Page 15 of Darkness Rising
I am.
“You’re powerful. The entire kingdom knows Violence Starling was a powerful little girl. It would only be accurate to assume you’d be an even more powerful woman.”
“Do I seriously have to sit here and listen to him woo her?” Nollix’s annoyance is heavy in his voice.
“What is the point here, Cam?” My gaze catches every emotion his features show me. Apprehension is in his eyes.
Can he trust me?
I pretended to trust him. He can pretend to trust me.
“Your father sent you away so he could breed an army.”
Breed an army.
“What kind of army?”
“An army of the dead.”
My lips part as my eyes narrow on him.
“How would he even do that? And, more importantly, I think you need to understand that what my father does is none of your business.”
He tips his head up to me and his pale amber eyes swirl with power. I’m reminded of how impressed I was with his abilities when we first met.
He planned all of that. He risked his life to get to me.
And now he has me.
He might regret that decision.
“An Elder Warlock wouldn’t have a problem raising the dead, or bargaining with the devil for souls. Especially if the King’s daughter is the one retrieving said souls.” He cocks a dark brow at me and I start to wonder why he’s making so much sense all of a sudden.
I never really considered where the souls we detain go. They go somewhere of course. I just assumed it was an afterlife of sorts.
Is he saying they’re being held somewhere else? Somewhere more … local?
“Why would anyone want an army of the dead?”
Silence pools after my question and I realize the other three men must be just as interested in Cameron’s story.
“You can’t kill what isn’t alive. With a little dark magic, they’d be strong. Indestructible.”
“But what purpose would they serve? Why would my father want this dark army?”
I consider the darkness that this conversation holds. It’s cryptic and disgusting.
I can picture my father doing it without conscience.
It also reminds me of the conflict that he’s always stirring with the cities to the south, the Obscured Kingdom. Would he really be so stupid as to raise a war with them after so many years of peace?
“I have no idea.” He shrugs slightly.
“Then how do you know it’s happening?”
He looks to the men behind me before settling his gaze on me again.
“Because your father stole from me first.”
