“I don’t want to live forever,” I whisper, my voice stark.
“Most would see eternal life as a gift.”
“To live on while everyone else perishes…To linger as all those you’ve come to care for are slowly whittled away by time…” I fight back a shudder. “That sounds more like a torment.”
He says nothing. Merely stares at me—stares with such acute intensity, I fight the urge to squirm in my seat. As though he is trying to peer directly into my soul.
A thought occurs to me. “If the prophecy is fulfilled…If the balance is restored, I mean…What happens then? Do we…pass on?”
“I don’t know. Seeing as I don’t have much faith in that ever happening, I don’t waste much time contemplating it.”
“But—”
“We’ve never found the final element,” he says bluntly. “Earth. Not once. Not one single trace of them. Not in all my many years. And while my current apathy may seem disappointing, I assure you…there was a time when I devoted significant efforts to that search.”
I suck in a breath.
Never.
Never once.
Not in two hundred years of looking.
His gaze drifts over my shoulder. I turn to see one of the soft-footed servants standing there, her eyes conveying some silent missive. Whatever it is makes a scowl contort my host’s face and a stiffness settle onto his shoulders.
“Our time is running short,” he explains, looking back at me. “Your darling prince approaches to slay the villainous dragon who’s captured his fair maiden.”
I sit upright in my seat. “Penn is here?”
“Brooding by my front gates as we speak.”
“Take me to him at once,” I demand, lurching to my feet. “And return my things.”
“Ah yes, your pretty cloak.”
“You can keep the cloak. But I want my dagger back.” I do not pause to wait for him as I race across the terrace on flimsy blue slippers.
“Listen to her, giving orders.” The amused remark comes from just behind me—he’s closed the distance between us in soundless strides. “So high-and-mighty.”
I shoot a glare over my shoulder as I reach the doors. They swing inward in the hands of two uniformed servants. Both are at least partially fae, given the pointed ears I spot on their bowed heads as we pass by.
We do not speak as we make our way through the keep. Only the soft patter of my slippers against the stone breaks the pervasive quiet. He, as ever, moves in total silence. I wonder if the ability is an inherent gift of his power, the result of extensive military training, or some combination of the two.
It does not take long to reach the front gates. The property is not as large as I originally thought. Though it is clean of dust and detritus, I get the sense it is seldom used. The hallways we traverse are devoid of character. I peer into open rooms as we pass and find them empty—of art, of life, of people. Besides the soft-footed servants, I see not a soul. Not even guards. Even after we step through a set of massive wooden doors banded with metal braces and walk into a walled courtyard, I note not a single man on duty. The garden beds are barren, the grass studded withweeds. In my swishing blue skirts, I feel like the only spot of color in a world gone gray.
“I don’t generally spend much time here,” my enigmatic host says from beside me, noting my curious gaze as we walk.
“You don’t live here, then?”
He glances with distaste at the heavy stone, the lifeless courtyard. “Gods, no. The Acrine Hold is near the strait, on neutral ground. We keep it for formal matters of state, battle strategy meetings…” He glances at me, lips twitching as he tacks on, “Hostage negotiations.”
“So Iama hostage.”
“I’m certain Pendefyre thinks you are.”
“Are you trying to provoke him?”
“If I were trying to provoke him, I would’ve brought you back to Hylios.” His smile vanishes. “Though it does not take much to provoke him.”