Page 50 of The Cruel Dawn
“You look strong, Kai,” he says, standing up and moving toward the bars. “And you’re still beautiful. I don’t wanna look away.”
“Cheers to me, then,” I say, poking my tongue into my cheek. “Obviously, you can’t see the new cuts and bruises on my face from my fight with the Sea of Devour’s most aggressive residents.”
“I can see them,” he says, “and I said what I said.”
“You’ve either made yourself so sick that you’ve tricked yourself or you’re lying to me again. Or both. I’m thinking both. A self-deceived liar.”
Elyn snickers and drifts back into the shadows, remaining close enough, though, to provide light for me to see this beautiful liar.
Jadon smiles. “I’m hoping that you’ve come down here to free me, and to tell me that—”
“I’m not here to tell you one damned thing,” I blurt. “I don’t know you, sir, nor do I trust you. I’m not even sure why I came other than to laugh in your face about your offer tolet mestand beside you as you ruledmyrealm. I believe your precise words were…
“‘I won’t destroy the world with him, Kai. Nor will I rule this realm with Gileon. I want to share Vallendor with you. I want to rule this realm with you by my side and make Vallendor what itshouldbe.’”
Those words are seared into my memory forever.
“Kai,” Jadon says, fidgeting with the collar of his tunic, “about that—”
“You said all those pretty words while forgetting the most important fact.” I cock my head and sneer at him. “Iam Vallendor’s Grand Defender.Iam the Lady of the Verdant Realm.Ido notsharethe administration of this world with anyone, especially with a man who doesn’t even know who—or what—he is, especially with a man whose entire existence depends on the extermination of mine.”
“I made a mistake,” Jadon says, his face twisted and sweaty. “I’m sorry, okay? Since being in this stupid jail, I’ve had plenty of time to think about how foolish I was to even suggest that I become emperor. If it matters any, I’m—” He grimaces and stumbles backward, grasping his right arm.
“You’re in pain,” I say, staring at his right arm, which now sparks with amber light. I want to lift my hand to heal him, but I fight that natural inclination and keep my hands to myself.
“Every two days, I pray for death,” Jadon says with a chuckle. “But that, I guess, isn’t Supreme’s will. So I’m now asking you for the opposite. I ask for my life. Save me, Lady.Kai. I don’t want to live as Miasma or as my father’s tool.”
I blink at him. “Now which father are we talking about? The awful one or the immortally awful one?”
Jadon drops his gaze and cradles that offending right hand now that festers with inked elements. “Do you really think I had a lot of choice? You know that I tried to escape my path, my destiny. That Maford was supposed to give me a future, but then you showed up and…”
Kinda destroyed Maford?And what I didn’t burn down, Elyn demolished.
“You’re right,” I admit. “We ruined your hiding place. And I’m sorry about that. But if Olivia hadn’t stolen from me, I would’ve never chased her into that stupid, raggedy town, and you and I would’ve never…met.”
My throat tightens, and I look away from him to collect my thoughts. Imagining a life without Jadon… I was fine before him. I’ll be fine after him. Yes, I’ll be fine…
“Kai?” Elyn says, spurring me. “Time.”
“We’re not here to lament the past or to wish upon stars,” I say now. “Your father continues to breed new otherworldly. Resurrectors. Why? And how do we stop them?”
Jadon blinks at me, and hope drains from his face. “You stop them by killing them.”
“No shit,” Elyn mutters, stepping out from the shadows. “How do wekillthem?”
He doesn’t answer her.
“How do we kill them?”I repeat.
“Blades and spells,” he says, tapping his foot to a song that only he can hear. “More spells than blades. Don’t know. They aren’t invincible.”
“And what are the spells?” I ask, taking another step forward. My stomach drops, and spit floods my mouth.
“Kai,” Elyn says, “no closer.”
Jadon sits back on the bed with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
What’s that smile about? Is his advice a trap? What else does he know that he’s not sharing?
