Chapter 109: Bargain
A low silence followed when the sea behind them vibrated once more, stronger this time. Several figures farther down the shore suddenly jerked unnaturally, their heads snapping toward the dark water all at once.
The raven servant noticed immediately. "Master."
The creature lifted a hand slightly, silencing him. His gaze never left Arthur. "What is your solution?"
Arthur hesitated, eyes bright in calculation. "You stabilize the vessel through attachment."
The raven servant stared at him blankly. "What?"
Arthur exhaled slowly through his nose. "The transformation feeds on instinct first. Hunger. Fear. Violence. That’s why they decay so quickly," His eyes moved briefly toward the sea. "But the vessels that retain emotional anchors survive longer."
"Emotional anchors," the raven servant repeated flatly. "That sounds ridiculous."
"You think I’m joking because you’ve never watched it closely enough."
The creature remained silent.
Arthur continued carefully now, choosing every word. "The stable ones always have something tying them back to themselves. A person. A memory. Something strong enough to keep the mind from collapsing completely during the transition." Arthur looked between them carefully. "You’ve seen it already, haven’t you?"
Neither answered. That alone was answer enough.
Arthur’s breathing roughened again before he forced the words out. "If she fully loses herself while connected to something this large..." His eyes shifted toward the endless shore. "You won’t control what rises afterward. And I know because she is my step-sister. She’s not just any ordinary witch,"
"A betrayal of blood," the raven servant mused. "Interesting factor from mortality,"
Arthur didn’t reply to that, but somehow, something in his eyes flickered before disappearing. The sea trembled violently. Several corpses near the water suddenly collapsed to their knees before jerking upright again, obviously unstable.
"I can see it."
Arthur looked toward the creature steadily despite the blood beginning to stain faintly near the corner of his mouth. "You need stability before the gods notice what you’re doing."
"And you can provide that."
"Yes."
The creature studied him for a long moment. "You expect me to trust a mortal."
Arthur laughed weakly again. "No," He wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his chained hand. "I expect you to trust necessity." He said.
Cold wind moved faintly across the shore once more, and silence stretched between them.
"If you lie to me—"
"You’ll kill me," Arthur interrupted tiredly. "Yes. I gathered that already."
The raven servant almost smiled. The creature, however, did not.
"You seem very calm for someone standing before death."
Arthur’s eyes lifted toward him again. This time, they looked tired, and defiant, smarter than he should have been. "No," he said quietly. "I’m standing before something worse."
For the first time since the conversation began, the creature smirked. It was small and cold, and somehow far more unsettling than anger. "One does not walk willingly into death without reason, bastard. What do you want?"
He swallowed hard, his hands tightened against the chains. "Yes... I want something in return," he admitted.
A faint smile—thin, humorless—touched the creature’s lips. "Of course you do," Silence stretched one last time. "Speak," he said.
Arthur drew in a slow breath, though the effort of it showed plainly in the tightness of his chest. "I want the corruption removed from my body."
The raven servant barked out a laugh immediately. "That’s what you ask for? After all this mysterious posturing?"
Arthur ignored him. "I know you can do it," he continued, eyes fixed solely on the creature now. "Or at the very least, halt it."
The creature’s expression remained unreadable. "And if I refuse?"
"Then I die," Arthur shrugged faintly despite the chains. "Though I suspect you already knew that,"
"You walked into this expecting mercy?"
"No," His voice sharpened slightly. "I walked in expecting a bargain." That earned another small smirk from the creature.
Arthur inhaled slowly again before continuing. "I want power returned to me."
The raven servant tilted his head. "Returned?"
Arthur laughed quietly, bitterly this time. "Do you know what happens when a kingdom hears their crown prince is dying?"
"Celebrations?" the raven servant offered.
Arthur’s eyes flicked toward him. "In my family? Usually."
The servant snorted, but Arthur’s expression had already darkened again.
"My brothers have begun tearing the kingdom apart before I’m even buried," His jaw tightened. "They think the throne is already empty. And my father... my father would love to see me watch his reign continue,"
"And you dislike that."
"I dislike incompetence," he implied with fiery gaze, despite the soreness in his muscles, and the creature watched him carefully now.
Arthur continued before either could interrupt. "They are weak men pretending to be predators. One hides behind politics. The other behind war. Neither understands restraint," His voice lowered. "If either of them takes the throne, the kingdom won’t survive ten years."
"And you would?"
"Yes."
The answer came too fast to be arrogance. It sounded like an obvious certainty. The sea behind them rolled quietly against the shore.
Arthur swallowed once before speaking again, slower this time. "I want the corruption stopped before it consumes me." His eyes hardened. "And I want enough power to take back what belongs to me."
The raven servant raised a brow. "You ask for quite a lot from someone you called worse than death."
Arthur finally looked toward him fully. "I’m a bastard prince standing in chains before an ancient creature while coughing blood into my lungs," A faint, exhausted smile touched his face. "Dignity stopped being an option a long time ago."
For the first time, the raven servant looked genuinely amused while the creature, however, stayed perfectly still.
"And what makes you think I would stand beside a mortal king? A werewolf, to be precise,"
Arthur met his gaze without hesitation before he opened his mouth to speak, "Because you need influence in the kingdoms," he responded, and that seemed to silence him. "You need territory," he continued. "Resources. Access beyond the sea," His eyes flicked briefly toward the armies lining the shore. "You’re preparing for something larger than this."
The creature did not deny it.
"You cannot move openly yet," he said. "Not while the gods are still watching," Another cough forced its way from his chest before he continued. "But a king? A king can move armies without... suspicion."
The raven servant’s amusement faded slightly at that.
Arthur looked back toward the creature. "Cure me. Strengthen me. Help me take the throne," His voice lowered carefully. "And you’ll have someone ruling from inside the mortal kingdoms willingly."
The wind shifted faintly across the shore.
The creature studied him for a long moment. Finally, he moved, walking closer to him before closing the distance.
Arthur, obviously intimidated by his presence, flinched back, but the chains rattled instead, hurling him back to place. "You would bind your kingdom to me,"
Arthur’s expression barely changed. "A-A bargain... isn’t it?"
Malachi stared at him closely, close enough to char him into ashes with another word. Everything about him felt utterly inhuman in that moment. Not simply powerful, but ancient in a way that made the world around him feel smaller. Even the air near him seemed heavier, colder, as though the shore itself understood what stood upon it.
Arthur struggled not to look away.
The sea behind them groaned softly. Bodies stood unmoving across the shoreline, endless and silent beneath the dark horizon.
For a long moment, Malachi said nothing. Then slowly, something shifted in his expression, just the faint curl of something dangerous. "You offer your kingdom very easily."
Arthur swallowed hard. "I’m offering... access to it," he said carefully.
The raven servant let out a low whistle from behind them. "He really does want that throne."
Arthur ignored him.
Malachi’s gaze remained fixed on the chained prince. "And when you become king?"
Arthur lifted his chin despite the exhaustion dragging at him. "Then I keep my side of the bargain."
"You speak as though victory is guaranteed," he tested.
A bitter smile flickered briefly across Arthur’s face. "If I believed otherwise, I would’ve died quietly."
Silence followed again.
The wind returned at last, sweeping low across the black shore and stirring the edges of their cloaks. Farther behind them, the sea trembled once more beneath the endless weight moving beneath it.
Malachi finally stepped back, and that pressure eased instantly. Arthur inhaled sharply without meaning to, like his lungs had only just been allowed to function again.
The raven servant noticed and smirked faintly.
Malachi turned his gaze toward the dark horizon stretching beyond the sea. The armies remained motionless, waiting. "It has been a very long time since I last stepped foot within a mortal kingdom," Something about the words made the shore feel colder.
Arthur stared at him carefully, uncertainty flickering across his face for the first time since the bargain began.
The raven servant’s smile widened slowly.
Malachi looked back toward Arthur. "Very well," he said, the words falling simple and calm. Yet the moment they left him, the sea answered as a violent tremor rolled beneath the black water.
Across the shoreline, hundreds of corpses dropped to their knees at once. The sound echoed endlessly across the coast like cracking bones against wet sand.
Arthur froze at the sight, and the raven servant looked pleased by it.
Malachi’s eyes remained fixed on the prince. "Rise, Arthur of House Veximoor," The moment those words left his lips, the chains around Arthur’s wrists snapped open instantly. "For you have your bargain."