Xaydin scowled. “For what?”
“If you were in her lands, then you were hostages and I know how she treated those she kept in bondage. No one deserved that.” Not with Meara’s cruelty. Even now, the horrors of those years were seared into her memories.
As bad as her time with Meara had been, it was nothing compared to the nightmares Meara had gleefully subjected her captives to.
“I wish you’d been spared herhospitality.”
Xaydin was caught off guard by the sincerity in her tone. That was actual kindness he heard. He only remembered it because it was rare to find, and the few times he had, he’d made an effort to commit it to memory.
Most creatures were like him. Angry and bitter to the core of their souls. Aching so much that they lashed out at others just for spite.
It was the one thing he hated most about himself. He hadn’t always been that way. There had been a time when he’d been a happy child.
Unlike Masakage, he’d been accepted by his father. Loved even.
No. Treasured.
His father had appreciated the fact that Xaydin was different from other trolls.
It makes you special, lad. You are a child of three distinct worlds. That means you know more than others, as you feel it in your bones. Never lose sight that you owe loyalty to your mother’s blood as much as mine.
He hadn’t really understood those words until he met his brother. Masakage had finally given him an appreciation for their mother and her powers. For that entire side of his family, as well as their heritage.
To this day, he was grateful for the lesson. Harsh as it’d been.
Gisela cleared her throat. “You haven’t answered my question, you know? How do you track anaþaswere?”
“How wereyouplanning to find him?”
By the expression on her face, he could tell she wanted to scream at his refusal to answer. “Ask.”
He burst out laughing. Until he realized she was serious. “And you thought…what? They’d tell you?”
“I’m not trying to harm him. I want to protect him from you. Why wouldn’t they tell me how to find him to keep him safe?”
Mostly because they closed ranks and hated outsiders even worse than trolls and ogres.
And he couldn’t help but point out another matter. “What makes you think it’s a male who holds the contract?”
Confusion flickered across her beautiful face. “I thought they all were men.”
“They are not. Some are even children.”
Her eyes widened with horror. “You kill children?”
“No!” The mere thought offended him. What kind of monster… Well, to be fair, hewasa monster. Just not the kind that would ever harm a child, and it bothered him more than it should that she’d think that of him. “The children aren’t allowed to take contracts until they’re able to defend themselves and see their terms met. Usually around fifteen or sixteen. I just wanted you to check your knowledge and assumptions. Before you seek something, you might want to understand it.”
She rolled her eyes. “How easy you make it sound. As if there’s a history book about them. Not to mention when Queen Meara sends you off to do something, you don’t ask a lot of questions…or dawdle. You go immediately.”
Those words hit him like a fist. Mostly because he knew exactly what they meant.
Gisela was right. No one asked Meara questions. To do so would awaken her nasty wrath.
“How did you get into her service?”
She glanced away. “Like you, my father abandoned me to her.”
Those words also offended him. She made a lot of assumptions about things she knew nothing. “Just to be clear, my father didn’t abandon me. He had no choice.”
