“No! It’s not. And I want to hear the bullet points right the hell now!”
“Bullet points.” His mouth forms a crooked smile. “Cute.”
“Stop it.”
“Fine. You want bullet points? I’ll give you bullet points. One.” He holds up a clawed finger. “Two thousand years ago a princess was born in the Sanctuary of Ostanes. You are that princess. Two.” He holds up a second clawed finger. “I was there and so was Pell. Three.” Another finger goes up. “We are all royalty. Spawn of the gods, if you will. But from different families. Four. We were there as collateral. A way to ensure these families all got along. If one started trouble, their collateral would be killed. And it worked, for a while. You and I, though?” He pauses to suck in a deep breath.
“You and I what?” I ask the question, but I’m not really sure I want the answer.
“If all conditions were met, the three of us would be released and you and I were to be mated.” He throws up his hands. “There. I said it. I should’ve told you that first time we met, but I didn’t know for sure until I came out of the tomb and you seemed…”
I look up at him. “I seemed what?”
“Uneasy.” He points to himself. “With me.”
With him.
I close my eyes. Kinda shake my head a little.
“Pie?”
“What?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Of course I heard you.” I open my eyes again, force myself to be calm. “What does any of this have to do with my debt?”
“I didn’t buy it. It was given to me.”
“By who? Who the hell is in charge of all this?”
He holds up his hands. Like he’s having a moment of ‘isn’t it obvious’? “Ostanes, Pie. Ostanes is in charge of all this. She made us on the direct order of the gods. And we all have a purpose. Yours and mine is to… well, you can fill that blank in, I’m sure.”
I get up from the chair, turn my back on him, and walk over to the window. I force myself to breathe as I stare out at the weird, yet oddly familiar, city.
He waits me out, I guess wondering if I will say more. And I do have lots of questions, I just can’t seem to form words at the moment. Everything is changing. And it’s all happening very fast. I suddenly feel dizzy and reach out, placing my palm flat against the window. The glass is hot from the sun outside. And that’s when all kinds of other questions start popping into my head. Questions like… is this the same sun as the one I know? Or is it a different sun? Is this a planet? I mean, of course it must be, right? The universe is made up of round, spinning balls of rock or whatever. This has to be one of them. So the tomb doors are like…
“Pie?”
“What?” I turn to answer him because I’m not entirely sure I’m ready to go down the rabbit hole I’m staring into.
He studies me for a moment. “You look pale.”
I nod, pressing my lips together. “I’m a little disoriented at the moment.”
“I get it. It’s weird.” He smiles at me. “I’m trying to think back on my first day here, but it was so long ago, ya know? I only get bits and pieces of it really. I sorta remember being confused. But I was a kid. I adapted, I guess. Same way you adapted to your new world. Same way Pell adapted to his new world.”
“The sanctuary?”
Tarq nods.
I want to ask how it all fits together, but I don’t think it makes a difference right now. So I don’t say anything.
“You wanted the bullet points. And now you have them. Would you like the details too?”
“No.” My answer comes out automatically.
Tarq lets out a huff of frustration. “Why not?”