"Yes—yes."
"Save him—him, as well as me?"
He knew that every word was a lie, but went recklessly on, determined to carry his point, cost what it might.
"Yes. I can and will save you both—upon one condition—that you will fly with me."
"Fly with you?" she repeated, slowly, and as if not fully comprehending. "Fly with you?"
"And be my wife."
"Coward, traitor, fiend!" she exclaimed, struggling with almost superhuman strength to get free from him. "Your wife? You, the betrayer of your own race—the murderer of those who trusted you! A thousand times would the grave be more welcome."
"But you shall, willing or unwilling. And thus I seal the compact."
He drew her still more closely to him and leaned down his face to kiss, but, in the fierceness of her utter detestation, she struck him with her little clenched hand upon his mouth until he could not restrain an expression of pain.
Then, all of restraint was thrown aside, and standing forth in his true colors, he was revealed before her with every black passion starting from his face.