Alaric had dragged her back from Jaia, who was still high as the sky on her blood and she struggled against him, knowing that neither Jaia nor Versalis could get to her and Kai was frantic.
"Look after them!" she cried.
He nodded, knowing he was unable to help her anyway.
Alaric didn't take her far, slamming her against the wall of the castle.
She gasped her pain and his face was near to hers.
"So, the little vampire, is it?" he growled, though she didn't think it was indignation about her betrayal of Epharis.
"Let go of me," she breathed, his fingers clenched in the front of her dress. "It's not like that, it's the blood." She was lying through her teeth, and she did her best to sound convincing.
He narrowed his eyes at her and she glared up at him.
"You think there's nothing sexual about feeding from each other? Why do you think we're so close?"
"Just imagine how Epharis would react of he found out his wife was in love with a vampire," he breathed into her face and she glared up at him.
"We have a deal, Alaric." She was scared and she realised the flaw in their deal. She had worded it carefully but she hadn't covered this eventually.
"Ah, but I am only concerned for my brother's wellbeing. How am I to know how we would respond to the news of his beloved wife with another man?" his words were toxic and she shook her head.
"I would never," she breathed, fear running through her system.
"But you already have with Drizdan."
"That was not my choice."
His words had stung her and she grasped at the anger to get past her fear.
"If you recall correctly, that was your doing when you handed me over to Winter." Angry now, she slammed her foot into his shin and he dropped her. She ducked out from under his arm and the merry tinkle of the bell made her eye twitch.
"What is the bell for, Alaric?" she demanded and he turned to her, releasing his shin and smirking.
"An early warning system. Mythicals can hear it, the humans cannot."
"That makes my job of killing harder, you have to realise that." She was above angry now, she was furious that he would dare put something on her.
"We have to be sure you're not going to try and sneak up on one of us with that kiss or scythe. Besides, it can be silenced when the need arises."
Her eyes narrowed in interest and Alaric frowned, knowing her thoughts had gone to her husband and what she could do to convince him to remove the damned thing.
"Epharis won't help you. He understands the situation, and understands the need to keep you contained," he said.
She shook her head in disgust. "Versalis can control me," she breathed, and Alaric made a soft sound of agreement.
"Yes, it seems that without that little crystal you cannot fully manifest, but you can still use that scythe and unless I can take that from you, there is nothing that can fully contain you."
The thought of his taking the scythe filled her with such terror that she immediately backed away from him, though she didn't know why. It was just a weapon, but then it was everything to her before she even knew it meant anything to her.
She would have to figure out why it mattered later, but for now she only thought to protect it from him.
"You will take it only if I am permanently dead, Alaric."
"Can you kill death, Etani?"
His question had her frowning in confusion. It wasn't like she was mortal before the events of Ayathian, but it raised an interesting thought in her. If she was death, then what happened to the death she had come to know? Surely if she had always been death, he would never have existed, or was there more than one death and he was just the one that came to her? Or was there many who had come to her and they all just looked the same?
She had become distracted and Alaric cleared his throat to bring her back to him.
She looked up at him, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
"What are you thinking?" he asked.
She hesitated, not because she was going to ignore his demand for information, but because she was trying to process her thoughts.
"I have known death for a long time, since I was a young girl, in fact. If I am death, then what is he? Or is there more than one death? Is there a whole family of deaths?"
Her questions threw him off guard and he started at her for a long time as he too tried to process what she was thinking.
"Death never carried a scythe when I saw him, so why do I have one? Am I death or something else?"
"I don't know what you are," he said finally, agitated.
"Well, that makes two of us," she sighed
Alaric looked irritated but she could only shrug.
"I'm as blind to this as you are, Alaric."
"I have a task for you, now that I have you coherent and alone."
Eyebrows lifting, she smiled faintly at his calm.
"And what task would you have for me, Alaric?" she asked curiously.
"You are going to assassinate the King of Weorene."