“You don’t look too good,” Cassian said.
Finnian did not try to respond. Talking without his hearing was like attempting to drive with his eyes closed. Therefore, he maintained a dead expression, hoping Cassian would get to the point of his visit sooner rather than later.
Cassian reached out and brushed the wavy strands sticking to Finnian’s forehead away.
The tender gesture baffled Finnian for a moment, giving him little time to register Cassian gripping the blade’s handle and wrenching it out of his ear.
Finnian groaned, slumping forward and grimacing from the rush of blood purging behind his eyeballs. A blinding jolt split like an ax through his skull and his vision shook.
His eyes darted over the ruby red liquid at Cassian’s feet, up the blurred blob of his crouching shape. The instability of control spiked Finnian’s pulse. He blinked rapidly.
Warm liquid gushed down his jawline, but the violent shrill gave way to the reprieve as his ear drum mended.
Cassian tossed the blade across the room.
“Now,” he said, the single syllable leaving his tongue smoothly, “would you be kind enough to inform me of the whereabouts of the blood?”
A shower of relief watered down Finnian’s frenzy. He had never been more grateful to hear Cassian’s low-pitched, resonant voice than he was now. Behind it was the sound of the hushed roar of the fire, the trickling of his own blood oozing from wounds against the stone.
Finnian gave a tired chuckle and looked up at the High God. “Kindness is not a thing I grant to those who are meaningless to me.”
A flash of something glinted in Cassian’s eyes, an emotion Finnian could not decipher fast enough before oiled-bodied serpents slithered out from around the High God’s shoes.
They coiled around Finnian’s legs, up the line of his spine, settling their spade-shaped heads on his arms and shoulders.
His body went rigid.
Next to his unimpaired ear, he heard the hissing of their tongues.
Suppressing a shudder, he pushed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, determined to withhold any trepidation from slipping free on his face.
“What you endured from Shivani and my executioners is nothing compared to the agony I will bring upon you,” Cassian warned.
A serpent slipped up Finnian’s nape and into his hair. A wave of gooseflesh sprouted up his neck. “Your arrogance makes me nauseous,” Finnian spat back.
“I’ll be sure to inform Shivani your stomach has grown back then.”
Finnian’s eye twitched as he tightened his glare around him. “Let us strike a deal. I know how much you enjoy a good bargain.”
Cassian propped his elbow on one of his bent knees and cupped his cheek. He tilted his head, amusement shining in his golden gaze. “Oh, do tell.”
One serpent coiled around Finnian’s throat. Its thin, forked tongue tickled his Adam’s apple as it caressed over his chin.
Finnian swallowed, the motion stifled against the constricting hold of the serpent. “Free my father and the blood is yours.”
Cassian’s head fell back and a glissando of laughter sang out.
A retching pulled at Finnian’s belly as the sound hummed through him. His cheeks warmed, and he felt repulsed at finding any inkling of pleasure in it. He blamed it on the fact that it had been ages since he heard music. He missed it. That was all.
Glowering at Cassian, he said, “That is my deal. Take it or leave it.”
Cassian ran a hand through his wavy strands. A singular curl sprang free over his forehead. “Your father committed a grave crime long ago. Unfortunately, he is still paying the price,therefore he cannot go free.” His smile stretched further. “What else do you have?”
Saving Father wasalwaysa possibility, and hearing Cassian clip the end of that thread provoked a frantic rage to light in Finnian.
“The blood will never be yours,” he sneered. “I will find my father and escape your awful land.”
The serpent wrapped around his throat like a cool scarf gave a harsh hiss. Its scaly body hugged his neck in a warning.
