Page 63 of Awakening the Dark Throne
“Obviously,” he said, looking his hands over. He shook the chains, realizing he was trapped. “And how did you know how to raise me, little one? I’m not from your world and no one knows my kind’s secrets.”
I swallowed hard. “That isn’t important. I want to make a deal with you,” I said, trying to get to the point.
“And why would I make a deal with something as stupid and fragile as one of you?”
“Get off the table and bow!” I said assertively.
He did as I demanded, his chains rattling with each movement. Taking a knee in front of me, he looked up at me as if he wanted to shred my skin from my muscles.
“Fall face down on the ground!” I demanded.
Again, he followed my exact command. I exhaled, hoping this wasn’t an act and he was truly under my command.
“You may get to your feet,” I said, softer.
“Seems like you know most of my secrets, meat suit,” he said, still glaring at me.
“I don’t want to harm you. I only want you to complete what you came here to do.”
“And how do you know what I came here to do?”
I stood silent, not daring to give away my secret.
He ticked his tongue, shaking his head slowly. “Very secretive, meat suit.”
“I want you to kill King Lysanthier, then his wife and daughter. Can you do this or not?”
Otar’s eyes gleamed and he smiled widely. “I am listening.”
“Tomorrow night, after the plates from the first course are cleared, I want you to enter the throne room unseen. Until then, you may stay hidden in the castle. You are not to harm, kill, steal, or be seen by anyone or thing until then. Stay in the castle and do not contact anyone outside by any means,” I said firmly.
“Attention to detail, I like,” he snapped.
“As the second course is being served, you will approach King Lysanthier from behind his chair and kill him in the most brutal way you are capable of. You will then move to his wife and then his daughter. After that, you may kill whatever other alfar in the throne room you desire. There are two alfar you are not allowed to harm: Gaelin Atros and Levos Atros. I will mark them both with my blood, so you are aware of who they are. You are not allowed to harm any human and you are not allowed to harm me. After you have had your fill of alfar flesh, you will flee and not return unless I call upon you,” I finished.
He laughed, tapping his long nails on the table. “Anything else?”
“No one is to know that I am the one who resurrected you. This stays between you and me.”
“Deal,” he said, walking towards me. He stopped as the chain holding him to the wall went taunt. He reached out his hand, touching my face with his skinny fingers. With his talons retracted, his skin felt like fresh leather. “You are either very brave or very stupid, little one,” he said, smiling.
“Tell me about your kind, and do not lie,” I demanded. I sat against the wall, facing him.
“As you wish,” he said, taking a seat in front of me. “You know the fallen Christian angel?”
“Lucifer,” I responded.
“Yes. Well, his demons are the most similar thing you know of that can be related to my kind. I come from a plane of ash and fire. My home is dead, devoured by my kind. We go to other worlds, planes, and realms searching for life to snuff out. We do not mate. We do not breed. There will never be more of us. What you see is what there is.”
“And your bond to me? How does that work?”
“I have never been bound to anyone because, as I said, no one knows our secret…which still makes me question who you are.” He waited, searching my face. “I am bonded to your life. If you die, I die. You may command me as you wish. If you die, I can be revived by another, as you did to me just now.”
“And what can permanently kill your kind?” I asked.
His face fell, his eyes squinted into small slits of anger. “An apophyllite crystal to the heart,” he said, forcing the words from his lips. He scoffed, spitting to the ground as if speaking the revelation left a foul taste in his mouth.
I pulled the dagger out from my side, holding it in my lap.
