NOVEL NEXT Book 9 - The Deal - Chapter 48
I hadn't expected her to refuse.
From my perspective, it was a forgone conclusion that was merely being sped up. In order to keep Ether, Rix, Pixie, and my identities safe, eventually she would have to agree to at least a pact like what Aelin was bound with. Maybe it was my overconfidence, but I'd assumed she'd be smitten with me like almost every other woman I'd come across since I'd gotten my mantle.
"No?" My mind was still trying to think about why she would refuse, so that was the most I could get myself to say.
"You're telling me that the seal that the demon's put on me is broken and the only way that I can get out of here is to allow you to put your seal on me?" Astrid furrowed her brow. "Why would I agree to that?"
"Because…" I stopped my argument before I started it. She had a point. While we'd spent over ten days with Zel and got to know her a little bit, we'd known Astrid for less than a day. It felt like a lot longer because of the stories that Zel had told us about her, as well as watching over her unconscious body. From my perspective, I'd known her for almost a month. From her perspective, I was the one who was going to leave her best friend to be murdered. While I had a pretty good Idea of who she was, she knew nothing about me.
That was why I gave up on trying to convince her. If I had plenty of time and could take her to do things and interact with us, then I had no doubt she would have said yes. But I should have known that this approach wasn't going to work. Astrid might be fiercely loyal and protective of her friend, but she was also ignored by her family. I didn't know how she had discovered what the Six's plan for Zel was, but it had made her very distrustful of authority. And to top it off, she had forged herself into a self-made fighting machine that was self reliant.
She would have to verify what was happening herself and she'd only accept my help once she'd failed to do it by herself. I should have asked Rix what she'd said to Astrid when they were fighting the MInotaur. It might have helped me convince her here.
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"I get it." I sighed. "I wouldn't take that deal either if I was in your place." I needed a way to tell Klix that I'd failed and we needed to think of something else to do before she started burning away the demon seal.
"You're giving up?" Astrid eyed me. "You're not going to try threats or forcing me?"
"Would it work?I'm sure you've been threatened with whatever I could dream up before. While I could overpower you…" I shook my head. "That'd be no different than what the demons did to you and this already feels bad enough."
"Riiight…" Astrid glared at me. "No one gives up that easily if it's as important as you said it is."
She had a point. From a world-wide perspective, Trent would make a much larger impact than she would. I'd watched Trent punch his way through mental defenses to get the information that he needed, so I had no doubt that if our situation was reversed, Trent would force the seal on her to save me.
It felt wrong. I knew that eventually I was going to have to cross some lines once I started fighting the Primus, but those were evil Gods who had spent over a thousand years sowing pain and fear throughout the world. Astrid was a friend. Or at least someone that I was sure was going to become a friend. Not to mention, Zel was trusting me with Astrid's safety.
This wasn't like how it had been with Edward. Or maybe it was. I'd tried multiple times to stop him before I'd had to get extreme to keep him from killing one of us or himself. There had to be a way out of this, I just hoped that I could figure out what it was before it was too late.
It felt like the entire space we were in was shaking and the temperature began to sharply rise. A hot orange light replaced the darkness and revealed a blue wall around the two of us.
"What's going on?!" Aster looked around, then spun towards me. "I knew you were lying!"
"That's what I was warning you about!" I pointed at the sky. "Klix has already started and we're out of time!"
"And that's why you put those up?!" Astrid pointed at the blue walls. "To force me in case I didn't obediently do what you said?"
"Those are useless if you don't agree!" I pinched my brow. "Once that blast hits us, that outline is going to get blown away with everything else if you don't anchor it!"
I pointed at the base of the wall to show her what I was talking about. The wall itself was hovering just a few inches off the ground. I tried to think as the temperature started rising. I needed to think fast, because we didn't have much time.