“Yours is simple.” He waved me off. “Your vision just requires a small adjustment of the parts you already have. Nothing is damaged beyond repair. But even if you were missing an eye, I could grow you a new one, at a price of course. The general’s…um, ailment would require me to replace both his body and mind, since both are affected. Even if that were possible…” he took a weighted pause that made me wonder if the mage truly possessed the magic to create a brand-new body and breathe life into it. “Would you want that? Because if both his body and mind were new, who is to know what would remain from the man you have clearly grown attached to?” He pointed at Timur’s left hand that I had pressed to my chest with both my hands, and I had no recollection when I’d even grabbed it.
“There has to be a way,” I muttered the same mantra I’d been helplessly repeating for weeks.
Suhai shook his head slowly, keeping his yellow eyes on me.
“Nothing in this world can help him, Sweet One. However, if you’d like to continue the conversation about the many kinds of magic I possess…” his voice lowered, gaining a coaxing quality, “I will arrange to see you again.”
He rounded Timur’s chair, sauntering toward me. Timur’s tail whipped in an arch. The sharp spike on the end pressed into the mage’s chest, stopping him from coming any closer to me.
“No, you won’t.” Timur’s red eye flashed brightly in the golden candlelight of the cave. “You willneversee her again. Do you hear me? I’ll pick up our order when it’s ready, and you’ll stay away from Elaine. She’s mine. To look at, to talk to, and to pleasure her in any way she lets me. Only mine.”
The animalistic growl in Timur’s voice should’ve alarmed me. But the shiver that ran down my spine wasn’t exactly from fear. Thrill fizzled through me like champagne bubbles. Thetruth was, I wanted to be his just as much as I wanted to have him, fully and absolutely.
I gripped Timur’s hand as he led me to the door, but I had to let go to let him out first. He checked the corridor outside while I lingered just a step behind him, still inside Suhai’s cave.
The mage’s soft whisper sounded right above my ear, “I’ll make the deal with you, Sweet One,onlywith you.”
I glanced back at him, confused.
“To cure your master,” he explained quickly before promptly retreating into the dancing candle-flame shadows of his cave. “Later. I’ll find you.”
Nineteen
Elaine
“Here you go, as agreed.” Lady Saedi deposited a heavy coin purse onto Timur’s lap, then turned to me. “I really hope you’re feeling a little more joyful next time.”
Pursing her lips, she walked away. The guards dropped the tapestries, closing her tent’s entrance. And that was it. No lingering smiles on her lips. No lavish gifts for me on top of the agreed payment. Not even an attempt to finalize the date of that “next time.”
Nothing.
I felt like a fraud.
Silent and disheartened, I let Timur place me on his lap next to the gold that I didn’t feel I’d earned. Pleasure wasn’t just Timur’s trade, it had become my business too. When my clients felt satisfied at the end of our meeting, so did I. But that hadn’t been the case tonight. Or a few other nights in the past week.
“Maybe you should cancel tomorrow night,” I said as Timur steered his chair across the desert toward the drop of the Ashgate’s Wall.
“I already did,” he replied, wrapping his arm around my shoulders for me to lean against him.
Although he hadn’t used his tendrils to connect to me since our visit to Suhai's cave a week ago, Timur clearly sensed that something wasn’t right with me.
“I cancelled tomorrow night and the three nights after,” he added.
“Why so many?” I snapped, irritated by my lack of happiness, which of course did nothing to actually make me feel any happier.
“Because something is clearly bothering you. Maybe you just need to rest. But if there’s a problem, I’ll need time to identify and fix it.”
“How are you going to fix it? I’m not some equipment or a machine like this chair. Humans aren’t supposed to feel hysterically happy all the time.” I hated how biting my words sounded. I didn’t mean to take it out on him, but it sounded like I did.
“I don’t know about other humans, but I know you, Elaine. Since the moment I first saw you, your circumstances haven’t been the best. Yet you never gave up. You fought, you persevered, you survived. You kept your spirit strong, and now it feels like the fight has left you. Why now, when your life and safety are more secure than ever?”
“Mylife.Mysafety. Who said I’m worried aboutmyself?”
He nodded, infuriatingly calmly.“I know you’re concerned about your friends, and I will find them. As long as they’re still in this world, I’ll find them, even if it’s the last thing I’ll do.”
“The last thing I’ll do…”echoed in my head. The unspoken words sounded next,“Before I die.”
My throat tightened, making it harder to breathe. My heart ached with pain of loss even as he was still here.
