“From where?”
“They traveled north.”
That was where I had begun to send our own hunting parties. Hopefully, my horde would also be blessed with the fresh game.
When she unbundled the cloth, I saw it waswrissanmeat. My jaw gritted. They were so far north now. Before, they had overpopulated these lands.
“It’s still warm,” she murmured, “so please eat tonight. You need the nourishment.”
I leaned my head back against the pillar. “And what would yourvekkirileader say if he knew you were sneaking me food late into the night?”
Her expression was unchanged.
“Did he ask you to come here?”
Thatmade her frown.
“No. Why would he do that?” she wondered.
To make me lower my guard. To try to let this slip of a female get under my skin.Again.
Yet…I knew he hadn’t. Were the situation reversed, I’d want my prisoner weak and tired if I wanted something from them. I wouldn’t let them sleep or eat. I’d keep them on edge. I’d keep them in fear.
She was doing this of her own volition. At her own risk.
“Why are you trying to help me?” I asked her quietly. “Because you feel responsible for my capture?”
She looked down at the opened cloth she’d presented to me.
“Because this was not meant to happen.”
Her words gave me the urge to straighten but I held carefully still.
“There’s something inside me,” she whispered, swallowing. “Something that isscreamingat me that this was never meant to happen. You or the witches or beinghereor Benn or any of it.”
My jaw tightened. “The witches?”
She looked up at me. “The hallways were littered with Ghertun when we arrived. Dead in their tracks, mouths gaping because the fog had suffocated them. Even after seeing my village burn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more horrible.”
I’d let the witches slide for now. But it brought information swirling forward, pushing me towardsrealization. An ugly realization at that because I feared I now knew why I was here.
Benn had mentioned my beating heart. Now, Mina mentioned witches, though I didn’t think she’d meant to.
Vok.
Blood magic.
“So the Ghertun are gone?” I asked, though my voice sounded far away. “Dead?”
“There are none alive here,” she told me. She seemed to shake herself and I watched her sway a bit. I jolted forward but the cuffs cut into my wrists further and she almost fell over. At the last moment, she righted herself, placing a palm flat on the ground, but the sudden movement made thewrissanmeat tumble out of the cloth and onto the floor.
Her small gasp had me studying her. She snatched the meat back up and to my disbelief, I saw her eyes flood withtears.
“I-I’m s-sorry,” she whispered. She bit her lip, plucking off something black that now coated the meat. “I’m…I’m…”
“Kalles,” I murmured, my chest tightening when I saw her tears begin to spill over and make long tracks in her dusty face.
“I’ll go-go get fresh meat for you,” she said quietly, moving to rise from the floor. “I’ll return—”
