I sensed Ivenrail’s involvement here. Or his father’s, since that was when this all started.
“If you hadn’t been twisted into this form or that of a dreg,” I said. “Would you appear the same as me?”
“It’s been so long now,” he creaked softly. “I’m not sure I remember.”
I would not feel sad for this Liege who’d grab me and hold me down while the king drained me.
“How many of you remained after Kerune’s purge?” I asked.
“Too few. Too many.”
“Which is it?” I asked, my grip on the blade remaining strong. One wrong move from him, and I’d flick it toward him, drive it deep into his eye. I’d leap at the same time and land on his chest to shove the sharp edge all the way to the hilt. They may be powerless fae somewhere deep inside, but they’d been turned into monsters and there was no going back from that.
Would I claim his bone coin when he lay dead on the floor? I wasn’t sure I should. They felt like time borrowed.
“What will you give me in exchange for what you truly need?” he asked.
“Are you offering me a blade thatwillkill Ivenrail?”
“I offer you a future that is being stolen.”
“I can’t imagine making a deal with you.” Although . . . “Tell me what you think I need.”
“Something you crave above all else. Something that could truly make a difference.”
I’d be a fool to make a deal with a Liege. “I should kill you and seek out the others. Slash through this cave until none of you remain.”
“You don’t have what it takes to fix this, not yet,” he said.
“Fix what?”
“Everything.”
Like all the other Lieges I’d encountered, this one offered hints and tantalizing clues that could lead somewhere or nowhere, but very few words carried the weight of true meaning.
“You’re talking about restoring or centering the balance,” I tossed out there, watching him, though his bony face gave nothing away.
“Youhavelearned,” he crowed.
My sigh rang out. “Can you see the future?”
“Only the past.”
“And what does the past tell you?” Without stepping stones, one couldn’t cross a river to reach the opposite side. Even clues from the past could send me on the course whereeverything, as he’d said, could be fixed.
“The past tells me that you’ll need what I offer. That we need what Lydel may one day offer.”
“Either give me what you believe I need, or I’m leaving.” I’d actually started to turn when his arm lifted.
“So you wish to make the deal?”
“I won’t consider anything until I see what you offer.”
“What about this?” His sleeve slid back on his arm, revealing the simple strand holding his bone coin . . .
. . . and something gray and twisted and otherwise dead except for the tiny red flowers adorning it.
I knew right then that there wasn’t anything—and I meantanything—I wouldn’t give to have that collar in my hand when I left this wretched place.
