“Please…just listen to me. I vow not to harm you, and I will release you in a few moments. I swear it.”
Warmth infused her body, and she found herself calming instantly.
“You’ve obviously been enlightened on my history,” he began, only to have her put up one last futile struggle.
“Yes, you’re a murderer of innocents! They even nicknamed you Alexander the Avenger!”
“Yes,” he agreed, and Cassie’s anger seemed to multiply.
Did he have nothing to say for himself except “yes?” How had she misjudged him so? She was usually a good judge of character. She’d known when her creepy college professor had had ulterior motives in suggesting that she come to him for evening tutoring. And yet she couldn’t figure out that a handsome but strange man who conveniently appeared in her dreams, told her the story of the druids, and gave her his own spell book, was working toward his own motives? Resurrecting the druids and possibly wiping out the rest of the world?
“I am a killer, a murder of innocents as you’ve said, but we were in the midst of a war. The witches killed hundreds of my people in the name of war, and tortured countless more. Every race has committed shocking crimes against another, and at times, their own people. The humans are a testament to that for even without our powers, they have come close to destroying their world.”
“War? You’re using the excuse of war—” she broke off abruptly when a thought struck her. She was talking to herself! Well, she was talking to him, but she couldn’t see him so that made it seem like she was talking to herself! “Where are you?”
“I assumed you would not wish to see my face after the things you’ve learned.”
Cassie scoffed and repeated in a bitter voice, “You assumed I would not want to see your face?”
“Yes.”
“Then why am I here?” Alexander Petraeus was not only a killer, he was one invisible contradiction! “I’m not having a conversation with a man I can’t see!”
He appeared directly before her. On his face was an expression of pain, regret, and still he looked extremely handsome. Bastard. Half of his face was obscured in shadow, the other half catching the light of the moon above them. Why did he always look as if he were a sexy photo still?
“I never lied to you, Cassandre. I brought you here to give you the information you needed to make a decision that will affect my people.”
Resurrecting them? she thought with a scoff. Like that’s going to happen now.
As if reading her mind, Alexander’s mouth tightened, and he stepped away. The energy released her immediately, and Cassie wriggled her arms.
“They are not the monsters they are made out to be,” he said in a soft voice. “My people have suffered centuries for the crimes of few.”
“You?”
He turned to her, and she saw a flicker of emotion cross his eyes before he closed them. “Yes, me and some others.”
Crossing her arms, Cassie contemplated projecting herself out. Something instinctive told her he’d meant what he’d said, that he wouldn’t hurt her.
“I told you of the druids, my people, of their lives before they were banished, their commitment to family, and to each other, but I’ve never told you how the banishment came about.”
No, he hadn’t. She’d heard all of those stories from her mother though so there wasn’t really anything else he could tell her. He turned to face her.
“We—I was tricked. The battle between the druids and witches had been raging for years, and our losses were deep on both sides. My people were tired of the fighting, the death, so we suggested a truce. I made our wishes known to the grand wizards commanding the witch armies, and a neutral meeting ground was arranged.” His voice changed, becoming so cold that despite the warm beach, Cassie shivered. “As the leader of the druid armies, I took three others with me, expecting a small procession of grand wizards, and a discussion that would end with a truce. It was our intent to live separately from the witches, something that had not been done since their existence, by creating our very own covenants in different cities. We walked into a trap. As soon as we entered, we were attacked, and under the combined powers of twelve grand wizards, I was rendered useless.” A snarl curled his lip, making him look beautifully cruel. “After killing the druids who’d come with me, they began the incantations for a banishment spell. Had I been free of my restraints, I might have—” He broke off immediately and returned his attention to the mellow waves. “They used me as the sacrifice to open the portals to the hidden realms, and with their combined powers, and the call of the portal, my people had no chance of resisting.”