I rose quickly, placing Blake behind me as I drew everi into my palms.
“Hmph,” Malakai grunted, unperturbed by my defensive stance. “I thought you might have finally come to your senses and wanted to fulfill our little agreement.”
My heart raced as I tried to figure out what he was talking about.
“What agreement? And what have you done to Blake?” I asked.
Malakai glanced at him, and a foul look crossed his expression. “So worried over him. He will be fine. Just a minor sleeping curse. Easy to do when one is caught off guard.”
I relaxed; if he wasn’t lying, that was good news. Blake did seem to be asleep.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“You were the one who summoned me, remember?” he taunted.
“What? I didn’t summon you!”
“But you did,” he said. “Remember? We have an agreement, still unfulfilled, which I might remind you of. You called for me. In your mind, you wanted me here.”
All the heat drained from my body. I had wanted to speak with him. In my anger and my desperation, but that was a mere thought. I hadn’t acted on anything.
“You can hear my thoughts, too?” I asked, my voice fragile, as if speaking the words too loudly would make it true.
“Sometimes,” Malakai said, his lips curving up at one corner of his mouth. “You really should learn some defenses. However,I have to agree with Blake. The answers you seek are far beyond your reach and I’m not quite ready to let you go and get yourself killed.”
My temper flared as I watched him, so casually admiring Blake’s vase and bookcase.
“Then why come here?” I asked, my words dripping with malice.
His fingers dropped from the spine of the book he was admiring and shot me a taunting glare.
“There is a connection between us,” he said, nearing me, but stopping a few paces away. “An oath.”
I shook my head.Why was he so vile?
“There’s nothing between us,” I spat.
His expression twisted, bitterness ruining whatever handsome features he might’ve had.
“I suppose you are right,” he said. “Tell me, when did Blake finally ruin you?”
The muscles in my jaw locked as fury gripped my throat.
“Are you in my head again?” I snapped.
Malakai scoffed. “I do not need to be. I can tell by looking at you, and I can smell Blake’s bloodlust.”
Bile rose, threatening my senses, but I couldn’t dwell on his filthy mind right now. Not when he was proving to have potentially useful information.
“What bloodlust? Tell me what you know!” I said.
“He never told you about his lineage either?” Malakai asked, clicking his tongue. “It does not sound like Blake shared much of anything with you.”
I felt the everi in my palms rippling in waves. I was about to get answers with force if necessary.
Malakai stretched his neck. “You are no fun. Fine. Blake is descended from the most direct bloodline of the God of Fire, Daemon, and the Goddess of Light, Sairyn. Their son, the olderof two, Alnir, founded the city of Raven Falls. His bloodline yielded one of the most terrifying blood mages Valyria has ever seen—the very same one that killed his lover and cursed the Realm into its current state.”
“You mean, Aryus Ryth’enir,” I asked. “Like in the play?”
