Chandra ran a hand over her head and found a gash on her temple. She explored it delicately with her fingers. It was tender and swollen, but healing.
“The spear handle,” she murmured, remembering. Evidently the rider had come close to killing her with that blow.
“Mortal bodies are so fragile,” Velrav said sadly. “Yours is obviously stronger than most-remarkably strong, I would say. But nonetheless vulnerable.”
“Yes, well, why did you care what condition I arrived in? Does blood taste better to you when the victim is awake and screaming?” she said scathingly.
“My dear! Vitality is of the utmost importance! I was positively enthralled by the description of such a healthy and vivacious young woman when the Fog Riders were summoned.” He sighed. “I rarely get such a special treat. Life is so… dispirited here. Naturally, I wanted you in perfect condition. And I gave orders to that effect.” He folded his arms and smiled pleasantly at her. “The Fog Riders know how dangerous it is to disobey my orders.”
“Well, sunlight can do a lot for morale,” she said, not really interested. “You should look into it.”
“Yes… Sunlight… You do say the most interesting things. Wherever did you get such an idea? I can’t help but wonder. And wonder, I like to say, is the first of all passions.”
“Listen here, Prince,” Chandra said. “If you think I’m going to kindle anything but your funeral pyre, you are sadly mistaken.”
“I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, Chandra,” he said with true glee. “Things have been so dull here for the past half-century.”
Chandra wasn’t sure how to react to that. Velrav just stood there looking at her, smiling, waiting.
“Maybe I could have my clothes now?” Chandra asked after what seemed forever.
The Prince’s smile vanished. “How very boring,” Velrav said, crestfallen. “The conversation was going so well for a minute… Mother always told me to temper my expectations.”
“I suppose that’s why you cut her head off?”
“Ah… Witty and well informed. You are a gift, Chandra. What could I have done to deserve this?”
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something, but the clothes would be nice while you consider it.”
“Yes, in due time. But I am curious about you. A fire mage, the girl claimed, although I can’t imagine how this could be.” Velrav said with evident fascination. “Is it true?”
“No need to ask me. Just release the enchantment you have on this plane, and you’ll find out for yourself whether it’s true.”
“How rare and wonderful!” he said. “A fire mage! I haven’t seen anyone who practiced fire magic since… Well, since before I murdered my family.”
“I’d be happy to show you what I can do,” she said.
“Oh, how I would enjoy that!”
“In that case, why don’t y-”
“If only it were as easy for you as it is for me, eh?” he said with regret. “But how could I do so in good conscience? I do have to look out for my best interests, after all. And since there has been no fire magic on Diraden for quite some time,” he said, “nor anyone of such enchantingly good health here for many years… Perhaps you’d like to tell me where you come from?”
“What does it matter? You can’t go there.”
“What makes you so sure?” he said. “You came here, after all. So why can’t I go there?”
“I didn’t come here on purpose.” Staying somewhat close to the truth, she added, “And I don’t know how to go back.”
“Then fortune is mine.”
“And the past doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, but it does,” he said as he moved to a window to look out. “The past is what created who we are now, after all. But you will tell me in time. And if you don’t, then perhaps your lover will.”
“My lover?”
“The girl claims the man who came to the village with you is your lover. She saw proof of this.” He added, “I, of course, didn’t intrude on her delicate feelings by asking what she meant by that.”
“He’s a bounty hunter. I was his prisoner,” she said, hoping that Gideon was not in Velrav’s custody.
“And now you’re mine… The menarch was quite upset when we took her prize.”
“Her prize?”
“Yes, your bounty hunter,” said Velrav, still looking down at something from his position at the window. “And she objected. So forcefully that the riders considered killing her.” He glanced over his shoulder at Chandra. “But they knew they couldn’t do that without asking me first. And I certainly would have said no.”
He returned his gaze to something outside, beyond the window. “If the menarch is going to die, then I’ll be the one to kill her. But, in truth, I have no wish for that. She finds such interesting treats for me, after all.”
“Treats.” The word was flat. His arrogance was astonishing.
Pulling the sheet with her, Chandra rose slowly from the bed. She was light-headed and her legs felt shaky. She wrapped the sheet around herself.
“Besides,” Velrav said, “she’s such a puny thing, I don’t think she’d satisfy my hunger. No, it’s far better to let her live as long as she keeps giving me wonderful gifts.”
Walking on bare feet across the cool stone floor, Chandra asked, with a growing feeling of dread, “What about the bounty hunter?”
Velrav met her gaze, then he nodded in the direction of the window. “See for yourself.”
Chandra tried to brace herself for whatever was coming, but her heart was pounding and she suspected Velrav could see that she was breathing a little too fast. She approached the window and looked down, trying to see what Velrav had been gazing at.
She found herself looking into a courtyard, which was surrounded by the wings of the castle on three sides. On the fourth side was a huge gate, bordered by a gate house and stables for a dozen or so horses. There were no trees or plants in sight, and the whole area was well-lit by torches that were positioned along the surrounding walls.
The courtyard was empty apart from one man.
Chandra clenched her teeth together as she stared at him in horror, willing herself not to cry out or satisfy Velrav with a shocked reaction.
Gideon stood between two tall, thick wooden posts. His arms were stretched out and securely tied to the posts. His long black hair was tangled and matted, and his head hung down. But since his legs were supporting him-albeit just barely-she knew he wasn’t unconscious or dead. Not yet, anyway.
His torso was naked. The wounds that Jurl had left there had reopened and bled anew. The claw marks gaped wide, red, and angry, and rivulets of dried blood stuck to Gideon’s fair skin. But Chandra didn’t remember there being so many wounds, nor that they were that severe…
She drew in a sharp breath through her nostrils.
Most of those marks could not have been from Jurl, she realized. Someone had been deliberately cutting him.
Aware of Velrav’s amused gaze on her, she kept her expression stony. When she was sure she could control her tone, she said, “The bounty hunter.”
“He appeared-out of nowhere, I gather-as the riders were about to carry you out of the village. And he interfered.” Velrav made a tsk tsk sound. “Most unwise. We would have never known about him if he hadn’t.”
Chandra ground her teeth together and focused on her breathing. She knew it was too loud, knew that Velrav heard it.
“He had the most remarkable weapon,” Velrav continued. “It’s mine now, and I adore it! You’ve seen it, I assume? It’s sort of a three-bladed whip. He killed one of the Fog Riders with it.”
Since running one of them through with a spear hadn’t worked, that surprised her. “How?”
Velrav ignored the question. “After we captured him, Falia sent a message asking me to meet her. A very bold thing to do, don’t you agree? Naturally, I was curious.”
“Did she throw another tantrum?”
“No, evidently she had resigned herself to her loss. Instead, she offered me more treats.” When Chandra glanced at him with a frown, he nodded toward Gideon and said, “Information about him.”
