Page 71 of The Horned King

"Have you?" I can't help but ask.

"Many times."

"Oh." I feel properly chagrined. Embarrassed even.

His smile remains calm and empathetic. "It's alright, Elva. You can't possibly know what you don't know. No one here is blaming you for not being taught these things."

"Being ignorant is humiliating." I bite my lips between my teeth, wishing I could take those words back.

He shakes his head. "No, it's not. Choosing to remain ignorant would be, but that's not you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, my Elva." With a playful wiggle of his brows, he changes the subject. "Can we talk about less dour things now? Like the basilisk's neighbors? The ghouls?"

"Yes! Is it true they eat mortal flesh?" I ask, lost in my unquenchable thirst for knowledge and, if I'm being honest, more time to learn about this world from Kairon.

"Yes and no." He puts one ankle over his opposite knee, leaning back to regale me with more stories. "All the ghouls were once mortals, you know."

"No."

He chuckles again. "Yes! They should be feared more than the basilisks, I think. They were once mortals who got lost within the desert. The stories go that a man will go to desperate lengths if hungry enough. That our survival instinct is far more indomitable than any rational thought we might have once had.

"So after weeks without food and days without water, the mortal mind becomes twisted enough to do horrid things. Tirriel's father once told me of a man stumbling into town, half-mad, bathed in sand, with blood dripping down his chin. He spoke of finding a fresh corpse and did what someone does when they find food for the first time in weeks. He ate, and he drank, hoping their flesh and blood would sustain him enough to find his way home."

"And did it?"

Kai shakes his head, a somber expression turning his smile upside down. "He found his way to a small village on the outskirts of Lermo, where the people took him in and summoned the king. The king had to make a judgment on whether or not what he did to survive was illegal."

I sit in silence, waiting for what I already know will be a horrible end to this story. Whether the man lives or dies, he'll be suffering.

"The king called for his execution by hanging. The entire town gathered to watch it be done, as people do. But no one cheered, for this man didn't actually harm anyone. He only survived.

"When it was done, the executioner released the rope, the corpse falling to the ground, only for it to rise again, growing to twice his original size with razor-sharp teeth and claws to match. It tore through half the town before someone managed to remove its head."

I stare at his self-satisfied smirk, utterly distraught.

"What was the point of telling me that story?" I finally ask.

He shrugs. "You asked. Would you rather bury your head in the sand like the basilisks? Or do you want to see everything this world has to offer? The good, the bad, the dangerous? Do you think I am the type to help you remain hopeful and foolish?"

"Well, no, I want to know everything."

He smirks but it doesn't reach his eyes. "The price of knowledge is a steep one. But you're strong enough to handle it. If you're brave enough to ask, know that I'll always be brave enough to answer."

The statement weighs heavy on me, even as we venture into the day's activities. He'll answer any question I have. I just have to be sure I want the answers. And that's the problem, isn't it? I don't know that I'll ever be ready for the truths that he harbors. And I don't think I'll ever be ready to share mine, either.

What would be the point if we were to just go our separate ways? That's where this is leading, whether I like it or not. So, keeping my secrets and letting him keep his is the best thing I can do for myself.

Twenty

Kairon

Yesterday was wonderful.

This morning, too.

Adventuring with Elva is everything I could ever hope for, but the quiet moments between us, the ones where she sits in rapture as I tell her stories, those are the ones I crave the most. I thought I knew all the exciting things there were to discover in our world, and yet she makes everything look brand new.

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