“What are you talking about?” I asked, a wave of exhaustion creeping over my head. “You saw what I can do in the fog.Thatis the only thing I can do.”
“And that is a power that I cannot ignore,” he growled. “It is a power that I will claim for my horde.”
For his horde? A power he couldn’t ignore? But when the priestesses came, my power would be useless to him and his horde, didn’t he realize that? Once the fog was gone…
An ugly realization came over me.
It made me freeze, made the blood drain from my face, as an icy wash of despair crashed over my head.
“You were lying,” I whispered, an invisible fist connecting with my lungs, whooshing out my air as I choked. “About the priestesses. About the fog happening before. You don’t know how to stop it, do you?”
Fool, fool, fool.
I needed to understand. But everything was so jumbled in my mind. A part of me couldn’t believe that just that morning, Benn had locked me inside the horde king’s cell with him and I’d found warmth against his body. A part of me couldn’t process Emmi and Kaila’s betrayal, Benn’s lies. The rock making a sickening sound as it crashed against Benn’s head.
The whistling sound of a blade as it cut through tissue and bone.
And theblood. So much blood. Black and pooling, reflecting like a mirror.
And now,I thought, my fists squeezing behind me.Now this.The rope was tight around my wrists, though not tight enough to cut off my circulation. Thepujerakhad been gentle at least when he’d blindly followed Rowin’s ridiculous order.
The horde king’s gaze narrowed. “It is possible it’s happened before but only the priestesses would have record of it in their archives.”
Which meant thatyes…he had been lying to me.
I’d believed him, just like he’d known that I would.
“Tess said you would say anything to sow doubt. Tess said you would do anything to try to escape. Did that include trying to show me kindness? Talking with me because you knew how lonely I was? Acting like you cared that I’d been hurt and struck?”
Gods, I was such a goddamn fool.
His expression didn’t change as he said, “I did whatever it took to return to my horde.”
I laughed.
Rowin stiffened at the sound and watched as I leaned my head back against the pole, looking up at the venting hole above me. A cloud passed in front of the moon but otherwise, the sky was clear. Empty of red.
I laughed again until the sound started to sound wretched and tears began to burn in my eyes once more.
“How you must love this,” I whispered once my laugh finally died. “How you must have been laughing at me. I’m so pathetic.”
Now I was stuck here. Tied to this pole. Did I want to be back at the Dead Mountain to witness the aftermath of the horde king’s escape? To witness Benn’s rage if he survived his injury?
No.
But Ineededto be. Because Tess was still there. In the darkness. And the witches were coming. When they discovered our failure, how would they react? Rowin said they practiced blood magic. Sacrifices. What would theydoto us lowly humans who hadn’t kept up our end of the deal?
If the horde king can even be believed, I reminded myself.
Had he painted the witches as villains? Had he purposefully told me that they sacrificed children to make me feel repulsed and disgusted?
I didn’t know what to believe anymore. The only thing I was certain of was that I was so goddamntired.
“I’m so pathetic,” I whispered, still looking up at the moon, with tears streaming down my face. “I was so starved for kindness that if anyone showed me the smallest hint of it, it made me want to do anything for them. And I think you knew that. I think you recognized that and so you used me like everyone else, like Benn. Only it feels so much worse because I actuallybelievedyou.”
When I leveled my gaze at the horde king, I saw him tense at my words. Those red eyes gleamed in the darkness and I saw his mouth turn down into a scowl.
Was there a breaking point? Was there a point where I would justgive up?
