“I brought Liora here so I could show you something. I didn’t think I could get you to come with me willingly.” He eyes my flickering palms, waiting for me to unleash their fury. “And I see I was right.”
“You have about five seconds to tell me what is going on before I fry you to a crisp.” My eyes narrow in anger, but even I don’t believe my hollow threat. The harder I try to deny my deep pleasure at seeing him again, the hotter and more volatile the conflict within me rages.
He cocks an eyebrow and beckons me to him. “I have something for you.” He starts tossing aside the boulders that aren’t already smashed, and when he’s made a big enough opening, motions for me to follow him through.
I stay put, and eye him suspiciously. “What’s in there? Do you really think I’m going to just follow you into some creepy cave like an idiot?” I don’t like the feel of this place, and I like his arrogant attitude even less.
“Why don’t you try not hating me for a minute and trust me instead?”
I laugh. “Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that. Right after I join a convent and marry a goat.”
He stops and turns around, forcing his steely gaze on mine. “Lucky, I know you think I betrayed you. I brought you here so I could prove I didn’t. But if you’re too pigheaded to see what is plain as day…”
“And what is that?”
He sighs deeply. “That I care about you. That I am trying to help you. And that I believe in you…and us.”
He believes in me? What the hell does he mean by that?
“I don’t remember asking for your help,” I retort. But the fire in my hands is already beginning to subside, and try as I might, I’m having difficulty holding on to my anger. When I look into Kieron’s eyes, sincerity stares back…and something about his smile is like cold water on my smoldering rage.
“What’s in there?” I motion toward the opening, but stay where I am. It goes against all my instincts to let myself get into a situation where I don’t have complete control over my surroundings. And this place is just too weird…the energy is unsettling and all wrong.
“In there is a cage surrounded by the strongest, most impenetrable magical shield known to demonkind. And in that cage are the Amazèa.”
I gasp. “What? Why are they here…why did you bring me here…?” I reach down for my dagger before I remember I don’t have it. Damn, Liora, what have you gotten us into?
“So you could kill them,” he says.
My eyes narrow again, and my heart begins to race as I slowly straighten back up. I stare at him for a long time, trying to discern if he’s lying...setting a trap. Maybe he’s just trying to trick me into going in there, and something really horrible is waiting for me. Maybe what he’d said before about coming to kill me…maybe he’s following through on those plans. But now he knows I’m strong…that I’ll fight back. So he’s devised a ruse to deceive me into believing he—
“Lucky…” Kieron’s voice is gentle, but I take a few steps away from him. “I know it’s not in your nature to trust…to believe in the goodness of others. But I’m asking you to try. Everything I’ve told you…everything I said to you that first night at the cliffs and every night since, well, I meant all of it. Every word. I never knew it would be possible for me to find another demion I’d care about so much. One I would want to spend the rest of my life with. One I could actually love and who was capable of loving me back. Someone I couldn’t imagine my life without.”
“Why are you telling me this? It doesn’t change the fact that—”
“I’m telling you this, because I made the deal to turn in the Amazèa in exchange for my freedom. But I only want that freedom if it means being able to have a life with you. Without you, my freedom won’t mean anything. Not if you hate me…”
“What are you saying?” I whisper, inching toward him.
“I’m saying…I brought the Amazèa here for you to kill. I know you cannot hunt them outside your boundaries, so I brought them to you. If you want to kill them, you are free to do so. I won’t interfere.”
I pause. “But…but what about your contract?”
“I will have failed in upholding my end of the bargain, therefore I’ll be bound to the Legionary for whatever purposes and for however long they see fit.” His jaw slackens, and his shoulders droop slightly.
I pace back and forth like a nervous rabbit. “So, you’re saying that you’d give up your freedom…so that I could kill them?”