Page 14

‘You said that before,’ Agenor said, studying Tared with narrowed green-gold eyes. ‘That there would be no risk of him killing anyone else as long as he didn’t kill you. Why exactly are you so convinced he wants you dead, if I may ask?’

Tared shrugged. ‘Long and unpleasant story.’

‘Very informative,’ Agenor said, wiping an imaginary fleck of dust off his shirt. ‘I’m afraid you’re speaking in riddles to me. There isn’t much I dare to assume when it comes to Creon, but unless I’mterriblymistaken, I’d swear he’s quite determined to keep you alive.’

‘I’m afraid you must be terribly mistaken,’ Tared said coldly. ‘You have no—’

‘If he wanted you dead,’ Agenor interrupted, his words more clipped, ‘he could just have kept his voice, don’t you think?’

We stared at him.

He blinked, taken aback. ‘You don’t know that story? Of how they bound him?’

Lyn and Tared whipped around to me as if by command, her eyes wide, his eyes narrowed, the unspoken questions on their faces oddly identical.

‘He …’ I turned to Agenor, words once again abandoning me – Creon’svoice? What in hell did his voice have to do with any of this? ‘He said the Mother had him confined in alf steel because she was suspicious of his not slaughtering everyone in his path when he allegedly escaped the Alliance. And that she gave him the choice to either die or let her bind him. Is that … is that not what happened?’

‘It is what happened,’ Agenor said slowly. ‘Give or take a few details.’

‘Could you be a little more specific?’ Tared snapped.

‘They questioned him.’ A deep breath. ‘Far longer than I thought necessary, to be honest. His story was convincing enough – he wasn’t going to waste his time murdering lowly worms when he just wanted to go home and so on and so forth. The usual language. We were all surprised Achlys and Melinoë didn’t set him free after a few minutes.’

I swallowed. On the other side of the table, Lyn gaped at Agenor, her eyes round as saucers.

‘But they finally seemed satisfied,’ he continued, sounding tired, ‘and told him they would let him go … but only after they’d disposed of their prisoners.’

Lyn’s breath caught.

They were keeping us captive after the battle, she’d told me on the beach of Faewood. I stole a glance at Tared and found him frozen on the edge of the windowsill, his slender fingers clawing into his palms.We expected her to kill us.

‘And that,’ Agenor said, his deep voice a distant echo now, ‘was when he broke.’

I didn’t dare to breathe.

‘I’ve seen him beg exactly once in my life. That afternoon. It was about as unnerving as every moment of that gods-damned battle put together.’ He clenched his jaw, gaze resting on Lyn. ‘I don’t know what you did to him, but he wouldn’t let them kill you – told them he didn’t care where you went or what you’d do with your life, but that he couldn’t stand to have you die after the way you kept him alive all those months.’

Lyn looked about to faint. ‘And yet the Mother didn’t kill him on the spot?’

‘They asked how they would ever be able to trust him again. To which he responded that they could bind him.’

‘No,’ she whispered.

‘They’d wanted that for decades. So they took the bait, made a bargain. The binding of his magic in exchange for’ – a deep breath – ‘no bodily harm or captivity for the individuals of his choosing for a year and a day after the battle. He bargained for five names.’

‘Who?’ Tared bit out, and it was not a question.

‘Nenkhet. Anaxia. Cas. Lyn.’ Agenor turned to face the window, his pursed lips something close to an apology. ‘And you.’

The horror on Tared’s face was mirrored in Lyn’s small wail of distress.

I stared at Agenor with unseeing eyes, my thoughts spinning out of control.Five names.Almost all of the group that had gathered around the table mere minutes ago. The same people who’d glowered and glared at Creon and blamed him for the Mother’s unflattering propaganda.

They would have been dead.

If he hadn't sacrificed his magic and his voice, hadn't given up on his plan to kill his mother right then and right there – they’d never have fought another battle at all.

Zera help me. Why hadn't hetoldme?