“If I ran, would you need to use a crystal to catch me?”
It felt as though they had been scuffing through the long grass for hours, but Llew supposed it had more than likely only been one, if that. She was hungry. She hadn't had breakfast.
“No.” One side of Braph's mouth lifted. “I am Karan. You are merely Aenuk.”
“Syaenuk.”
“So, you know what you are. Very good.”
“You tried to have me killed. Of course, I know!”
Braph said nothing.
“It was you, wasn't it? You tried to kill me.”
“I believe I succeeded.”
“How did you know Jonas wouldn't kill me?”
Braph was silent.
“What would you have done if he'd made it permanent?”
Braph pressed his lips tighter.
Llew gave up. “How far are we going?”
A chill wind blew, but whatever snowy peaks Turhmos had, they were too distant to rise above the horizon.
“The closest town is a day's walk. From there, it is a couple of days riding.”
“You couldn't have flown us a little closer?”
“I took us as far as the crystal could carry us,” he growled. “Do you know how huge Turhmos is?” Llew shook her head. “And that's the last piece of Orinia I had. You had better be worth it.” He continued muttering, but the only words to reach Llew with any clarity were 'father' and 'dilute'. Llew's hand went to the hard shape in her pocket. Suddenly she stopped walking. As soon as he sensed her no longer beside him, Braph stopped too, and looked back to her.
“You used to... own my mother?” She had believed her mother dead for all these years and had made peace with that. But now she was having visions of her mother in this man's cage, of him coming to drain her blood once a day, or week, and leaving her in the dark. Her sorrow was colored by guilt for the times she'd cursed her mother if she were still alive. It had never occurred to Llew that her mother might have been kept against her will.
Braph walked back, turned her, and pushed her onward. “It's a long way,” he said. “I didn't own her. We loved one another.”
Her mother loving this man? She couldn't believe it; he clearly did.
“But you kidnapped her.” She still remembered the day, even twelve years later, waiting for her mother to return from the store. Her father thought she might have been captured by the Quaven authorities, and he kept Llew indoors for several days before bundling her up and leaving Quaver forever. Quaver had no reason to keep an Aenuk alive. But there had been no rumors, no stories of an Aenuk in Quaver, and as Llew grew that lack had grown in significance, and she had clung to it – her mother hadn't been captured, she must have left.
“I... I captured her to study, yes. But it grew into more than that.”
“She was married. And had a child!” She spun to face him again, but he grabbed her arm roughly, turning her and propelling her forward with a shove.
“Move!” Llew tried to pull her arm free, but his grip was too strong. “You're beginning to fray my nerves, girl. Don't forget that I have been working with Aenuks and Syaenuks for half my life. I know how to hurt you in extremely interesting ways.”
Llew mentally cringed. She didn't know the full extent of Braph's powers, but his arrogance both infuriated and intimidated her.
“What happened to her?” she asked as they trudged on.
Braph didn't answer immediately, and when she looked at him, he was struggling to control his emotions.
“She was taken from me,” he said.
“By who?”
“Turhmos.”
“She's still alive?”
“I believe so, yes.”
Her mother lived. A muddle of thoughts and feelings filled Llew's head and heart. Hope. More than a decade. What would her mother be like? Would she ever get the chance to see her? Hug her? Hopelessness. Here Llew was, trudging across Turhmos with Braph; the man who'd taken Llew's ma from her all those years ago, and who claimed to love her.
“You want her back, don't you? Is that why you came for me?”
“Initially. I was on my way to find you when you made quite a splash on the telegraph with that rather public reincarnation in Cheer.”
“I didn't exactly have a choice...”
“That's beside the point. Once that news was flying down the wires, I knew Turhmos would make their move. And Turhmos doesn't know how to take care of their Aenuks like I do. It's just lucky for you they had no idea what they were looking for.”
There it was. He was talking about her like she was an animal, a possession, again. When would people stop doing that? “Lucky for me I met your brother first.”
“Perhaps.” He looked at her, reading her. “Do you know how close he came to killing you in Stelt?”
A familiar chill settled on Llew. “No.”
“He thought about it. I was watching. While you lay dying, he put this blade to your back. If he'd decided to do it, I would have tried to stop him, but I've yet to find out if I could have succeeded.”
“But he didn't.” The thought brought a small smile to her lips. The breeze picked up and Llew shivered, hugging herself. She was only wearing her shirt and the cold cut right through her. She turned to Braph. He wasn't looking at her and walked with his head down. With his whiskers growing again, he looked so like Jonas had when they'd been traveling the length of Aghacia: the same straight profile and strong brow over expressive brown eyes.
“Why do you need my blood? You must have Aenuk blood already. What do you plan to do with mine?”
Now Braph looked at her. “I must kill him,” he said. “It is too great a risk for me to attempt it without Syaenuk blood. I've seen him move. I've seen him fight. I'm strong and fast, and with my magic I could do things to him he would have no defense against. But I don't know if I could do it for long enough to bring him down.”
“Why must you kill him?”