Page 111 of Duskbound

"Let me go." I pulled against the ropes, ignoring how the room spun slightly.

"I intend to." He smiled, and my stomach turned. "Once I know you'll behave."

The shadows rippled just below my skin. They felt weak, muted by whatever drug he'd laced the water with, but they were there. And I could use them. Before I could think better of it, darkness seeped from my pores, curling through the air between us.

"Ah, ah, ah." Valkan clicked his tongue, moving forward with predatory grace. His fingers twisted through the black mist. "I know you're smarter than that."

My shadows wrapped around his wrist, coiling up his arm like smoke. He took a measured step back, though his smile never faltered.

"Think carefully, my dear," his voice dropped lower, "about what my men would do if they found their Lord in any condition other than how you see me now." His eyes sparked. "It would be quite disappointing if your first official act as a Duskbound was to plunge the realm into civil war."

Rage boiled through me, made worse by the smug satisfaction on his face. I kept my shadows coiled around me, no longer reaching for him but refusing to retreat entirely.

"You don't care about this realm," I hissed.

"Oh, quite the contrary." Valkan's smile widened. "I want to see it in its golden age again. But those in leadership are bound and determined to let us fall to ruin. I'm the only one willing to do what it takes to save us all."

"You're disgusting," I spat the words like venom.

"A foul mouth." He settled into the chair opposite me, crossing his feet on the table with casual arrogance. "That will have to be tamed, I'm afraid."

"Ever find yourownshadows?" I seethed. "Since you couldn't produce them outside the Void?"

My words cut a slice through his satisfaction, but he recovered quickly.

"The Void may not have gifted me the powers of a Duskbound. But it left me alive, untouched." His eyes scanned the room. "I'd say that's rather fitting. Even the strongest force in this realm couldn't mark me, couldn't claim me."

"Or it simply rejected you," I shot back, still tugging at my restraints.

"Believe what you like, my love, but we both made history that day."

"Why am I here?" I finally asked, despite the nerves churning inside. I didn't want the answer, but I didn't know what else to say.

"Because I want to make a deal with you." He lifted a golden goblet, studying the liquid inside with exaggerated interest.

"And why would I ever make a deal with you?" The words came out as a growl.

"Because despite what you think of me, I see what you truly are." He took a long sip, watching me over the rim. "Someone willing to sacrifice everything for what they believe in. And I think with enough... persuasion, you could be made to see reason."

A bitter laugh escaped me. "Reason? Is that what you call it?"

"I think you're smarter than the others. I think you understand that sometimes difficult decisions must be made." His dead eyesfixed on me. "And I think, with the right motivation, you could come to see things from my perspective. Even share it, perhaps."

His words hit me like a physical blow, stirring something deep within me. All my life, people had tried to tell me who I was, what I should be. The Aossí who marked me as Riftborne, defining me by my past. The Guard who tried to shape me into their weapon. Even Laryk, who saw me as something to be molded, controlled.

But I wasn't that lost girl anymore, hiding in shadows and letting others write my story. I had found my own power, my own truth. And here was Valkan, another man trying to force his vision upon me, thinking he could bend me to his will.

No. I was done letting others define me. Done being what everyone else wanted me to be. I might be caught between two realms, but those parts of me—the ones that made me a weapon, an asset, something to be feared or welded or forged…

Those parts belonged tome.

"I would never, in a million years, allow you to unleash your forces onto Sídhe. That's what you don't understand." My voice shook. "I don't want more death and destruction, and that's all you offer. It's all your men know how to do."

"Sometimes," he said softly, "the end justifies the means."

My shadows pulsed wider, reaching for him again before I could stop them.

"Careful now." His voice dropped dangerously low. "I'd hate for this to turn into something ugly."

---