Tenebrys's grip tightened. "I am serious, Delphinium."
"So am I," she said, getting in his face. "Just do it if you're going to, or let me go, and I'll get you more stew."
His nostrils flared and fingers flexed. With a huff of annoyance, he released her.
"Stop making me think I should have poisoned this," Delphi muttered, refilling the bowl. She passed it back to him. "I'm only trying to understand what I'm meant to be getting punished for."
Tenebrys let out a frustrated grunt but finally relented to her request for information.
"In the final battle against the fae, the Unseelie Lord of Plagues released a blight onto the shifter army as he retreated," he began, his voice so neutral that Delphi knew the memory must still hurt. She talked the same way about her childhood.
"My people were on the front lines," Tenebrys continued. "Seventy percent of us died in the first week. The other shifter allies were sent away to make sure they didn't contract it. The Mistwood had already begun to grow, but it hadn't reached here just yet. I sent a plea for help to Montcrillon. The king there owed us for defeating the fae finally. The humans would have been fucked without us and the allies I summoned from Runefjell."
Tenebrys paused long enough to drink down some of his stew. Delphi didn't say a word, worried that if she did, he would stop.
"Narcisse and Cassia arrived a month later with a letter from the lord they had been working for. The king had told them of the message and offered them 500 gold pieces in return."
Delphi choked on her spit. "500?! That is enough to live two lifetimes off."
"I promised him more than that if he succeeded," Tenebrys continued.
Delphi swallowed down her outrage. What in the gods' name had Narcisse done with all that money?
"They got to work, and we were subjected to all kinds of disgusting concoctions to drink. After months of failures, they started trying to add magic. It was a plague that had been made by magic, so magic had to be the key. One full moon, they both disappeared into the Mistwood. I thought they had abandoned us to die. We were all too weak to go after them. We wanted to die.
"Before dawn, they returned. Cassia looked ill, but Narcisse was shimmering with power. In the infirmary, he drew an arcane circle on the floor. I've tried to remember details about that night, but all I can recall is that damn circle and a flash of violet flames. It roared through the rooms and over us. I thought it would burn us alive. It did something much worse."
Tenebrys looked into his stew and then finally back at her, his golden eyes full of pain.
"At first, there was a chill and then agony. The worst pain I have ever felt in my life. Pain so horrible that I lost consciousness. When I woke up again, there were only seven of us still alive, and we were all transformed into this." He waved a hand at his face and horns. "We couldn't shift into a full beast or full human form anymore. Narcisse and Cassia had fled after they detonated the spell. When we were strong enough to leave the château, their trail was already a month old. The Mistwood had grown around the estate. We tracked them to the edge of theforest but found we could no longer leave it. I have been trying to find Narcisse for the past twenty-nine years. Yesterday was the closest I ever got."
Delphi was going to be sick. She didn't know what to say.
"It will mean nothing, but I'm so sorry that he did this to you. To all of you," she whispered, swallowing hard. "I will go through the lab and the books they left behind. I can try to figure out what they did. I don't have magic like my mother. It doesn't make sense that Narcisse had the power to cast a spell like that. He must have done something."
Tenebrys snarled softly, "There isn't anythingyoucan do. My only shot to get Narcisse was ruined. I was going to wait until nightfall, get into your dreams, and convince you to bring him into the woods. You fucked that plan up by running into them too early."
"Sorry if I didn't want to be a lord's whore or be burned alive," she snapped back. "I'm better than Narcisse at medicines. He is a hack and would have used my mother's magic somehow to curse you all. He wronged you horribly, but you're also a dick for using dream magic on me."
She bit her lip, stopping any more words from coming out of her big mouth. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that it hurt her feelings.
Tenebrys leaned closer to her. "You were the one naive enough to let me into your dreams to begin with." He was near enough that she could smell the alluring, spicy musk of him.
"You're an asshole," she snapped because she couldn't think of a clever comeback when he was looking at her like that.
Tenebrys chuckled, low and husky. Delphi's treacherous thighs pressed together. "And you're just embarrassed that a monster like me got you to come so hard that your little cunt soaked my whole damn paw."
Delphi sucked in a breath, outrage coursing hot through her. She leaned closer until they were almost nose to nose.
"I also remember that your cock was digging into my back the entire time. I'm surprised it didn't leave a bruise," she countered.
His ear twitched, and he said nothing. That's what she thought. He had wanted her just as badly.
She laughed, soft and mocking, before throwing his words from that night back at him. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"
Tenebrys got to his feet, his head cocking to one side, suddenly alert. Delphi opened her mouth to gloat when a howl echoed from outside, closer now and full of warning. Tenebrys picked her up and raced through the halls.
"What the hell, Tenebrys!" she shouted.
