He didn’t look up as he instructed, “Remind me again, what did the riddle say?”
I huffed impatiently, but obliged, reciting the riddle from memory while Casimir continued staring at a shelf full of dusty old tomes.
His expression grew pensive. “There’s one part that I don’t understand.”
“Just one part?” I replied drolly.
“Yes,” he said seriously. “The implication is that this object—whatever it is—awaits the seeker’s gift… Which, I’m guessing means you, given your ability to taste lies, and the fact that you’re currently seeking this object. But the line, ‘Imbibe your poison, this ancestral haunting,’ strikes me as strange.”
I fought to conceal my surprise. Casimir thought the riddle was referring to my ability to taste lies? “You believe me now?” I asked.
“I’ve tasted lies in your memories,” he admitted, his lips twisting in disgust. “I don’t know how you stand it, honestly.”
My lips pressed into a hard line, cursing myself for naïvely hoping he’d decided to trust me after all.
He shook his head, his brow furrowed in thought. “The part about an ‘ancestral haunting’ could imply many things. The weight of a generational curse, family secrets, bad blood—” Abruptly, he stopped speaking as his gaze fell to my injured hand. “What the hell isthat?”
“Oh, I cut myself on a piece of glass earlier?—”
“Not that.” His face had gone pale. “What’s that on your arm?”
Instinctively, I clapped my hand over the blistering, red “X,” knowing it was too late to conceal it from Casimir.Shit. In my haste and excitement to unravel the Book’s riddle, I’d forgotten to make sure the rune was covered. And now Casimir would discover my bargain with the Bloodweaver.
“It’s nothing,” I said, trying to pull my sleeve over the brand, but Casimir was too quick. Seizing my wrist, he yanked it toward him and inspected the rune burned into my arm, his eyes wide with horror.
“What the fuck did you do?” he demanded.
I struggled against his grasp, but he held my arm firmly in place. I didn’t need to glance down to know what he saw. Raw, angry flesh. The lingering irritation from bloodmagic made it resemble mottled snakeskin, just like the eye on Casimir’s wrist.
“You made a bloodbargain,” he said through clenched teeth. It wasn’t a question. “Who?”
My lips opened and then closed, knowing that the answer would only horrify him more. I lowered my gaze before muttering the truth. “Evren.”
Casimir closed his eyes, as though trying to suppress the violence of his own reaction. He released his punishing grip on my arm, moving to clench his fists at his sides.
“I don’t need to tell you what that rune symbolizes,” he said, so softly that I might’ve mistaken his tone for gentleness rather than quiet fury.
I glanced down at the angry pink brand. “It’s the mark of a slave,” I echoed, recalling the first time I’d seen the rune on August’s wrist the night of Bryce’s party. It was somehow worse seeing the mark through Casimir’s eyes. Powerless. A slave. Bound to Evren. Swallowing my unease, I made a dark stab at humor. “Well, it’s a good thing we aren’t in Ethervale.”
Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say.
“Leave it to you not to take this seriously,” Casimir muttered, his expression furious. “Tell me the exact terms on which you made this bargain.”
“Evren attacked me in the infirmary,” I began, more than a little defensively. “He knows we’re trying to interfere in the ritual, and was told to remove me as an obstacle.” I grimaced.
“Devereaux sent him,” Casimir ground out.
I nodded. “He was tasked with eliminating me as an obstacle. I persuaded him against that.”
Casimir was struggling to restrain outward signs of anger. “And how did you manage that?” he asked.
“I proposed that we make a deal instead.” I fidgeted nervously and averted my gaze. “I offered to relinquish whatever immunity I have against his glamours to restore his ability to cause me pain.”
At this, Casimir’s eyes flared dangerously.
I rushed on, “I knew that night in the Tusk had been a major blow to his ego, so I appealed to his vanity, and it worked.”
He still said nothing but dropped his gaze to my arm, his mouth tight.