Page 57 of The Anointed's Paladin

I swallowed, trying to get a hold of myself again. I assessed him, trying to figure out if he knew why I’d ran.

“You just left him?” Nidori asked, eyes wide. She flitted over and landed on my shoulder, resting her fingers in my hair.

“It’s okay, Nidori, really,” Talon said. “You know, if we weretogether—if we had something special—then I’d expect him to stay. But we’re not. We’re just…” He trailed off.

“But youaretogether,” Nidori said, confused.

I cleared my throat, putting my smile back on my face. “You know, Talon, if you want to have something special with me, you just have to ask? I can help you find out what that is. Just one little question, and you’ll be as precious to me as my little Nidori.”

I kept my tone light, but excitement was bubbling beneath my casual exterior. His eyes met mine, and he stared at me for a long second. I had to keep myself from grabbing his face and shaking it, from demanding he make the deal. I wanted him, and I gritted my teeth as he shook his head.

“I don’t think I want to go for such a permanent commitment as that,” he said, glancing at Nidori and back to me.

“It doesn’t have to be permanent,” I said. “There’s a chance you’d both be free of me next week.”

“What do you mean?” Nidori asked sharply. “We’re together, forever, until death do us part.”

I paused, considering lying. But she should be prepared, just in case. Plus… I glanced up at Talon. If he knew, surely he’d help me. He didn’t even like Lydes, so convincing him to give up his quest shouldn’t be too hard.

“Look. I’m here for one reason—to secure my freedom from my captor, Cassandra. That is only going to happen if I do Cirae’s stupid quest. They said, if I fail, I will have to go back tobeing enslaved.” My next words wavered as I spoke them. “If I don’t win…I’ll use the last moments of freedom to kill myself. I’m not going back.”

Cirae’s wiggle room. It had been so straightforward when I’d first decided it. But saying it out loud, here, felt awful. I didn’t want to die. But I was never going back into servitude. Especially not now that I’d be dragging Nidori—and potentially Talon—with me. Nidori’s fingers had frozen in my curls. My throat was dry, but I forced myself to keep talking, to break the lingering silence.

“So, not bad odds, eh? You get something special, and chances are, it’s not even permanent.”

Nidori’s fingers were running through my hair again, but at a more frenzied pace. I glanced up at Talon. His face was unsettlingly blank.

“What is Cirae’s task for you?” he asked, not meeting my eyes. He focused on drying the shirt in his hands. My stomach did a nervous flip. I was hoping the next thing he’d say was that he’d do everything he could to save me.

“Free the object and give it to them,” I said. I was sure that Lydes wouldn’t be happy with that.

“Ah.” Eventually, he said, “If I don’t win…I hope you do. But sooner or later…” He trailed off, unable to finish.

“What are you talking about, Talon?” Nidori’s fingers tugged hard on a tangle, and I winced. “Kaine just said he’d die if he loses. That means you have to help us.”

There was an awkward silence. Talon opened his mouth and closed it again, and I could see panic building in his eyes.

I patted him on the leg, hitching the smile on my face higher. “That’s okay, Nidori. We kind of knew this alliance was temporary. How about this, Talon? We’ll give you a three second head start when we arrive on the island. Then I can promise you another knife wound…and not the sexy kind.”

He smiled, but it was taut and empty. At least the panic had receded, though.

“No, that’s not fair,” Nidori said.

I reached up and scooped her off my shoulder, pressing a kiss to her head. “We’ve got time to change his mind,” I whispered to her.

But doubt gnawed at me. There must be something really big at stake for Talon, if he was willing to let me die. And in order for me to win—to keep my life and to keep him—I needed to find out what. The more appealing option was that I needed to melt his brain to the point where he’d accept my deal. Because losing him, at this point, was starting to seem like an absolutely unacceptable option.

I pulled my bedroll next to his. “For warmth,” I said as he looked at me, but he didn’t complain.

26

What a beautiful dream it is

Talon

Ilay awake, my mind unable to settle after the revelation from earlier that evening. Kaine lay by my side, his breathing even. My mother always said people looked most like angels when they slept, except my father because he snored. Kaine looked like an angel most of the time, but right now, he looked at peace, his whole face relaxed in a way it wasn’t during the day.

I had started off thinking he was irreconcilably bad. And the things he’d done werenotright. Tricking Nidori. Trying to kill me, to use me. But it wasn’t black and white. He’d been hurt, he’d suffered, and didn’t have the luxury of thinking about morality. He was doing what he thought he needed to do in order to survive. Maybe I was wrong, but I could see a good person in him. One that just needed a chance. Or maybe he was really good at manipulating me, and I was just seeing what I wanted to see.

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