“Demon.”
“A very hungry one,” Malakai said dryly, as his hand shot out and grabbed the man’s throat, slamming him into the tree with such force that I swear I heard a crack.
“Don’t, please, don’t,” the man pleaded, his legs kicking wide, his hands scratching against Malakai’s glove.
“Were you going to showhermercy?” Malakai snapped, his voice sharp like a blade. “Or were you about to enjoy torturing her, thinking how sweet her pleas would’ve sounded?”
I grunted, the pain of the shard making itself known. My hand grasped around it and I took a deep breath, readying myself to pull it out.
“Don’t,” Malakai ordered, his eyes darting to me, the intensity in them stopping me outright. “If you pull that out right now, I’ll kill you.”
The man took advantage of Malakai’s sudden distraction. “Demon! Over here!” he shouted as loudly as he could, before Malakai’s hand choked himharder.
“Stop pretending. You’re all alone, I can smell it,” Malakai smirked, and the desperation in the mage’s eyes grew. Malakai tilted the man’s head, getting ready to devour him.
“Wait,” I blurted, making him stop mere inches from his throat. I heard him hiss in response, the restraining word unwelcome, yet he kept himself from seeing it through.
I pushed myself to my feet, and slowly made my way closer. “Why are you here? Why did you attack me?” I asked the man who turned confusedly to me.
“Allungiftedare to be killed, that’s our orders,” he choked out from Malakai’s tight grip.
“Why attack before you knew what I was?” I arched a defiant brow at him. “I… I know magic,” I continued, hesitant, the words almost caught in my throat.
“I’m sorry,” he sobbed, squirming, trying to wiggle out of the grapple, but got nowhere.
“Are there others?” I pressed on.
“Yes… we have a camp, maybe about an hour from here. We’re supposed to guard the border.”
Malakai slowly turned his head, staring at me, waiting for a signal. I swallowed hard as I regretfully nodded and a smirk appeared on his lips. In a swift movement he sank his teeth into the man’s neck. He screamed and I turned my back to them, covering my ears as my heart slammed in fear.
Why did I let him? Was it because I knew Malakai was right about him? That I saw in the mage’s eyes that he was ready to torture me, even if I had given him the right answer?
Some monsters aren’t villains by nature…
It didn’t take long before I heard the body fall to the ground with a thud as a relieved sigh left Malakai.
I pressed my lips together, before I felt his hand grab my wrist and spin me around. My breath hitched at the sight of the blood smeared around his lips, his jaw.
“I’ll pull it out, and you’ll use your fire on the wound,” he instructed, his voice calm again. “We don’t want to risk you getting an infection or bleeding out.”
His hand slithered slowly around the ice shard, locking his eyes with mine.
“Wait,” I murmured. “I… I don’t know how.”
He tilted his head, silence stretching between us as he thought for a moment. Slowly, he leaned in, his face too close, I could smell the blood covering him clearly.
“You want a taste?” he whispered, eyes sparkling.
“I beg your pardon?” I blurted.
“Then beg,” he smirked wickedly. “Beg for permission.”
I swung my hand at him, aiming to strike him, channeling my rage into it. The slap echoed across his cheek and he lazily grabbed my wrist afterwards, as his eyes darted towards my hand, a victorious smile playing on his lips.
My hand was aflame, anger coiling inside of me because of his taunting words.
“There you go,” he chuckled, completely unaffected by my flaming slap. “Ready?”
