and the silence stretched so long Aron imagined he could hear the whisper of fog against the stones of the Ruined Keep. There were no sounds of predators below, natural or unnatural.
Aron realized that nothing would hunt when the king of hunters was at hand.
“From your lips to the ears of all the gods and goddesses.” Platt sounded sincere. He paused another few moments, then seemed to regain his own resolve. He turned and folded his arms, studying Aron as if Aron might be a scroll he was attempting to decipher. “I did not come here to debate morality with you, and I had no intention of allowing you to speak about Kate or Dari, or my decisions concerning either of them. Your loyalty is impressive, and I must admit, persuasive.”
Aron felt a mad rush of relief, but he didn’t dare let himself believe that Platt had decided to spare Kate, or to leave Dari in peace. He wasn’t even completely certain that Platt would allow him to leave the Ruined Keep alive, but he felt more hopeful now, despite the Stregan king’s very intense stare.
“Now, Aron,” Platt said. “Let us get to the heart of what I need to know. And for your sake, I hope you are as truthful as you have been in our encounter thus far.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
ARON
Aron tried to keep a relaxed posture and maintain eye contact, but his body reacted of its own accord. Preparing to run. Preparing to do anything but be subjected to more confrontation with this dangerous man. His thoughts dashed from Dari to Kate to Stormbreaker to Galvin to the purpose of their journey to the Keep, and how he would explain any of what had happened to Lord Baldric.
“How did you come by such a powerful graal, that it takes a Stregan to teach you?” Platt’s question was casual, but his forceful stare communicated the importance of Aron’s answer.
Aron lowered himself back to his blanket, folding his legs and shifting to ease the pressure on his sore back. “I think I got it from my father.”
“You could have used your graal in that battle, but you fought with your hands.” Platt shook his head and glanced toward the circular row of foggy windows. “You were fighting against odds too great for your abilities, but you did do well, and in defense of a companion who has not been kind to you. Those things are admirable, but if I had not come when I did, you would be dead, and your companion as well.”
Aron couldn’t string enough related thoughts together to formulate a more complicated answer than, “It was a matter of honor. A promise I made to my guild master. I needed to make this journey without using my legacy.”
At this, Platt returned to his narrow-eyed and angry expression. “The Fae are fools. Graal is not to be feared, and neither is it to be worshipped. It is a tool, no weaker and no stronger than the soul who wields it.”
“A tool.” Aron felt his cheeks burning again, and he wanted to defend Stormbreaker and Lord Baldric—all of Stone, of Eyrie, if necessary. “A tool like that used by craftsmen and farmers.”
Platt opened his arms. “Exactly.”
“Then choosing when to wield it and when to lay it aside for the good of my canvas or clay, or for the benefit of my fields, that would be my prerogative?”
Platt’s only response was an irritated shrug at Aron, and a baring of his teeth in obvious disgust for Fae prohibitions against dangerous graal. Since Aron couldn’t understand all of that, or defend it well himself, he changed the subject with, “The manes and mockers, even the wild beasts of the Barrens and Outlands fear you.”
“Of course.” Platt’s posture remained tense. “No beast or spirit, no matter what the form or deformity, will stand against a Stregan’s wishes when we are not concealing the truth of our essence.”
Aron felt a wash of surprise, even though he had suspected as much. “If you can command wild animals and mockers and manes, why do you not march into this terrible war and put an end to it? Why do Stregans hide at all?”
Platt’s frown renewed Aron’s fears for his own life, and he had to work not to move away from the man as Platt lowered his arms. “Involvement in Fae wars and affairs cost my people most of our population, and wiped out entire Fury races.”
Aron’s heart beat faster and faster, and he couldn’t help