Fortune Favors the Cruel - Kel Carpenter Page 0,75
she knew he wasn’t going to say more. “But yes, we had to leave in a hurry, and this is the only place that I can do it without too many eyes.” Quinn frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Why does it matter?” she asked.
“You’re powerful, and power scares those who don’t have it,” Lazarus answered. She stumbled when the tip of her boot caught a rock and blinked twice as he continued past her. His long thick legs ate up the distance.
“You think people would try to kill me if they knew what I was,” she said, not questioning, but in hopes to prompt some kind of answer from him. Lazarus stopped.
“For what you are? Without a doubt. That’s why you tried to hide it.” He paused, looking over his shoulder. Smoldering black eyes zeroed in on her. “But for how strong you are … some things are worse than death. You were a slave once. I’m trying to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Her heart jumped in her chest because he got it. For all his poking and prodding and herding and manhandling—he got it. “If the wrong people learn how strong I am before I can ascend, they might try to take me,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Not that they’d be successful. I have a reputation for removing limbs when people steal from me.” She might have shuddered if she were a lesser being, but the darkness in his voice had the opposite effect on her. Instead of feeling trapped, she felt safe. Protected. That shocked her to the core. Quinn was always the protector, the guard dog, the weapon. Never once had she been protected.
Slowly she walked forward, coming to stand beside him.
“Will it hurt?” she asked. Her face gave away nothing. No shadow of doubt. No hint of feeling. It was the mask he wanted. The mask she needed.
“Yes,” he answered honestly. “It’s supposed to mimic the ascension and drain you completely so that it can measure what you’ll be after it.” Her eyebrows drew together as she stared at him. She understood the ascension in broad terms. She’d seen people go through it when she lived in N’skara, but Maji were rare in Norcasta. Partially because they were less frequent. N’skara bred for magic where as Norcasta didn’t. It was also partially that most Maji, light or dark, chose to remain hidden from the prejudice they would experience otherwise in the southern countries. That was one of the reasons Quinn found Lazarus so interesting. Not only was he a dark Maji, but he was a nobleman and in line for the throne.
“Do you think I’ll survive it?” she asked, shaking away her thoughts. She was not afraid, even knowing there was a chance she could die. There were worse ways to go. She knew because she planned to use them on those that had wronged her one day, if she made it through.
“I do,” he said without hesitation. “Thorne said this is going to be painful for you, but I truly believe you’ll make it through. You’re too strong not to.”
Quinn stared at him, his features remained impassive, giving away nothing. She looked into his ebony eyes and saw the truth there. That he did believe that, but he was also worried.
Good, she thought to herself, striding past him and continuing up the trail. It meant he understood not just her past, but the value of her life. She could work with that.
“What are you going to do if I’m more powerful than you?” she asked absently after the sounds of his heavy footsteps sounded behind her, once again devouring the distance she’d created between them.
“I’m not sure you want to know the answer,” he told her and Quinn lifted an eyebrow to urge him on. “If you’re more powerful than me, I may not be able to let you go.”
At that, she shuddered, but not in disgust, nor in fear. No, she shuddered because of something else. It wasn’t that she wanted to be caught or trapped, but she knew that even when he held her leash, it was merely a facade. The way they were together was different than Lazarus among his other vassals. Where the others could complain but never received an inch, Quinn had learned how to take a mile. He gave her bits and pieces that he wanted no one to see, but she did. And with every piece he gave, she wanted more.