Page 85 of Faeling
“They’re vulnerable. Only for mates,” she muttered.
“Then I intend to see them much more.”
Already back to issuing demands.
“We’ll see,” was all she could think to say before sleep dragged her down into its embrace.
She woke sometime later to a darkened, cooler cave. The rain hadn’t abated with the night, and she couldn’t help a shiver in her still-damp clothes. Although, the tremors had seemed to stop.
Tipping back her head enough to see Vallek’s face, she found him staring silently into the darkness. Following his line of sight, she found that with the light from their little fire, the lump that had once been Ulrich could just be seen. A formless, shadowy lump, it was a dark omen against the rain-spattered ground.
She averted her gaze, not wanting to think any more about him.
Although unsure whether it was the utter exhaustion or thebond to herazaior just her imagination, Ravenna thought she could hear how the heart beneath her cheek was breaking.
“Rest,” he murmured. “They’ll find us by morning.”
Nuzzling against the patch of exposed skin at his throat, Ravenna sighed. “Your heart is heavy.”
Vallek’s exhale ruffled the hair at her crown. “I killed my friend.”
It was a brutally simple statement, but four words carried enough weight that Ravenna could almost see it pressing on his shoulders.
“You did.”
He didn’t look at her, but the arms he had banded loosely around her tightened. Ravenna winced, not quite in pain, and he immediately relaxed his grip.
“I’ve known him since we were orclings. We served together, fought together. I considered him my brother. He stood beside me when no one else would.”
Ravenna listened quietly, easily imagining the person Ulrich had been. She could see youthful Vallek and Ulrich, cocksure and angry, ready to remake the world.
What they had accomplished was nothing short of astounding. But somewhere along the way, something darker had developed inside Ulrich. She’d never questioned his loyalty to Vallek. If anything, his devotion was fanatical. He guarded Vallek almost jealously, blind to how his king and friend had changed, too.
“I’ll admit—I won’t mourn him nor miss him. But it brings me no pleasure to see how heavily it weighs on your heart.”
“Going soft on me, sprite?”
“Hardly. But I have a heart, cold and dark as it may be.”
They lapsed back into silence, Vallek’s gaze never wavering from the motionless form of Ulrich. More than once, she thought to ask him why, but as the night lengthened, she began to suspect he watched over his lord commander as much as he did her. If nothing else, no scavengers would pick at Ulrich tonight.
It was a long while before Vallek spoke again, and the words he did finally say made Ravenna’s cold, dark heart ache. “I regret having to kill him—but I don’t regret that I did. Does that make sense?”
“Yes.” It did. And it shouldn’t have pleased her so much, but it did, too.
Perhaps it was ugly of her to be happy that Vallek would kill for her—even his own friend and second. Perhaps it wasn’t right to be pleased he’d choose her over all others. Especially when she herself had avoided their mating and been begrudging all along the way.
She never wanted to have the choice put to him, but now that it’d come to pass, she couldn’t help the prideful pleasure tucked beneath her heart.
He came for her. He defended her. He killed for her.
Fates, how could she deny him now?
As if he could read her thoughts, Vallek said, “You’ll have your way,skala.”
That cold, dark heart of hers dropped to the cave floor. “What do you mean?” she asked through cold lips.
After all this, was his heart so heavy he meant to give her up?
