The words startled Tatehan immensely.
"You did it." Kael said, forcing a small smile.
Tatehan looked into his eyes, confused. Why was he saying this?
"No. WE did it."
Kael smiled again, but it wasn't one of his good smiles. This smile was different. Wrong even. Tatehan stored that in his brain.
'Let me take the core, and you live.'
Casual as that sounded, Tatehan considered it a threat.
When he thrust his sword into the mauler's brain and the monster-beast died, there had been a moment of camaraderie. The two had actually felt like the best of friends, deep friends. Like they owed each other their lives. They'd been smiling, happy to have won.
And now what were they? Enemies.
From strangers, to friends, to life-owing friends, to enemies, to...
Tatehan couldn't imagine the next part. He knew it would be nasty.
"You could have told me." Tatehan's voice was quiet. "Your aim for wanting to kill the Hexapod mauler was to take its core."
