Ryllae stood beside me as I watched the sun making its slow descent. Steifan and Tholdri had gone to buy food and a new lantern, and it was the first time we had been alone since she had first taught me about glamour.
“Your sword is special,” she said, tucking a lock of dark hair behind her ear. Her throat was fully healed, though blood still stained her clothing.
I startled. “How do you know?”
“I’ve been alive a long time. I’ve seen something like it before. It speaks to you.”
“Could you hear it?” I hesitated, surprised at how easily I admitted the secret.
She shook her head. “No, I would need to touch it to hear it, and I would rather not. Such magic can sometimes leave a residue. Where did you find it?”
There were few secrets between us now, so I saw no reason not to tell her. “The Potentate of the Helius Order gave it to me. It woke to my touch.”
“I imagine it did,” she said. “That blade was made by a witch for a vampire. It is only meant to wake to the touch of the undead, but it seems the bond you share with the vampire is enough.”
I stared at her. That couldn’t be right. “What do you mean?”
Her dark eyes held too many secrets. “I mean exactly as I say. Your sword was made for a vampire. Curious, that your Potentate would have it in his possession.”
I shook my head, tossing my loose, drying locks over my shoulder. “No, you’re wrong. The sword woke for the Potentate too. He was the last one to wield it. But he is not a vampire’s human servant. He has aged at a normal rate.”
She shrugged. “I do not know the man, but he has lied to you in one way or another. Either he did not actually wield the sword, or he is something other than he seems. Considering he gave it to you with the expectancy for it to wake, he suspected what you are.”
My mouth went dry. If the Potentate knew what the sword would do, and had suspected what I was, having the sword wake for me would have confirmed it.
And yet here I was, still alive and free.
“I would be careful around this man,” Ryllae said.
I nodded, my gaze distant. “I’m always careful.”
I fell silent with too many thoughts coursing through my mind to articulate. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to. I had known the Potentate nearly my entire life. What was going on?
The sun disappeared over the ruins of the old keep, letting the darkness slowly seep in from the ground up. I gasped, feeling it the moment Asher woke.
Ryllae put a hand on my arm. “Are you well?”
I let my breath out slowly as the sensation faded. “I think I just felt Asher waking. He will be here soon.” I turned wide eyes to her. “I don’t know why I am feeling so much, it was never like this before. I’ve even felt his emotions, but it was just for a moment, then it went away.”
She glanced me over, as if there was something else I couldn’t see. “I am not well-versed in the bond between vampire and servant, and even less so when the servant is a hunter, but these bonds do tend to strengthen with proximity.”
I licked my lips, considering her words. “Do you mean it will get worse?”
“If it comes and goes, I’d say it already has. He’s probably protecting you from much of it.”
My stomach clenched painfully. If the bond would keep growing . . . Would I eventually become like any other servant? Would I lose my free will and identity?
I would kill us both before that happened.
Ryllae patted my arm. “I do not think it the most of your worries at the present.”
I leaned against the wall and went quiet. I wasn’t sure if that was true. It would be more true to say it wasn’t my only worry. If the Potentate knew what I was, why hadn’t he confronted me? I remembered his watchful gaze as Steifan and I departed Castle Helius. Why was he watching me? What was he waiting for?
The sword at my back, which had helped me many times, suddenly felt like a mighty weight.
I stood in silence as darkness took full hold of the night.
Just when I would have started to worry, I heard Steifan and Tholdri approaching, and could sense Asher with them.
The three men rounded the corner and came into view. Steifan and Tholdri both seemed to blend into the darkness, but Asher’s white hair and pale skin stood out like the moon. I shivered as I watched him approach, wondering if he really was blocking the bond between us to spare me.
His eyes were only for me as he reached us. He lifted a hand as if to touch me, then let it fall. “You defeated the Nattmara,” he said.
I mustered a glare for Steifan and Tholdri, then turned my attention back to Asher. “I see someone filled you in.”
He continued on as if my hostility did not exist, “And you have a plan for bringing your investigation to a close?”
I glanced at Ryllae, not sure how much she would want me to tell him.
She nodded once, her eyes wary. “Yes, we have a plan.”
I realized Ryllae wasn’t just protective of her secret, she was actually frightened of Asher. At least someone was. It made me like her even more.
Asher watched me as Steifan unwrapped a piece of waxed parchment, then provided an enormous pastry.
The smell of cinnamon and pumpkin made my mouth water. I took the pastry with a lifted brow.
He grinned. “I thought you deserved a treat.”
My laughter seemed to dissipate some of the tension. We had survived the Nattmara, and we had all but solved the murders. And Steifan knew the true way to my heart.
“We should go,” Ryllae said with a mischievous smile. “We do not want
