Lina did not cry out or scream in pain. Her shoulder did not smoke. She only blinked and turned her head to look up at the nameless Deborn with a smile.

"See?" she said. "Not a bad person."

"I don't understand…." The rock not being tainted made sense, but the Deborn was directly touching Lina. His pinky rested on the bare skin of her neck, yet there was no wither.

Deborn had no will of their own. They were slaves to the Demon King, so it was not as if they had any control over their destructive power. But this man…Who was this man?

I shook my head, "My answer's still no."

Lina looked dejected, but the Deborn didn't, "Hey, gu—Prince Anno, I totally get it. I was actually about to tell you that you don't have to worry about me. I have the feeling I'm the loner type, anyway."

"But where will you go?" asked Lina.

"Dunno, but I have a feeling that Grenna's the place I need to be."

"What a coincidence! That's where we—"

I interrupted her by grabbing her wrist, "—that's where we heard the Demon King fell. Or was it a bit further?" I feigned confusion, "Either way, I heard that there's a lot of chaos in that part of the world. They're probably not going to treat your kind too friendly."

"My kind?" He looked more confused than offended.

"You know, Demon Spawn, Blighters, Deborn."

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

His expression did not change.

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror?"

He shook his head.

I gave him a pointed look and ran a finger over my eye, from my forehead to my chin, tracing one of the dark cracks on his face. He understood what I wanted and did the same. As he touched the mark, his mouth fell open. He pulled his fingers away and looked at his pale hand in surprise.

"Let's just say that people aren't as nice as we are. If I were you, I'd maintain a low profile. You'll stir up a panic."

"I see." He looked down at the ground, his shaggy bangs falling over his eyes. "If I'm as dangerous as you say, I guess that's all the more reason to go it alone. Don't wanna cause any trouble." The Deborn put his hands in his pockets, "It's not like I was excited to find people to be friends with anyway."

He lifted his head to glance at Lina, who looked back at him with sadness, "I guess I'll be on my way. It was nice meeting you, Lina." His eyes shifted to me, then back to her, "It was nice meeting you, Lina."

If I wasn't a prince, I might have been hurt by that. But I could see right through the charade. We weren't on some merry cross-country jaunt. At least, I wasn't. Iliana only knew what was going on in that girl's head.

"Come, Lina, Pleasance awaits." The words tasted of bile. Bile and mud.

"Wait, Pleasance?"

"Yes, that's where we're going, remember? We're headed to Fortitude, remember?" My smile threatened to split my face in half with how stiff it felt.

"But I thought we were headed—"

"And that's why I'm the navigator." I gave a fake laugh, "Silly, Lina. Can't tell north from south. I swear she'll get herself into trouble one day. I wish you a safe journey to Grenna, stranger."

Grabbing Lina by the shoulders, I steered her past the Deborn and back the way we came. The bags of food she was carrying fell from her arms.

She gave a cry, but I ignored her as I pushed her along the path.

The Deborn watched us go with another inscrutable expression before turning and walking away in the opposite direction.