Mask of Poison (Fall of Under Book 1) by Kathryn Kingsley (great novels to read txt) 📕

The fur on his shoulders rose at the thought of Aon. Damn the King of Shadows to the pits for taking from Dtu the man he had loved. He would never forgive Aon for the Great War. He would never turn his back on the warlock without expecting to find a knife in his ribs. Aon was a traitor and a demon amongst monsters.

But neither could Dtu wage a war against the man. Aon was a part of their world, perhaps even more so than any others. He was the king killer—and the only true king of Under. It was by his choice that he was not the King of All that the Ancients had created him to be.

Aon had sacrificed ultimate power. And he had done it for love.

Dtu could not seek to tear apart Lydia and Aon, even if he wished to do so out of spite. It would make him no better than the warlock himself. But that did not mean he needed to like either of them.

“Your world is very pretty.” Jakob snapped him out of his thoughts.

Dtu looked down to the small man and smiled internally. “It has its moments. But it is also filled with terrible creatures such as I.”

“You don’t look terrible.” He looked him over ponderously. “The drengil are far worse. You have a…I don’t know, an elegance to you. Like an old god of the woods. The Varúlfur of my people, our shapeshifters, were a noble people. They were protectors of mankind.”

“I am no protector.”

“I don’t know.” Jakob smiled. “I think you are.”

“You have known me for the span of less than an hour of conversation and you think I am benign?”

“You could have killed me. You didn’t.”

“You are a mystery. It is not my place to kill you.”

“The drengil wouldn’t make that distinction. They’re unthinking, unfeeling, unstoppable things who know only hunger. You’re not that.” Jakob looked back toward the road and smiled. “You’re better than they are.”

“I would hope to be better than a shambling corpse.” Dtu wasn’t quite sure where the conversation was going. Nor did he try to end it. Strange little man. Oddly enough, Dtu found the whole thing rather amusing.

“Can you change your shape? Like the strange cat woman can do?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you?”

“I prefer this form.”

“Oh.” Jakob paused. “Why?”

Dtu laughed. “You are full of questions.”

“I am. I’m told it gets annoying. If I’m bothering you, I’ll go away.” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

Dtu pondered the man for another long moment. He was thin. He was, Dtu had to admit begrudgingly, handsome. He was all charm and little intelligence. “Did you have a profession before your world collided with ours?”

“I was a merchant.”

Ah. Yes. All charm and little intelligence, indeed. Dtu looked back at the road. “You are not bothering me, little Jakob. It is natural to wish to understand the world around you.”

“So, why is this form your favorite? And can you pick any other shape you wish?”

Dtu laughed again, and in mid-stride, decided to take his mortal form for a rare moment. The cracking of bones was loud and visceral. The humans closest to him moved farther away. Except Jakob.

That poor boy just looked sick to his stomach. When all was said and done, Dtu was in his human form. His wooden wolf mask, which strongly resembled the skull he bore in his preferred shape, kept his face obscured from them all. But the rest of his body was largely bare. He did not wear a shirt, and the chill wind was jarring now that his fur was gone.

He wore pants. Qta had pestered him about that for centuries. It was “uncivilized” to wander about naked. Dtu didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. But when poor dead Edu had landed a particularly vicious punch to that particular part of his body during a sparring match, he had learned to keep himself sheathed in clothing if he could not do it in fur.

Jakob was watching him with a wide-eyed expression that matched the one he wore when Dtu had first emerged from the forest. “O—oh.”

“Am I not what you expected?”

“I…no.” Jakob chuckled.

If Dtu wasn’t a complete idiot, he might have blushed. Blushed? Why? What for? He looked down at himself to make sure he was tucked away in his pants. He was. Was it his scars? His marks?

It didn’t make any sense.

“You might be less frightening to the others like that,” Jakob said and smiled. “People might be less likely to run away screaming.”

“They are more likely to obey me when they know I can kill them easily.”

Jakob blinked. He took a breath, went to answer, stopped, opened his mouth again, stopped, and sighed. “Okay, that’s fair.”

Dtu chuckled. “But I see your point, little Jakob.”

They walked in silence beside each other for a few minutes before it seemed to drive the human up the wall. It seemed like Jakob wasn’t one for quiet moments. “So, why do you prefer your wolf form?”

“I feel less restricted in it. It is a true reflection of my inner self, where this body is only what I was born with. Those of us who serve the House of Moons may choose to reflect our souls on the exterior. Kamira’s form shifts with her moods. I am much more stalwart and stubborn in my appearance.”

“Would you say you’re stubborn in general?” Jakob teased. Teased. The little human actually teased him!

What was happening? Who was this little impertinent mortal?

And why was he smiling behind his mask?

“Yes, I would say that I am.”

“Good. I like stubborn. Stubborn survives.”

“I suppose.”

Every now and then, Jakob glanced over at him. It was a strange expression on his face. He didn’t understand what it was, but it made something twist uncomfortably in his stomach. He shifted back to his preferred form. “The rocks hurt my feet in human form.”

“Shoes might have helped that.”

Dtu didn’t know if he wanted to smack the boy upside the head with his paw or laugh.