Chapter 23 23 DEALS

Chapter 23 23 DEALS
SORAYA

Somehow Daryl had put off our training session with Galina which although elated me, the happenings surrounding the suspension of the said training session put me on edge. It was past midnight, and obviously everyone was in bed.

I snuck out.

Tiptoeing carefully so as not to wake Dolly or Adele up.

"Is it an habit? Going around at midnight while everyone is asleep?" My steps faltered, but I wasn't shocked that I was seeing him there. In fact, perhaps I was expecting him to be there.

"You are speaking to me? I thought we weren't on talking terms?"

"Why are you trying to make things difficult, Karter?"

I shook my head. "Me? Making things difficult? You are the one that keeps bringing it up like a lovesick child who has never been kissed. Get a grip, your Highness!" I spat.

It was dark, but I didn't miss the way his golden eyes darkened at my chiding. It happened in a blink of an eye before it went back to his normal brown, and then he leaned back. A soft grin gracing his face as if he was amused. What the hell?

My brows furrowed in confusion but I shook it off, because I still had to ask him about what he had told Galina and Sinclair. How he had he found out about Eve Lucan's death and the similarities to Ms Lily and Annie in just a few hours? Something I was unable to find, and even got myself attacked while trying to find it.

Daryl cleared his throat, and as if reading my mind he asked; "Do you have something else to say to me?"

I thought of ignoring him and going back inside, but then I paused on my feet. "Why didn't you tell me about what you found out?"

The question hung between us in the darkness. Daryl's expression was starting to shift from amusement into skeptical.

"Why would I tell you anything?" He countered. "Have you not made it clear that you have a different agenda here?"

I bristled. "I never said that. My agenda is keeping you alive as your companion guard, nothing more." The lie rolled off my tongue easily, searing the tension that was between Daryl and I.

"It is?" He suddenly stood up, and walked towards me, closing the distance between us.

My pulse kicked up. "You're being paranoid."

"Am I, witch?" There was mockery in the way he calls me witch, like he knew I was not. I had spent a month and two weeks in Fenrir, and it would do me no good for the prince to figure me out when I had only three more weeks to kill him.

I took a cautious step back, but Daryl advanced, clearly trying to trap me. I pulled my lips between my teeth, and suddenly decided stupidly to make a move, drawing my dagger and swiftly pressing it to his throat, the cold steel kissing his bare skin.

A smirk appeared on his face at my actions. He was charmingly calm for a situation like this. "How long have you been waiting this, Soraya Karter?"

"You should be scared..."

He scoffed. "Do it," he whispered, tilting his head back.

My hands trembled, the blade pressing harder into his neck. "Don't test me, Ender."

"You think this is a test, I'm giving you what you want. Won't you take it?"

I could do it tight now, slice the dagger through his neck and end all of these once and for all. But I couldn't. Dear heavens, I could not do it.

His hand shot up faster than I could track, gripping my wrist, not the one holding the dagger, but my other one. His gloved fingers pressed into my pulse point.

"I could kill you right now," he said quietly. "My touch on your bare skin would drain you within seconds."

"Then do it," I challenged, even as my heart hammered. According to my mother, his touch could not harm me, but what if it did?

"But I won't. Want to know why?" He leaned closer, the dagger still at his throat. "Because whatever you are, whoever sent you, you've had a dozen chances to end me. And you haven't. So either you're the world's worst assassin, or you're something else entirely."

"You must think this is some kind of drama. Branding me an assassin." His holding my other arm pushed back, and swiftly threw me down to my knees, disarming me of my dagger.

Well, this was going great. How convenient that I was kneeling before Daryl Ender, when few minutes ago I was just about spilling his blood on Elroy's carpets.

He lowered to my height and then he began to speak. "Now, we are going to make a deal, Karter," he said.

"You think I want to make a deal with you?" I spat. He reached for my chin, rubbing his thumb over my lips, shutting me up. My breath hitched.

"You don't have a choice," He stated plainly.

And damn him, because he was right. "You don't get to tell me if I have a choice."

He lifted my face to meet his,and I could feel the heat from his eyes, branding my skin. I detested how much my body was reacting to him. This was a curse if you asked me.

"There's evidence that you tried to murder the prince of Eden just few minutes ago, Soraya Karter. I could hand your name over to my father, and you'll have a bounty on you within seconds. Now what do you think would happen if I do that?"

Six months of training and look what I have been reduced to. My mother would roll in her grave even before her death if she heard of this. I hated Daryl Ender's guts.

"I hate you!" I spat.

He smirked. "You kissed me twice, and you didn't think of that, Soraya."

That night, I made a deal with the devil for my freedom. You ask me what deal? I guess you would have to find out, dear friend.