“We have no deities. We trust in the land, the elements, Everrynd itself…”
His lip curls in a grin. “So do we.” He clasps his hands together, resting his elbows on his knees as he leans forward. “So maybe the land is tired, and it’s trying to help us on this journey. Look how you stumbled onto my path. Completely unplanned, unexpected, flipping everything I knew on its head. And you brought us so much closer already. Without you, I’d still be stumbling around in the dark.”
His gaze holds an intensity that I may melt under.
But what he’s saying makes sense. It’s what I’ve been feeling for days now. I was just too afraid to say it aloud. “Or maybe it wasyouwho stumbled ontomypath,” I say teasingly, not summoning as much sass as I would have liked.
“Maybe,” he murmurs, still holding my gaze.
I pull in a deep breath and take a sip of my tea. Purely for a distraction.
“Okay. So if Raef is okay with it, we tell Gaethri why we desperately need that sword. But… we don’t need to tell him everything yet. We can just tell him that it’s vital to breaking the curse.”
“I agree. What we’ve already acquired stays between us.”
“He is smart though… he’ll likely know we’re withholding information from him, and if he’s wise, he’ll demand to know the rest in exchange for his help.”
Daegan rubs a hand at the back of his neck, his biceps flexing with the movement. “You’re probably right there.”
“So we take a big risk, and we simply tell him everything. Be forthcoming. What’s the worst thing that can happen? He wants the same thing as us.”
“The worst that could happen is he doesn’t fully trust us still, keeps the information, somehow tries to steal the blood, and finds the rest of the relics on his own.”
I lift a shoulder. “At least the curse will be broken either way? Personally, I’m not doing this for the glory.”
Daegan’s lips pull back in a grin as he laughs softly, his eyes lighting up.
I think I need him to go back to loathing me with everything he has.
I think a part of him still does.
“Can I ask you something else?”
“What?” he asks, his smile nearly disappearing.
“Why haven’t you told your father?” I ask, shifting my gaze down for a moment, afraid of this question and its answer. “I would assume he’d also want to take down the king and break the curse. I’d also assume you guys came here with the intention of gaining intel. So… why haven’t you?”
He hesitates. “To protect you.”
I flick my gaze back up to meet his. A thick silence hangs between us for a moment.
“What?” I ask stupidly.
His chest rises as he takes a deep breath. “You’d be correct in your assumption that he wants to take down the king. And believe it or not, my father is a lot more ruthless than I am.”
I raise my eyebrows at him.
“I know,” he says, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “I don’t think he’d be thrilled with your involvement. Once you gave us all the information you had… you’d no longer be of use to him.”
I take a deep breath. “You think he’d kill me?”
Something dark flashes behind his eyes, and his jaw twitches. “I don’t know. But I’m not going to let that happen.”
“So you’re lying to your father… for me?”
He nods, then glances at me. “My father and I have a complicated relationship. And you… you’re not what I expected. We need you.” He pauses, then smirks a little. “You might be a pain in my side, a spoiled brat even, but it would be incredibly too easy for you to do nothing and enjoy your life here… yet you still push. You’re incredibly brave, but also incredibly reckless. You risked a lot trusting us, letting us in. I won’t betray that trust now.”
I take a deep breath, trying to process his words, trying to stay rooted in my body before I float away. I can’t believe this is the same Daegan I first met.
