The atmosphere seemed to dim with the confirmation of what she had long suspected. She had become him.
A cold, cynical person who was quick to violence and mistrust.
“What if I don’t like her?” Dyna whispered.
“There is no need to like her. To survive, you don’t have to be stronger, only deadlier. And that is what she is. Your truth—unleashed. You are here now because you know it’s the only place you will not be judged for it. Because you know exactly what you can achieve at my side.” His expression shifted to a half smirk. “I assume that’s why you attempted to seduce me. Unless it was also revenge against your Celestial.”
Blushing, Dyna jerked herself away. “I am here because I need to find Mount Ida. And as much as you pretend, you waited for me because we both know you still need my map to get there.”
But there was no reply to that. Tarn moved on to the sideboard and took out two goblets. The drag of silence made her realize something. He had yet to ask for her map. In all their secret conversations, he had not asked about it once.
Her eyes widened. “You don’t need it anymore…do you?” One end of his mouth lifted as he poured the wine, and a chill washed through her body. “You know where Mount Ida is. How? When?” No one else in his camp knew the location of the island except her. He had tried to take it from her mind, but—her breath caught. “Clayton.”
When he hit her with the desolate spell, he had been rummaging in her mind and found exactly where it was.
“He was of some use to me,” Tarn said. “Before I slit his neck.”
He watched her carefully, gauging her reaction.
“Good. He deserved it,” Dyna said with such frostiness, she wasn’t sure if she was still acting. Inside, horror bubbled in her chest. The one advantage she had over him was gone. “If you have Mount Ida’s location, why wait for me?”
Tarn walked back to her, and Dyna’s pulse climbed with every step. She instinctively wanted to move back, but her legs were pressed firmly into the side of the bed.
“You may have forgotten, scarlet flower.” He handed her the goblet. “I still have plans for you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What plans?”
“We will discuss that in a moment. Drink.”
Dyna glanced down at the ruby liquid. The scent of bitter herbs hung in the air beneath the fruity aroma of wine. Her mouth watered with a craving to drink Witch’s Brew again and dilute all the emotions tearing through her now. But she knew what would happen if she didn’t stop.
“I don’t want to be a monster…”
Tarn brought the goblet to her lips. “Virtue and kindness are useless qualities. Why fight what nature has made us?”
Maybe he was right. Why fight it?
She wouldn’t beat him by being who she had been. He already told her as much.Sometimes, to defeat a monster, you must become one.
“What do you want most in the world?” Tarn asked.
Dyna considered the question. “To take back everything stolen from me,” she replied. Her magic. Her dignity. Her control. Over everything, including him.
The truth rune glowed blue and cast a gleam on the walls.
Tarn held out his hand. “Then you will have exactly that.”
She took a breath as they gazed at one another. There was that look again, the one he had in the tent the last time he offered his hand. The genuine desire that she would accept it … and him.
“Put all your trust in me, Dyna, for you will also have mine. Join me and nothing will ever stand in your way.”
“Join you as what?” she asked. “As I already told you before, I will not be a slave or your spy.”
“You will serve a purpose far grander than that. A place at my side as I conquer Azure. Not behind me or in service to me.” He closed the space between them, lifting her chin so she saw nothing else but him. “Withme.”
Dyna’s heart raced wildly at the proposal and the heated insinuation behind it.
How ridiculous.
