And the thing about Val was that she didn’t do anything halfway. Rise had better beware. She was passionate in her devotion for those she cared about, and there was no one she cared about more than her sister.
“Since you untied me, I’m assuming we’ve built a little trust between us. You want to let me in on your plan? Maybe I can help.”
He chuckled behind her, and she liked feeling the rumble of his chest. She had long given up trying to keep any space between them. She had to admit, she didn’t mind him as a backrest. His chest was broad and warm, and it had been a while since she’d had arms around her. She was also hyper-aware thathis legs rubbed against her hips, reminding her that he was very much a man and she a woman.
“Why would you want to help me?”
“I mean, trust me, I want to see the old man get what’s coming to him same as you.”
“Does he really want you dead? Because if I were you, I’d just tell me that to—how did you put it—build a little trust between us.”
“That does sound like something I would do.”
They rode in silence for a few more minutes. The truth about her childhood wasn’t an easy story to tell. From the outside looking in, it probably did appear to be idyllic. Yet, it was so far from it.
“The first time I knew our relationship wasn’t normal was when he took me to the castle dog kennel. I was probably around four-years-old, and he lifted me up and held me over the pit of growling dogs. I can still hear the snapping of their teeth and see the foaming, wet mouths barely below me. He laughed gleefully as I screamed and cried, lifting my legs as high as they would go.” She told the story without emotion. The memory was horrible, but she felt so far removed from it now. “He pulled me back and threw a huge slab of meat in the pit. I watched, terrified, as they pounced on it and tore it to pieces. I felt his gaze on me the entire time.”
“Why? Why would a father torture his daughter?”
“I think you probably know the answer to that question. It sounds like you were the recipient of his special attention, too.”
He grew quiet once more, and she wished she could see inside his mind. What was he thinking? She had chosen one of the worst moments she could remember, but she had no idea if she’d convinced him at all.
“Where was your mother during all of this?”
“Hiding, most of the time. She was one of his favorite targets for torture as well. They weren’t great loves or anything like that. She was one of the greatest seers of her time. As seems to be a recurring theme, he stole her from her people and kept her captive.”
“Where is she now?”
“Dead. He tried to make her tell him where she’d hidden us, but she took it to her grave—at least that’s what I was told.”
Rise was quiet for a moment, seeming to turn over Liv’s revelations in his mind. Yet, in an instant, his face hardened and he said, “Seems to me, my plan will work exactly how I want it to. Offer you to Grawl, and as soon as I can, strike him down.”
Liv pulled in a heavy breath, steadily releasing it before she said, “He can’t be killed. Not in the normal sense.”
“That’s a lie. Everyone dies.”
“And he has. Multiple times. Over the years, he’s been pierced by swords, multiple arrows, and three daggers. His head has been cleaved from his body. He has been burned to a cinder, thrown off of a cliff, and crushed beneath a building. Every time, he has returned to life.”
“How is that possible?”
She shrugged. “Don’t know. Some say he is death incarnate. Some say he made a pact with death. Whatever the reason, he’s a curse on this land. All I know is that only one thing in the world has ever scared him.”
“His children.” Whether he believed what she was saying or not, at least he was listening.
“My sister and I were raised by a coven of witches. They said that the Oracle of Cheklad predicted his death hundreds of years ago, on the day of his birth. The day of his birth is two weeks away. Maybe this will be the year.” She sat up and turned, wanting to meet his gaze fully. “As he grew more powerful, this became the only hope of the people he terrorized. Three of hisoffspring would unite, and with the power of a particular curse breaker, they would finally defeat him for good.”
His forehead wrinkled and his mouth thinned as he stared at her, probably trying to see if he could read any deceit in her story. He would find none.
“Why didn’t he kill you and your sister when you were first born.”
“Supposedly, if he killed us before the third was born, he would lose his immortality and be vulnerable to the same death we all face. Whether it was true or not, he never wanted to test it. He just satisfied his thirst for our blood by his little tortures.” She turned back around and settled back in against his chest. He squeezed her ever so slightly, but she noticed. “The day of my brother’s birth, certain people who had been chosen to do so fled, taking us with them, and we were well-hidden from him for twenty-two years.”
A grunt. That’s all she got from him. After she’d shown the one, true vulnerability that motivated every decision she made, he’d grunted. Could he even understand how hard it had been for her to reveal that to him? The only other person who knew the details of her life was her sister. They hadn’t even told the witches who had raised them everything they’d endured.
He continued to ride in contemplative silence, and she didn’t dare say anything more to try to convince him. He had known her father. No doubt, he knew what Grawl Strongwill was capable of, he just didn’t know if Liv was capable of the same deceit and evil.
She often wondered the same.
