Mickey Reichert - The legend of Nightfall

Kelryn choked off a scream with the help of pressure from Nightfall’s arm.

"Haven’t you done me enough harm? What more do you want from me?” he demanded.

Given their current position, the question seemed absurd. Kelryn rolled her gaze to Nightfall. “Marak, please. The last thing I would do is harm you. I love you."

Unconsciously, Nightfall tightened his grip. Red rage washed his vision, and he waited for it to pass.

Kelryn gasped. “You’re hurting me."

"Consider it payback.” Despite his words, Nightfall loosened his grip slightly as the world came back into focus. "In the morning, you’re going to tell Edward you appreciate his protection, but you’d rather stay with relatives. Then you leave and call off your sorcerer."

Kelryn cringed at the words. "My sorcerer?" The incredulity in her tone seemed impossible to feign. "My sorcerer? You can’t possibly believe I would choose the company of vicious killers."

The words sounded ludicrous from one who had once had a serious relationship with the primary criminal of the continent. "You chose my company."

Kelryn defended. "Before I knew who you were, I fell in love with you. Love defies logic. Besides, you never killed the innocent or killed without conscience the way sorcerers do. You liked to believe you were the demon everyone called you, but you never were. You never could be. That’s how I knew you wouldn’t carry through on your threat to butcher me."

Kelryn’s assertion enraged Nightfall, placing in question even the persona he believed to be his own. The demon seed. The godless murderer. He had little choice but to prove her wrong. To do otherwise would deny his very existence. Nightfall jerked Kelryn’s arm, spinning her to the ground. He crouched over her, one knee planted against her chest and the dagger hovering at her windpipe. "I have no mercy for traitors. Don’t mention love again. You betrayed me. You sold me to a sorcerer for what? Gold? Power? A trinket?" Nightfall’s own words gave him pause. Wars of conscience did not end cheaply, and surely trapping the most hunted and hated criminal on the continent should have bought her something more than another dancing job and a dingy room in a Noshtillian hall. Nothing in her quarters had suggested a hidden fortune. Yet, it would not be the first time Nightfall had met a person whose wealth had come too easily, who had spent every copper within months.

"What?" Kelryn stiffened beneath him, favoring her injured leg. "Marak, listen to me. I know how it looks-"

Nightfall increased his weight so the pressure on her chest cut off her protestations. "Nothing more. I’m not going to listen to any more of your lies. If you won’t tell Edward you’re leaving, I’ll just kill you and tell him you slipped away in the night."

Kelryn gasped for breath, squirming to free her lungs from his weight.

Nightfall dropped his mass back to normal, still feeling torn by the maelstrom of emotions and possible tactics. He could no longer suppress the reality he had tried so hard to deny when circumstances had finally brought him face to face again with Kelryn. Through all the hardships, the promise of revenge had propelled him long after other reasons for struggle had failed. It had proven stronger even than the fiery instinct for survival that had kept him alive on the streets. Yet, when his chance had finally come, he had frozen like a child caught stealing his first copper. It seemed as if Dyfrin’s teachings had chosen that moment to come together at once, fully coherent from the surface to the core of their morality. As much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, he could not have killed Kelryn at that time. Nor, he doubted, could he do so now. The thing that had paralyzed him in her quarters was love. The hatred for her had grown and flourished, yet the love he now despised as much would not leave him.

Kelryn inhaled and exhaled several times before speaking. She kept her eyes fixed on his, measuring the effect of each word. "I would rather die by your hand than a sorcerer’s. I once saw a sorcerer at work. For all the rumors about you and despite your threats, I don’t think you could inflict worse."

The recollection of Ritworth’s magical torture remained powerful enough to send a shudder through Nightfall. She had a point he could not deny. Though legend stated otherwise, he had kept his few killings, whether planned or in sudden self-defense, as quick and painless as possible. Still, it was not his way to reveal weakness either. "Don’t dare me to hurt you. You won’t like what you get." In spite of his words, he made no move toward violence.

Kelryn did not flinch, her gaze remaining rock steady. "Do what you feel you must. I’ve always been direct with you, and I won’t stop now. The truth: I’m scared to death of that sorcerer. I was ready to fight at Ned’s side until I figured out what Ritworth was, then I froze like a helpless child. I can’t face him alone. I am going to accept Ned’s hospitality and guardianship. I swear to you, to the holy Father, to anything or deity you choose that I mean him and you no harm."

Nightfall pursed his lips, trapped, uncertain of his next course of action. The oath-bond began a mild buzz that steadily grew. Feeling certain of Edward’s current security, Nightfall tried to analyze the reasons for the magic’s awakening. The problem, he believed, came of his vow to follow Edward’s word only except where it conflicted with his safety. Clearly, Edward wanted Kelryn present, and Nightfall no longer felt certain she posed a danger, at least not to the prince.

Kelryn raised her brows, still sprawled on the ground. "Would you like that explanation now?" Though she offered, she seemed reluctant to give it, as if it might prove nearly as ugly as the truth Nightfall believed he already knew.

“No.” All of Nightfall’s resentment returned instantly. Torn in a thousand different directions, he did not want more to consider now. Kelryn had betrayed him. There could be no other answer. She had had months to concoct a story, enough time to make it believable. He would not give her the tools to destroy him again; the love that unmanned him might also force him to believe. And that would give her the opportunity to betray him again. He had suffered that agony once and never more, "I’ll wait till you’re ready, then." Kelryn fidgeted, still seeking a comfortable position pinned beneath knee and dagger. Though she did not speak the words, her inflection implied: I’ll wait until we’re both ready.

Grudgingly, Nightfall backed away, freeing Kelryn. "These are the ground rules. First, you don’t hurt Edward, talk, or direct him into any action that might make him harm himself, or allow or arrange for others to do so. Second, you do not address me unless absolutely necessary." He paused, trying to anticipate loopholes and other possible needs. "Third, keep your damn clothes on.”’

Kelryn sat up carefully, rubbing at her neck. "I agree to all terms, so long as you allow me to change and bathe, at least in private. May the Father suffocate me in the deepest part of his underworld should I do anything against those rules."

Nightfall did not wait for Kelryn to finish but slipped quietly into the night. At first, he just wanted to escape, to let the summer breezes clear his mind of a tangled lump of idea he had no patience to sort. A thought managed to trickle forward from the back of his mind, a memory of his discussion with Finndmer the Fence. He had already written off the money he had spent for swampland. As Nightfall, he could not have tolerated the deception, but Sudian had no reputation to protect. Petty vengeance had to give way before greater and more pressing needs. He had learned much from his discussion in the woodsman’s cottage, including that a man could become landed through marriage. Buying property had failed, and this new consideration moved in to take its place. Two of his five months had already passed, leaving him no closer to fulfilling the oath-bond than at the day of its casting.