Jesstin was still rattled from whatever had happened in the sky. He refused to ask who “she” was and give Ryquin even more of an advantage.
“Hello, Jesstin.” A sultry voice whispered the words.
Jesstin turned, and what happened next gave him no time to catch up. His mouth dropped, and his cock sprung so quickly to attention, he might have wondered if something was wrong with it, if he could have thought at all.
“It is so lovely to finally meet you.”
Jesstin couldn’t speak. All he could do was gape at the onyx-haired creature who had stolen his ability to self-govern. Her dark lipstick was a shadow against her unnaturally pale face and lucent violet eyes. She wasn’t even his type, but the only image in his mind was of him bending her over the bench and throwing away every last principle he still clung to.
“My sister, Lexsea. We call her Lex. Or, sometimes, Sex, for reasons I don’t quite think I need to explain to you.” Ryquin laughed halfway through his introduction.
“I...” Why was his mouth suddenly as dry as sand? He’d never reacted to anyone that way before. He didn’t actually want her, so why was he under a bewildering carnal assault?
“I know who you are. Don’t hurt yourself.” Lexsea leaned in and pressed a slender finger to his mouth. Her nearness made everything worse. The way she cast her eyes downward with another sly smile made it unbearable. “We’ve been waiting a long time for you.”
“Don’t look her in the eyes, Jesstin,” Gennady blurted. “Don’t look her in the eyes, you idiot!” He disappeared with a gasp, like he’d been torn away.
Jesstin tried to wet his mouth but ended up choking on his spittle instead. “So it was... the two of you sending all those...” He flicked his fingers, making a monumental effort to avoid the woman’s gaze. “Visions to the stable hand.”
“Some,” Ryquin said. “Most were sent by Aelloven’s brother. They lied to you about the bond, my father and mother. They need you to believe only a bond with another—Taven Considine—would sever yours. There’s another way, and we’ll help you, if you help us.”
All right, so he’d answered two questions. There was another way, and they needed him, but for what? And what did it have to do with Elloven?
“Infinita Mori, a waypoint for the dead souls before they move on...” Ryquin glanced at his sister.
She nodded.
“It’s no longer a waypoint but a prison. It’s become a cesspit of chaos and violence and war, and the dead have beseeched us to help them. Yet how, when no necromancer we have ever had here could do more than speak with the dead? They’re desperate for our aid, so they can pass on peacefully, but so far, we’ve had no way to offer it.”
“Our father is... unconcerned,” Lexsea said. “He has other priorities, while I would argue that as the patron of the dead, there can be no greater one.” Her voice sounded like velvet felt. He wanted to wrap himself in it, roll down and down and down a hill until it was all he knew, until he disappeared and it was just?—
Snap the fuck out of whatever you’re doing, Gennady barked, this time from inside his head.
Jesstin squinted and shook his head. “And you both are just so concerned about the plight of the dead? Enough to manipulate that twat Considine? You couldn’t have known I would come, and if he’d have known, he’d have made damn sure Elloven never met me,” he said, though he wasn’t confident the part about them knowing was true. Everything was a calculated presumption. “The only reason he hasn’t tried to kill me again is because it would kill her too.”
“Oh, no, love. It wouldn’t kill you,” Lexsea said sweetly. He could only see the spikes of her tall heels, the delicate cut of her ankles leading to lean but muscular calves?—
He grimaced, shifting.
“The death of one or the other is a perfectly legitimate means to break the bond, but there are better ways.”
“But she felt my pain when I was injured.”
“Only because you survived. Had Taven left you to die, Aelloven would have been free. Such a simple solution to his problem, and he was so close.” She chuckled. “So it’s a very good thing he didn’t know better.”
A sobering truth, one Taven never needed to know. “So your father needs Elloven, you need me, all of you have different goals, and why am I supposed to care?”
“Because we can break this bond for you.” Lexsea’s ridiculous spiked heels clacked on the dark stone ground. “I can seal them, and I can destroy them, and you will suffer no injury nor slight.”
They’d reached the part when they would reveal the cost, so he didn’t bother to ask.
Whether he and Elloven’s fates were indelibly tied or not, they both possessed something Rivenholde needed.
Whatever it was, there was nothing they could offer him to do their bidding.
“I’m going to tell you something most here think they know, but they have it wrong,” Ryquin said. “Lex is my father’s chosen successor, not me. The people of Rivenholde cling to the belief it’s because of my peculiar interests and the company I keep, that Lex is more ruthless. Well, the last part is true.”
Lexsea giggled. There was nothing pleasant in the sound, but Jesstin felt a flutter just the same.
