He and the others already knew the circumstances of Valteri’s life. What would happen if he fell into Kadar’s hands.
Yet not even those events, in all their horror, would be enough to save his soul or his life. “Then there’s no hope?”
He tsked at her. “There’s always hope.”
“But—”
The door opened and Raziel burst into a thousand shimmering fragments.
“Ariel?”
She blinked, her heart thumping, her eyelids as heavy as if she’d awakened from a sound sleep. As she stared into Valteri’s confused eyes, Raziel’s visit almost seemed like a vague dream.
Had Raziel really been here?
Or had she imagined it?
Valteri looked at her with a sharp frown. “You’re pale. Are you all right?” Gently, he took her by the arm and led her toward the bed.
“Aye,” she whispered. “’Twas a passing moment of dizziness.” She hated being dishonest with him, but the last thing he’d want to hear was that she’d been visited by an Arel in his home.
Suspicion hovered in his eyes as if he doubted her excuse. “Then I’m glad I decided we should take our meal alone tonight.”
Ariel smiled, but the insincerity of the gesture blistered her conscience. She couldn’t stand not telling him the complete truth, but after the last time…
She didn’t want to make him angry again.
“I’d like that very much. However…” She glanced at the food. “We need Wace to bring us our supper.”
“Excuse me?”
“I fear this may be tainted.”
His scowl deepened. “How so?”
“Just trust me, Valteri. I wouldn’t advise eating it.”
“Oh.”
She knew that he assumed someone may have spit in it. Her fear was that Mildred might have added poison as a special seasoning.
If his lesser fear would clear their meal, she wouldn’t argue.
Without a word, he opened the door and called for Wace to come clear their dishes and bring new ones.
But as the boy obeyed him, a newfound agony consumed her as she thought over what she must do. She’d have to leave him. If he was to have any hope whatsoever of living, she couldn’t stay here.
Sooner or later, Mildred would kill him.
Therefore, she’d savor these last few hours and be grateful for them. Maybe that would be enough to ease the ache of a human lifetime spent alone.
Then again, what if she wasn’t human? What if she was still immortal?
Horror filled her. The crone had put her in a human body. But what if she still didn’t age?
What if she were damned to this form until she found someone else to love?
There was a nightmare she hadn’t even contemplated.
