Roy shot his hand up and grasped Percival’s. “You make me want to intimidate you, to see fear on your face, to—”
“Look at you, Dawnseve,” Percival said with a smile, his warm breath on Roy’s cheeks. “You’re shaking. I know what you’re feeling, darling. I know what it’s like to succumb to desire. That might be just what you need. To stop lying to yourself. To stop feeding your fears and give in. You need to open that heart of yours.”
“Stop talking in riddles or I’ll—”
Percival leaned forward, and with no room to move his head, Roy could not retreat. Their noses brushed as Percival angled his head forward, his forehead pressing against Roy’s. “Just what will you do, darling? I doubt you wish to wake the dead.”
“I’d take that chance if it meant you would join them.”
Percival chuckled. “Believe me, you’re the last person I’d consider capable of murder, especially my own.”
“I’d wager that I’m not the first person to threaten you with murder, though.”
“An interesting method of flirting, to be sure.”
Roy snorted, ignoring the heat pooling through his stomach. “Don’t be ridiculous. I have a long list of priorities and nowhere on it have I planned to flirt with anyone, much less you. Now, get your face away from me—why are you smiling?”
“Well, either my eyes are deceiving me,” Percival said, “or yours have been on my lips for a rather long time.” He placed a finger on Roy’s mouth. “Regardless, I think I’m growing quite fond of your plans to murder me. In a crypt, no less; have you no respect for the dead?”
Roy wrapped his fingers around Percival’s, which was still against Roy’s lips, and drew his hand down. “Don’t do this here, Percival. Anywhere but here.”
Percival exhaled softly through his nostrils, his smile fading. “I said this place was going to hurt me, not that I would commemorate the dead.”
“These are your people.Ourpeople.”
“And they died for what they believed in, I know, but maybe they weren’t as brave as the legends claim. They could have lied as much as you do,” Percival murmured, his voice heavy with that familiar but nameless sorrow. He took a small step back. “I can admit who I am, Roy.That’sthe difference between us. The competition has come to a close, andstill, you won’t confront the truth.”
Roy dragged his fingers through the slick snarls of his hair. “I know who I am.”
“There’s that lie again; the denial. No, darling, you know who, and what, this world has made you become, what they’ve shaped you into,” Percival retorted. “But that’s notyou.If you live in ignorance long enough, you grow accustomed totheirlies. And those lies will soon be your own.”
“That’s preposterous.”
But Roy could not help the surge of memories that rushed through his mind: Matron Dimestra, her steely gaze like a blade; the grapple for power shifting between two evils; the identity and belonging that had been absent throughout his gray-toned, half-lived life. He’d been searching through the dark with nobody to guide the way, and now there stood somebody before him who was offering him a choice to light his path, and still, Roy couldn’t do it.
“And there might come a time when you try to gain control of your future,” Percival said. “But there’s no hope for those who refuse to make a stand.”
“This is me making a stand.” Roy gestured around him. “I am doing what’s right for my country.”
“But not foryourself,” Percival exclaimed, true anger contorting his features. He seemed another person entirely, not even a shadow of the man whose lips had brushed Roy’s. “You haven’t changed since you entered this fucking building, Roy. All you do is weep and wait for an angel to rescue you.”
“What in the name of theScribesare you saying? I don’t need to be saved or protected orcoddled.”
Percival gave a rough, dry laugh. “No, you just need to be told exactly what to do and how. And you know damn well I’m not speaking about the Old Ones or the war; I’m talking aboutyou.”
Roy held back the urge to shatter Percival’s clenched jaw. Maybe that would disperse the puzzling emotions he felt toward Percival, all in one fell swoop. “You’re a manipulativeass.”
“And you’re a liar. You’re afuckingliar.”
“You don’t want to save humanity,” Roy said, scowling. “You don’t care for anyone but yourself. Whatever happens in this world, whatever happens tous, you just want to ensure it benefitsyou.”
“Thank the Above,” Percival said, clasping a hand over his heart. “He understands! How thoughtful of you, darling. Truly thoughtful.” Roy scanned Percival from head to foot, and Percival snapped, “Ah, the predatory assessment. Before you murder me, Roy, should I swoon, or would you prefer I put up a fight?”
Roy seized the candle from Percival’s hands, set his jaw, and walked away.
16
The deeper Roy went into the tunnel system,the more difficult it became to determine the length of the passageway and the direction in which he was headed, or even to deduce the duration of time for which he had been traveling. He guessed an hour or two, based on the persistent burn spreading through his thighs, the strain that had developed in his eyes from staring too long into the darkness, and the sluggishness of his arms, despite switching the candle from one hand to the other.
