Alex crossed her arms. “What’s the rush?” She looked around pointedly. “It’s not like you have any pressing engagements.”
“Or so you’d like to believe.” He turned to Roka with his taunting smirk still in place.
“Fine,” Alex said, drawing his attention back to her in an effort to keep her escort from doing anything… rash. Taking a small step closer to Niyx, she said, “You seem like a smart guy—”
“Do I?”
“—which means you’ve probably figured out why we’re here—”
“Have I?”
“—so we’d appreciate it if you would be willing to cooperate with us—”
“Would you?”
“—and answer some of our questions,” Alex finished, her eyes having narrowed further and further with each of his interruptions.
Niyx, on the other hand, seemed greatly entertained. “What did you say your name was, young mortal? Aey-something?”
“I didn’t tell you my name,” she said. “But it’s Alex.”
“Alex,” he repeated, drawing the two syllables out with clear amusement.
“Niyx,” Roka snarled, losing patience.
The prisoner waved a lazy hand in the air. “Ask your questions,”
he carelessly offered. “My time is, apparently, all yours.”
Surprised by his easy—perhaps too easy—acquiescence, Alex turned to Roka. He too looked suspicious, but he moved a step closer and asked, “Tell us what you know about Aven’s current plans. Where he’s hiding. How he’s communicating with the Garseth.”
Immediately Niyx threw back his head and burst out laughing.
“Look around you, my prince,” he said between guffaws, still managing to add venom to the mocking title he afforded Roka. “Does it seem like I’m in a position to provide any of those answers?”
Roka stepped forward again. “I know he’s been communicating with you. And you with him.”
Niyx raised one dark brow. “Is that so?” He turned to Alex and asked, “What do you have to say about this, my young friend?”
“I say you need to stop calling me that,” she replied instantly. “I’m not your friend. I never have been, and I most definitely never will be.”
Niyx’s unique purple eyes danced with dark humour. “I find it fascinating that you, of all people, would say that. Especially given our… history.”
Shaking her head—in pity or bewilderment, she wasn’t quite sure which—Alex said, “Niyx, I met you once for a total of about five minutes, tops. That hardly counts as history.”
If anything, his humour only increased. He turned to Roka and said, “I’ll make you a deal, kregon. Give me five minutes alone with her and I’ll answer one question. That’s all you get—take it or leave it.”
“No chance,” Roka said, voice hard. He reached for Alex and said, “I was wrong to bring you here. Let’s go.”
“Roka, wait,” Alex said, digging her feet in as he started dragging her from the room. “Maybe we should—”
“Alex, no,” Roka said firmly. “I refuse to leave you alone with him.”
Biting her lip, Alex looked from Niyx, who was reclining casually and looking more like a king in his palace than a prisoner rotting in a cell, to Roka, who was as cold and rigid as the traesos walls surrounding them. It wasn’t right that her friend was so tense while their enemy was so relaxed. Niyx wasn’t supposed to have it easy. He was the bad guy.
“You brought me here for a reason,” she whispered to Roka, releasing herself from his pincer-grip on her forearm and giving him a reassuring squeeze. “Let me do my job.”
“Alex—”
“You keep reminding me to trust you, Roka,” she said, holding his concerned, golden gaze. “Now it’s time for you to trust me.”
“But—”
“And besides,” she interrupted again, “you’ll be just on the other side of the door. You’ll be able to hear if I need you.”
Roka shook his head. “The traesos is nearly soundproof. Even with my hearing, I’ll only be able to hear murmurs, not actual words. Five minutes is a long time. I won’t have any idea if you’re in trouble.”
“Sure you will,” Alex said, mustering up a quirky grin that she didn’t quite feel, given the knots in her stomach. “If you stop hearing the murmurs, you’ll know we’ve stopped talking and he’s probably trying to kill me.” She patted him on the chest, bringing her point home. “That’s when you step in.”
“Alex—”
“Roka, we need this,” she told him, determined. “You said it yourself. So stop babying me and let me do this so I can go back to my ridiculously comfortable bed and get a few more hours of sleep before you haul me out again to dump me in a forest. Okay?”
The prince’s jaw was hard for most of her mini speech, but towards the end his muscles relaxed and his eyes began to lighten. “You know,” he mused, “I believe my brother just might be in more trouble than I’ve anticipated.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Roka chuckled softly, and the sound made Alex feel as if she’d won an almost-but-not-quite-Meyarin-of-the-year award.
“Go, Roka,” Alex said, giving him a nudge towards the door. “And you’d better think up a good question. Make my time worth it.”
He sent her one last look of concern before he hustled out the door, sealing it closed behind him.
“Finally,” Niyx muttered, jumping to his feet with cat-like agility. “I thought he’d never leave.”
Nerves zinging, Alex held up a hand as he prowled towards her. “I’d prefer it if you stayed where you are.”
“I’m sure you would, kitten,” he said, still moving closer but, thankfully, stopping a few feet away. “Unfortunately, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last few millennia, we seldom get what we desire.”
“Why did you want to talk to me alone?” Alex asked, edging out from around him and walking slowly across his cell, deliberately putting space between them.
“I remember you, you know,” he said. “I shouldn’t, but I do.”
His voice held a strange tone, strange enough that Alex stopped trying to distance herself and paused, even as he stepped closer to her again.
“I remember it like it was yesterday.”
Considering it was only three months ago when they’d first met, Alex would have been worried if he didn’t remember her.
“I remember you too, Niyx,” she said carefully, not entirely sure how mentally stable the Meyarin was after all.
He let out a quiet, mirthless laugh. “No, you don’t. Not like I remember you. No one else does, either. Only me.”
Alex decided that it was a good time to back away from him again. But she hadn’t realised that she’d been retreating towards a corner—a corner that she was now boxed into.
“I was out hunting, you see,” Niyx continued, his amethyst eyes on hers but his mind clearly elsewhere. “I was attacked by what you call a Hyroa and its blood was poisoning my body.” His gaze became even more unfocused. “There was foreign blood in me. Blood not only my own. No one remembers, no one except me.”
With those senseless words, he closed the remaining distance between them until they were toe to toe. He reached out a grimy hand, trailing it down her cheek to rest along the underside of her jaw.
Alex was frozen to the spot. Despite her confident words to Roka, she was now most definitely out of her comfort zone. She knew the power of the immortal race—one slight adjustment and the Meyarin could easily snap her neck.
As if reading her mind, his hand flexed, tensed and curled around her flesh.
“Do you have any idea what it would solve?” he whispered, his eyes staring unfocused at his hand on her neck. “All I have to do is tighten my fingers. It would change everything. Fix everything. Tell me, do—you—have—any—idea?”
“Niyx…” Alex was terrified of saying the wrong thing lest she provoke the clearly out-of-his-mind Meyarin. “What is it that you wa
nt from me?”
At her softly spoken words, he blinked once, twice and seemed to snap back to himself, releasing his grip and taking a quick step backwards.
“A life for a life,” he whispered. “I’m now absolved of my debt.”
Alex’s whole body was trembling. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what to do. All she knew was that something was happening, something beyond her understanding. Something that, even compared to everything else she’d experienced in Medora, didn’t make sense.
“Our time is nearly up, young mortal,” Niyx said, appearing normal again. Or at least as normal as he’d been when Roka had been present. “I’ve already told you more than I should. But I’ll give you a bonus for old times’ sake.”
Alex wanted to tell him he was crazy. But she thought it best to at least wait until she had reinforcements before she did so.
“I’m listening,” she said, pleased when her voice didn’t come out as the whimpering croak she’d expected.
“Hear me, mortal,” Niyx said, leaning in once more and trapping her in his hypnotic gaze. “With the lashing of the branch, the time will be at hand. All will change.” He blinked, breaking the trance, and quirked his head to the side. “Or rather, nothing will.”
At that, the door to the room opened and a highly agitated Roka stepped into the cell. Seeing Alex cornered with Niyx so close, the prince’s handsome face hardened to stone and he rushed forward, his movement so fast that, to Alex’s human sight, he was like a blur.
“Easy, norot,” Niyx teased, raising his hands and stepping away from Alex. “We were only chatting.”
Roka moved Alex to shield her behind him.
“You’ve had your time with her,” Roka said. “Now uphold your end of our bargain.”
“Go on then, Prince,” Niyx said lazily, lounging back onto his pallet. “Ask your question.”
Roka didn’t need to be asked twice, clearly desiring to leave.
“Aven’s goal, we know, is to take the throne of Meya so that he’ll have ruling control over the citizens and the Zeltora, which he will then use to wipe out the human race of Medora,” Roka said, painting a very bleak picture in Alex’s mind. “We know he’s been seeking out any Garseth who evaded capture and remained loyal to him all these years, meeting with them in secret to devise a plan to infiltrate the palace and finish what he started millennia ago.”
“Was there a question in there somewhere?” Niyx asked dryly. “Because I must have missed it while you soliloquised me to a wakeful death.”
Roka took an angry step forward, but Alex placed her hand on his arm, holding him back.
Accepting her hint to not let Niyx get to him, Roka inhaled deeply and said, “I want you to tell me the name of one of those Garseth loyal to him, one whom he has sought out upon his return. That is what I ask of you. To give up one of your own.”
Niyx’s relaxed demeanour didn’t change, but his eyes flashed. “I’m flattered that you think me capable of such knowledge, given my… unique circumstances.” He looked pointedly around the cell.
“Don’t try to fool me, Niyx. You and I both know you have an answer.”
Alex hoped Roka knew what he was doing. She would have been more inclined to ask what Aven’s strategy was, or better yet, when he planned on carrying it out. Did Roka want to be looking over his shoulder every moment for his brother’s impending attack? She didn’t understand how knowing a random Garseth’s name would help their cause. Unless of course Roka was able to use it to follow the trail directly to Aven… in which case, it actually made sense.
“One name,” Roka said again. “I’m certain you know many; just give me one and our bargain will be fulfilled.”
When the prisoner remained silent, the prince barked out, “Answer me!”
“Very well, kregon,” Niyx said, his voice low. “I will answer you.” He leaned forward from his seated position and held Roka’s gaze. “No.”
Sensing the need to intervene before Roka lost his patience entirely, Alex jumped in. “What do you mean, no?”
“No means no, mortal,” Niyx repeated, leaning back again, his face smug. “In any language or race.”
She frowned at him. “But we had a deal.”
“I said I would answer one question,” Niyx replied. “An answer is, by definition, a response. The response I gave was ‘no’… Ergo, your question has been answered.”
This time Alex didn’t keep Roka from hauling Niyx up and slamming him into the crystalline wall.
The Meyarin prisoner laughed darkly. “You’re off your game, Roka. Better luck next time.”
Alex closed her eyes tightly in resignation and then moved forward, reaching out for the prince. “Let him go. He’s not going to help us.”
Roka hesitated, his grip still firmly grasping Niyx’s shoulders, but when Alex squeezed his arm he gave a terse nod and released the prisoner, taking two steps back.
“You’re right,” Roka said to her. “This was a waste of time.”
Not sparing Niyx a second glance, Roka spun around and marched back towards the door, all but dragging Alex along behind him. She glanced over her shoulder one last time just before they exited the dark room and found the prisoner smirking at her.
“I’ll see you soon, my mortal friend,” he called after her with a secretive, knowing smile. “But not as soon as you’ll see me.”
“He’s crazy,” Alex said when she and Roka were travelling back to the palace on the Valispath. “Like, certifiably.”
“I’m sorry I put you through that,” Roka said, and he truly did look sorry. “I really thought… Well, it doesn’t matter now.”
“Hey,” Alex said, her tone comforting. “Don’t worry about it. It was worth a shot, right?”
“I should have expected he would never hold up his end of the bargain,” Roka said, clearly unwilling to let go of his ire so quickly. “I never should have left you alone with him.”
Alex held her arms out to her sides to show that she was none the worse for wear. “I’m still here and in one piece. That’s all that matters.” She decided it was best not to mention Niyx’s ‘life for a life’ comment, just in case Roka decided to turn around and exact retribution for the prisoner’s implied death threat.
“What did he want with you, anyway?” Roka asked.
Alex looked off into the distance, allowing the sight of the glimmering waterfalls floating down from the Golden Cliffs to soothe the ragged edges of her nerves.
“Just some weird stuff about remembering me. Nothing he said made any sense.” She shook her head and turned back to Roka. “Like I said, he’s crazy.”
Roka ran a hand through his tousled dark hair. “Well, if nothing else, at least we know there’s no point in seeking him out again. Niyx has nothing to gain by helping us. He’s imprisoned for life, so long as my father rules Meya. His only hope is for Aven to free him.”
Alex nodded, agreeing with Roka’s assessment. “What were those things he called you? ‘Kreg’-something and ‘nor’-something?”
Roka furrowed his brow before realising what she was referring to. “Kregon and norot?”
“Yeah, those.”
His face relaxed and a hint of a smile touched his lips. “I was planning to teach you some of our language, but not, perhaps, the kind of vernacular Niyx practises. You might say that kregon and norot are somewhat… derogatory terms. And not appropriate in a public setting.”
“He was insulting you?”
Roka’s smile widened for some strange reason. “He was. And rather crudely. Kregon alone makes reference to the rear end of a—”
Alex held up her hands. “Nope, stop. I don’t want to know.”
Roka chuckled but did as she requested and ceased speaking.
“I don’t get it,” Alex said. “Why do you seem so happy about him calling you rude names?”
“Because I figure if you’re asking me about Meyarin curse words, you’re probably not too traumatised by the events
of this evening.”
Alex blew out a frustrated breath. “Roka, seriously, I told you I’m fine.”
“And now I believe you.”
She shook her head at him and mumbled, “You’re going to have to get over your protective tendencies if you want to train me properly. You know you have to attack me, right? That’s the whole point of teaching me how to fight like a Meyarin.”
“When you have a confident grasp on your abilities, little human,”—he sent her a sideways grin at his use of Zain’s mocking nickname—“I’m sure my ‘protective tendencies’ will dissipate. But until then, you’re going to have to accept that I’ll be watching out for you.”
The Valispath had entered the palace while Roka had been speaking and it was now swiftly moving them upwards towards her room. When they came to a halt outside her door, Roka turned to face her and quietly said, “I know this past fortnight can’t have been easy on you, Alex, not with your worry over Jordan and your fears about Aven. I admire your strength more than I can say. As long as I have it in me to give, I will not allow that strength to crumble by any hand. If that makes me overly protective, then so be it. Zain and Kyia, too—we’re all going to remain by your side, holding your hands until this dark threat has passed.”
Alex tried to swallow through her suddenly clogged throat.
Roka’s shoulders relaxed and he reached out to pull her into a comforting hug.
“I know you didn’t want any part in all this,” he whispered to the top of her head. “But never forget that you are stronger than you realise and more capable than you could ever imagine. Of that you have my word.”
“Stop, Roka, you’re killing me here,” Alex whispered back, her voice croaking.
The prince released her and stepped back, his serious demeanour lightening as he smiled teasingly down at her. “Well, we don’t want that now, do we? Not before you embark on the varrungard, at least. You’ll need to stay alive if you want any chance of surviving tomorrow’s adventure.”
Relieved as she was that their emotionally charged moment had passed, Alex still narrowed her eyes at him. “You told me it’s not dangerous.”