretched between us. His knowing smirk was infuriating. My fingers twitched, itching to claw at him again. “What am I? Why do you need my power? Where did the Skathari come from? Are there other monsters? How am I meant to?—”
