“That doesn’t seem so hard,” she said to Xaydin. “Why not do it?”
“Because if you contract to eat vegetables every day and you don’t, little guy over there will hunt you down and kill you.”
That left her with one major question. “How does he know if you don’t abide by it?”
It was theaþaswerewho answered. “It’s a spell. When it’s broken, my skin burns and the signature of the party violating the contract lights up. It’s actually quite painful and it won’t stop burning me until I kill the offending party. The longer it takes, the more the contract burns.”
Oh. That sounded awful. Much worse than the problems she dealt with. “Then why do you want a contract so badly?”
“I’m anaþaswere,” he said simply. “If you don’t bear contracts, you’re an outcast. I want to be respected by my people. The youngestaþaswereto bear a contract was only nine years old. I’m fifteen. If I don’t have my own contracts by the time I turn eighteen, I’ll be driven off our island.”
“That seems harsh.” And reminded her far too much of how her own mother had treated her.
Earn your keep with me or go beg or whore in the street. Make a choice. I don’t care which you pick. But I won’t keep you up for free.
The saddest part? Her mother had meant that.
No, her mother still meant that. It was a harsh reality when you had nowhere to turn, and that made her heart ache for the boy in front of her.
The last thing she wanted was to see him hurt.
“Can’t we help him?”
Masakage shook his head. “I never make deals with other wizards. It doesn’t turn out well to mix magic. Things tend to explode…in more ways than one.”
“Then I’ll make two.” Xaydin’s offer shocked her.
Theaþaswerewas giddy. “What are they?”
“I swear I won’t kill my brother. No matter how much he annoys me.”
Masakage rolled his eyes.
Theaþasweretsked. “You have to make a contract with someone for it to involve us. Those are the terms.”
He looked at her. “I promise not to kill Gisela so long as she swears not to kill my brother.”
“Nothing for yourself?” theaþaswereasked.
“Don’t care about me. I only want to make sure my brother survives this.”
Nodding, he turned to Gisela. “And you, my lady? Do you agree?”
“Agreed. I promise not to kill Masakage. Not that I had any intention of harming him.”
Xaydin gave her a hard stare. “Today. But things change. Sadly, so do people and their intentions.”
Spoken like a man who knew the same betrayals she did. No one should be brutalized by those who were supposed to protect them. And she hated that he knew her pain.
Trying not to think about it, she turned to the boy. “So what do we need to do?”
Still excited, he pulled a medallion from his pocket. Gold and silver, it held an intricate pattern in the center unlike anything she’d ever seen before. Lines intersected and were surrounded by what she assumed were words in an alphabet she couldn’t read.
The most interesting part was the very center raised slightly to a sharp point.
He held the medallion out toward Xaydin. “Repeat your oath.”
Grimacing, Xaydin made a low growl in his throat before he spoke. “I promise not to intentionally kill Gisela so long as she swears not to intentionally kill my brother Masakage.”
