“See, Callista, you’re already getting carried away. I made a deal to help you. No different than you making a deal to help me, except that mine didn’t get me bound to any monsters. It doesn’t really matter anyway because it looks like it played out different than I planned.”
Arena came back with bowls of soup and a plate of bread. Alastor relaxed as he lifted a piece of bread closer to smell it. “Now this is perfection. Thank you, Arena.”
She dipped her head and patted his arm. “Let me know if you two need anything else.”
I watched him savor a few bites of bread before trying again. “Alastor, I really need to know exactly what your deal was. I actually have friends in the castle now, and I’m worried that you’ve done something that will hurt them.”
He closed his eyes and chewed his bread, relaxing at my explanation. “Oh, that’s nothing to worry about. They’ll be fine.”
“Why?”
He finished the first slice and lowered his voice. “Guyan thinks that if he kills the drekkan, it will break the curse. It makes sense, since the curse was on him. I had to check a few things in Fotab’s books, but I think he’s right. Guyan also said that killing the drekkan would free you from the mistek bond, unless the drekkan passed it on to someone else first.”
He raised a brow. “He didn’t give it to someone else, did he?”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “No. I told you, he broke it himself.”
His brows wrinkled. “Yeah, I still think that’s weird.”
“So, Guyan’s plan was to kill the king, bring me back, and take over Hemlit?” My heart pounded. Aedan loved his cousin. This… this was worse than Mylo’s suspicions. Even just knowing this would wreck Aedan.
“Yeah.” Alastor took a bite of soup. “It seemed fair to me. The king had almost killed both of us and, according to Guyan, killed Motab too. And Guyan was willing to get you.”
I couldn’t eat the soup. Knowing Guyan was at the fortress, planning to kill Aedan, turned my stomach.
“I shouldn’t have told you.” Alastor looked up at me over his bowl of soup. “You’re all worried now.”
A fierce fire burned from my stomach, straight through my chest and into my throat. Alastor only knewme as the sister who struggled to raise him. The one who burnt food, tripped on her own toes, and worried too much. But I was more than that.
I was a firehawk.
And nobody besides us knew Guyan’s plans. “I am worried, Alastor. Aedan trusts Guyan. Guyan will use that trust to destroy him. I have to warn him.” I stood up.
He filled a spoon with soup and swallowed it before slowly placing the spoon on a napkin. “Why?”
“Because…” There were a thousand different ways I could answer this question. I could list Aedan’s attributes, the ways he’d changed, and the good he tried to do. I could list his own struggles and challenges, the pains he’d faced and the values he’d clung to.
But none of that really hit the heart of the reason. The real reason was more simple. “Because I love him.”
Alastor groaned. “Oh, Callista. There’s a word for that, when a prisoner falls in love with her captor. It isn’t love when he offers you the basest of dignities or essentials that keep you alive.”
I sat back down and reached across the table to take Alastor’s hand. “I know it will be hard to believe, but that isn’t what happened. He brought me to you because he loves me. He tried to free me months ago, but we didn’t think there was a way for me to cross the barrier. I would really, really love your help, but if you can’t come with me, I’m still going to go.”
“And do what? You can’t cross the barrier.”
“I can if you help me.”
He filled his spoon again. “Not happening.”
I clenched a fist under the table. “If you won’t help me, I’ll pacealong the barrier, hoping someone on the other side comes close enough for me to pass on the warning.”
He blew out a breath and pulled his hands away. “I could lock you in a room. Restrain you with magic. Make sure you stay away from danger.”
My jaw fell. “If you did that, you would be worse than the drekkan king.”
“Really?” He narrowed his eyes. “Worse than a monster who nearly killed me?”
“He stopped when I asked.”
