Page 21 of A Court So Dark
My question echoed in the cavernous space.
—He suffers at the hands of his enemies, the Envoy’s androgynous voice answered. All-black eyes and a grotesque, rot-filled mouth flashed for an instant, then disappeared.
I tried not to think of those sharp teeth and how easily they could rip through our flesh if the demon decided to make a meal out of us, which wasn’t hard to do, not when her answer both tore me apart and gave me hope.
Kalyll was alive, but he was being tortured.
I shook my head, trying to focus on my relief only. They hadn’t killed him, and that was my selfish hope. I would see him again.
I inhaled, ready for the next question. “Is King Kalyll Adanorin in Nerethien?”
“No.” The Envoy’s mouth appeared and snapped the word through its teeth. Before it disappeared, it grinned with satisfaction.
Anger rose in me at the sight of the creature’s glee.
“Where is he then?” I demanded.
“Dani, no.” Arabis pulled my hand, trying to drag me toward the exit.
I freed my hand. “Where is he, you infuriating creature?”
In the blink of an eye, the Envoy swooped down from her hovering height, headed straight for me. My anger served as stupidity because as she came for me, I didn’t move. I stood my ground, holding my head high, even as her teeth snapped an inch from my nose.
“Give me more,” she hissed.
The scent of rot invaded my nostrils, pushing against me like a physical force. A forked tongue, three times as long as it should have been, snaked out, tasted the air, then proceeded to lick the upper lip from one corner to the other as if tasting something delicious.
And I supposed she was. It had just drained two days of my life, and she wanted more. That was why my failed question delighted her.
I opened my mouth, my head churning with insults, but also with possible questions that would guide me to Kalyll. He needed our help. He was being tortured, and I couldn’t allow that to go on. I had to do everything I could to save him.
But what question was the right one? They all crowded in my throat.
“Let’s go.” Arabis grabbed my arm, but I shook her off, staring at that faceless creature as it bore down on me.
Now that the Envoy was close, I heard her breaths. They were shallow and rattling, sounds I’d heard more times than I cared to admit. She breathed the way the dying breathed.
“Give me more,” she demanded in her eerie voice.
“Is King Kalyll Adanorin in the human realm?”
“No,” she answered, then cackled with delight, throwing her head back and licking her lips again, this time loudly as if she’d eaten her favorite meal.
Shit!Why had I asked that? I already knew he was in Elf-hame.
“We need to leave.” Arabis tried to pull me away, but I wouldn’t have it.
What was one more day shaved off my life? Maybe if I were still contemplating a human life, but Naesala Roka was going to help me live longer. I was going to live three hundred years instead of a third of that.
“Is King Kalyll Adanorin in Elyndell?” I flung the question at the Envoy, a strange heat spreading inside my chest.
“No.” Another delighted cackle issued from her nasty mouth.
Maybe I was imagining things, but it looked as if the demon had gotten bigger. I swallowed thickly, my throat burning with bile.
“Dani, this is madness.” Arabis grabbed me by the elbow and shook me. “You have to stop. This can’t be good. You’ll die.”
No, I would not die. Once I started my training with Naesala, I would have tens of thousands of days at my disposal. A few wouldn’t make a difference—not after Kalyll and I had spent several lifetimes together.
