Fortune Favors the Cruel - Kel Carpenter Page 0,76
to stop me if I am?” she asked, not haughtily, but curious. His dark chuckle had her eyeing him as he strode by.
“You forget, Quinn. There’s still so much about me you don’t know.”
She considered that and licked her lips as he continued on ahead.
No, perhaps she didn’t know, but something told her she would.
If Lazarus’ dreams were anything to go by, the man had demons—and much like her fear enjoyed the taste of him—she got the feeling that his demons rather liked the taste of her as well.
And that suited her just fine.
A Twisted Aberration
“To live life under the shadow of death is to not have lived at all.”
— Quinn Darkova, vassal of House Fierté, fear twister
Quinn’s legs burned as they ascended the last steps over a mound and around a cluster of trees. She was tempted to ask if they were almost there, especially since twilight had begun to spread its wings over the vast skies above them, when they finally stepped out of the tree line and came to a jagged dark hole in the side of the mountain.
“Is this it?” she asked as Lazarus approached.
He nodded. “I believe so.”
Quinn moved to stand alongside him, just to his right. “How can you be sure? There are a lot of caves in these mountains.”
Lazarus lifted his hand and gestured to the top of the stone circling the entryway. Quinn’s head tilted back, and her eyes alighted on the dark etchings that she’d just noticed. “What’s it say?” she asked, narrowing her gaze as she looked up the side of the rockface for any hints.
“I don’t know. Nobody does,” Lazarus said. “It’s an ancient language that died in the wars for the mountains.” He paused for a moment, taking a breath as he glanced towards the darkening sky. Quinn started for the entrance when Lazarus put his arm out to stop her. “We can’t enter yet.”
She froze. “What? Why?”
“We enter when the moon is high,” he stated, turning away. “For now, we will rest.” Lazarus glanced back at Quinn. “You’re going to need it.”
Quinn frowned, but willingly turned away to follow him as he started building a fire. Several feet from the mouth of the cavern, Lazarus settled on the ground when the flames nipped at the cool mountain air, his back to a large oak as he waited for night to fall. Quinn plopped down across from him, letting the silence comfort her as they waited.
There was something off about the place, these mountains. Nothing substantial—nothing that could be seen—but her skin crawled with awareness, her power shivering under the surface. She couldn’t quite put a name to the emotion in her mind, but felt it, nonetheless.
“So,” Quinn began, tilting her head back on her shoulders as she eyed Lazarus. “You’re going to be king, hmm?”
Lazarus shifted and then stilled against the oak once more, closing his eyes as he breathed deeply. “Perhaps,” he replied.
Quinn narrowed her eyes on him. “Either you are, or you aren’t.”
Lazarus tilted his head back against the rockface without opening his eyes as he replied. “I’m not king yet, and the time for me to take the throne hasn’t come.”
“But it will, yes?”
“Only time will tell.” Lazarus reopened his eyes, looking skyward.
Quinn wanted to say more but sensed that there was more going on beneath the surface of Lazarus’ cool exterior. She bit her lip and stared at him—watching, analyzing, trying to dissect what it was about him that drew her attention. What it was that made a man like him falter. Fumble. What were his motivations? His dreams? Aspirations? Fears? She thought she knew the answer to that last one. The dream-not-dream had, at the very least, given her a hint.
But only that. The inked creatures that both came from him and desired to eat him made no sense. She didn’t know what to think of it. Not yet.
As Quinn sat there, contemplating the secrets of the stone-faced man before her, the fire slowly began to die until only a small glow of red emanated from the ashes of the once roaring flames. The sky’s blood darkened from bright orange to red and eventually to the ebony blanket that stretched as far as the eye could see. Lazarus sat forward as the moon peeked out from behind a few straggling clouds.
“It’s time,” he said, getting to his feet. He stomped on the already dying embers before turning and motioning to the cave. “Let’s go.”