Karwyn narrowed his eyes. “I suppose I could play hero. I will fulfil your request after you sign a blood contract.”
His last words almost knocked her to her knees. “No,” she said louder than intended. The word echoed in her cell, reminding her of how trapped she would be if she were to accept.
“No?” Karwyn tilted his head as he regarded her with menace. “You wish to be the reason your family and a big part of the human race dies?”
“I’ll need proof. I don’t trust whatever contract you’ll pull up. Cure everyone first,” Lora rushed to answer. She needed to find a way out of signing a blood contract. An agreement like that was final. She’d never escape it.
“That is not how it works, little cousin.”
“Then at least cure my family and let me call them to make sure. Once I know it worked, I’ll sign your contract and you’ll hand the cure over to the government.” If she couldn’t get out of signing, she’d make damn sure it wasn’t for nothing. She wouldn’t hand over all her cards with no insurance.
Karwyn considered her counter offer, fidgeting with the sleeve of his blazer. “How many?”
“Three for my family, four for my friend’s family who helped me.”
“I will give you one. The contract will state that I am to provide six more cures to speed up the process for your loved ones. And I will contact the human government.” He was negotiating as if it wasn’t her life he was demanding.
Lora knew time wasn’t on her side. Her heart threatened to explode in her chest; her skin felt as cold as the future that lay before her. “Two. And you’ll make sure to get them to Marcel, a human trader, with a note from me.” They needed to know it came from her.
Karwyn nodded once. “I agree to your terms. Let us shake on it.” He extended his hand through the bars. If the almandine affected him, he didn’t let on.
Lora was surprised by the human gesture. Against her better judgment, she walked forward. This close, she could see the turquoise in his eyes that had stared back at her in her own reflection. She took his hand, barely putting pressure, but his grasp was firm. She tried to pull back but he held on, staring straight at her. Lora thought she saw surprise flicker in his gaze before he finally let go.
“The guard will get you a piece of paper to write on,” Karwyn said, turning his back on her. He looked over his shoulder as his hand stilled on the door handle. “Welcome to the family, little cousin. If only for a short while.”
The door closed shut behind him. Lora walked backwards until her back hit the wall. The truth of her situation was a heavy weight and she slid down to the ground, no longer able to keep upright. She was irrevocably connected to the fate of her world. All she could do was make certain the virus was erased.
Her fate, it seemed, had been sealed from the moment Karwyn had somehow found out about her existence. He would have found a way to bring her here no matter what. To trap her in this very cell and force her hand. She could see it in his eyes that were so much like her own. The madness behind them was new. It told her there was no line he wouldn’t cross.
She came from a line of psychopaths. How did her mum not know? If her birth father hadn’t been banished, would he have been at this year’s quarter-century treaty meeting? Would he have hoped to see Karla again, or did he never think about what happened 25 years ago?
If Karwyn hadn’t found Lora here, the treaty meeting would have been more eventful than it had been the past couple of times. Karwyn had something the humans needed, something the human government couldn’t have passed on. If they had decided to look for her, to hand her over, Lora couldn’t even have blamed them. One human’s fate for a cure—an easy call, wasn’t it?
The blood contract would bind her life to their agreement. Lora knew death waited at the end of their deal, but she wouldn’t go down easy. And if she couldn’t win, then maybe, just maybe, she could at least take him down with her.
That was the one promise to herself she intended to keep no matter what came her way. One final promise until the end of her hopeless journey.
Chapter61
Rhay
Distraught, Rhay left Amira’s room while she was still on the floor. What in Liraen had he just witnessed? Why?Whywas he repeatedly being put in these positions where he was forced to look past something? He had done it multiple times in the past, but each time had taken a toll on him. Everytime he looked away, a little part of him died, yet he felt like there was nothing he could do.
The guard keeping watch in the corridor cleared his throat. “I was about to come in. Sounded like quite an argument,” he said.
Before he could take a look into Amira’s room, Rhay quickly closed the door and leaned against it, putting on his well-rehearsed mask. “She’s pretty pissed at me. I wouldn’t go in there.”
The guard nodded. “It’s late. My orders are to lock her in for the night.”
Rhay took a hesitant step back and let the guard follow his order. He dropped a few silver notes into the guard’s waiting hand once he was done. Satisfied, the guard walked off.
Hands and legs shaking, Rhay let himself slide to the ground against Amira’s door. He leaned his head against the wooden door, taking in the empty corridor. At least no one else had witnessed the kind of power the princess held.
Thewitch.
As the word entered his mind, he quickly slipped his hand underneath his jacket, grasping his flask. He always had one with him. One could never know when alcohol was needed. And if there ever was an occasion, it was now.
Rhay took a few deep sips to refocus his mind. He tried to grasp a single coherent thought, but everything was tangled in his brain. The feeling was stifling, so he drained the last of the liquid swirling in his shiny flask.
