Page 60 of The Nymph King

Ellisar tapped his fingers together a few times, thinking. “Tanyl is a magical talent, but he can’t compete when it comes to cleverness, so I know he didn’t uncover the Drasil in some ruin or steal it from another witch.”

“Then where?” Imani pressed.

“I’m almost certain the Upper Deity breeds put it into his hands.”

Imani’s mouth fell open. “They gave Tanyl a Drasil?”

“As part of a bargain.”

Her chest heaved as her breathing picked up, running through what she knew about the Upper Realm, which was almost nothing. “That’s not possible,” she breathed. “It’s⁠—”

“A bargain with the Upper is entirely possible,” he interrupted. “And it’s the only way something like that ends up in his hands… unless, of course, you want to tell me how you came to be in possession of one?”

She walked closer without realizing it, pointing at his chest, indignant. “That’s my business. And breeds that powerful wouldn’t give him anything like that without a return. You know that.”

“I do.”

“Then what did he trade?”

A beat.

“I don’t know.”

The answer sounded too honest. Her face heated as she continued to rein in her irritation. “You don’t know,” she repeated, more slowly this time.

“I don’t,” he said again, but there was a lie beneath it this time, a truth he held back, something he was not offering freely.

“Or you won’t say,” Imani said, chin lifted.

Ellisar shrugged. “That bargain will cost him,” he said, redirecting without outright denying it. “More than he understands.”

“That’s not… that’s not enough,” she pushed. “If we’re dealing with something like that—if he’s already—” The thought cut off as it formed, unfinished but heavy all the same.

“I know,” Ellisar said, interrupting before she could finish it. “And so do you.”

Her eyes searched his face, probing for anything he might be hiding or hadn’t already disclosed. “You’ve been preparing for this,” she said. “Prior to now.”

Another pause, shorter this time.

“Yes.”

The admission was heavy with dread, and inescapable.

“And you still won’t tell me.”

“No,” he said without hesitation. “I don’t trust you.”

A suffocating sensation gripped her chest, but she stayed firm and pushed again. “If you understand this much, you also know what that kind of bargain entails. You know what it becomes.”

He inclined his head. “It means the Drasil came with heavy terms. The Upper did not hand Tanyl that much power out of generosity. Whatever they demanded in exchange is now tied to the power supporting his reign.”

“And you don’t know what they demanded.”

“No.”

“Which means taking the Drasil could interfere with a bargain we don’t understand.”

“You’ve always been cleverer than Tanyl,” he said, picking up his own wand and running his finger down the grooved Draswood.