Page 25 of Lured By the Dus
Hands behind his back, he glided further into the room, finally resting with his elbow on the mantle while he poked at the fire. It hissed back at him and flared up brighter. “Not much has changed then. There are still lectures and professors who believe themselves above all others because of their knowledge, their ability to decipher the hidden meaning in books. But what about experience? Have they gone out and lived, found truth and knowledge for themselves before returning to impart the wisdom they’ve gained?”
Shrugging, I made myself a plate of food and settled down at the table with a glass full of a dark-colored wine. I tested it on my tongue, pleased that it tasted like blackberries and apples. “I never asked about their personal experiences. The stories they told were more entertaining than enlightening, but they did not dwell on the fantastical, just the basics of life in Solynn.”
“Solynn,” he repeated, waving his hand. “This city you’re so impatient to get back to. Why?”
I took a bite of a tart, staring at his side profile while I chewed. How was he so devastatingly and utterly handsome? My stomach shouldn’t flip when I looked at him, and yet, it did. “Anywhere is better than here.” The words came out vicious.
His amber gaze descended on me, but shadows haunted his eyes. The fire only lit part of his face, making his long hair glisten while the rest of him stayed shrouded in darkness. A delicious shiver of desire went through me, and I dropped my eyes, no longer interested in finishing my pastry.
“Tanith, if you want to leave, you need to make a choice. Will you assist me as my spy, or will you betray me to your aunt and uncle?”
I dropped the pastry, unnerved with the deadly calm in his tone and unable to miss the coldness in his gaze—a far cry from the way he’d kissed me. To give myself more time to answer, I took a sip of wine. “Why do you force me to choose when I don’t understand exactly what I’m choosing? Besides, when you first captured me, you gave me no choice.”
“Now I am, and you resent me for it?”
“I need to know more before I decide. You said you were going to be honest with me.”
“What does your heart say?”
I grimaced. “My heart says nothing. Besides it doesn’t matter how I feel. I have to use logic to make a choice, not rely on emotions.”
His lips curled. Leaving his spot by the fire, he drifted closer to me. “Why? Because emotions are unreliable, and your head will keep you on the straight and narrow path?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I retorted with a scowl. “Emotions change. They are unreliable, don’t you know? Or perhaps you don’t have a heart.”
He pressed his hand to his chest, somehow opening his shirt even wider. My face flushed, but I did not look away. “I always rely on my emotions to guide me. Perhaps that’s the difference between you and me, mortal and immortal. In fact, all my senses are heightened, which allows me to make better decisions.”
“Is that why you’re plaguing the citizens of Dowler? Because you’re better than us, mere humans?”
Instead of reacting to my words, he raised an eyebrow. “Did you read the book your aunt gave you?”
“Yes,” I muttered, swallowing down the last of the wine. “I did not fully understand it. It was more of a history of the origins of the Creator, the divines, and other great ones with powerful magic that was lost when mortals took over the world.”
“Ah. It is an old text, not to be taken at face value, but the more you read and re-read it, the more you’ll understand the hidden messages within the book. I assume your aunt studied at the temple with the priests, or with Lord Faren, which is how she came to understand the deep truths and hold to her stance.”
I pressed my lips together, recalling my sudden and sharp anger when she’d said the creatures in the vault weren’t human, but mere animals to mistreat. Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that, before my failed attempt at fleeing, I’d decided I had a part to play in saving Dowler. But from whom? Oren’s magic, or Lord Faren’s heavy-handed anger?
“I know little about my aunt, but does our original deal still stand? If I help you, you’ll let me go free?”
“Yes, the marriage will be void. However, are you agreeing to help me so that you can gain my secrets and betray me to your aunt and uncle?”
Lifting my chin, I held his gaze. “In the interest of being honest, I’m not sure what to think. What I saw in the vault horrified me. It was worse than anything I’d imagined. However, my aunt’s concern is valid. The magic-thralls are powerful, are they not? And if we free them, won’t they use magic for revenge and destroy Dowler?”
Oren prowled closer to my chair, like a predator about to strike. “In the interest of being honest, Tanith, I will destroy Dowler if they are not freed.”
That edge of dangerous anger was back, the hints of unnamable fury. And I believed him. Swallowing hard, I voiced the concern I kept coming back to. “What about the people of Dowler? The innocents?”
“They are guilty by association. They made their home in the belly of the wicked, and if they do not leave, they will be judged.”
“That’s not fair,” I protested, although the words shriveled up in my mouth. How presumptuous of me to think of fairness when nothing concerning Oren could be categorized into the black and white mortal buckets of right and wrong.
“No, it’s not fair, but they are free to leave, free to save themselves. I have warned them. They’ve seen what is to come. Dowler is doomed. It will be destroyed. No matter what happens, you’ll have to stand by and accept that or be proactive and help me. I don’t have to give you a choice, for you made yourself mine the moment you stepped into my tomb.”
The wordminesent a velvet shiver through my lower belly, and I tilted my head back as he paused behind me. His hand dropped to my shoulder and squeezed, confirming his claim and something else. Desire? My heart kicked, and we remained frozen, my gaze on his, aware that the way I tilted my head back left my throat bare. His searching eyes skimmed over my skin as though he could read my future.
My thoughts turned into a haze of confusion, and the words that jumped to my lips were impulse driven, inspired by his touch. “You say I’m yours. You took me as your wife, and yet, you’ve never invited me to your bed.”
I wished those words unsaid the moment they left my mouth. Oren’s hand left my shoulder as he stepped back, just as astonished as I was.
