She rubs her nose. She has brown eyes. I’ve never noticed that she has brown eyes before. I’ve never noticed anything about her, really. “We all thought you liked Cynthia for a minute.”
“I don’t.”
She releases a desperate, watery laugh. “Yes, we saw the full video you posted where you electrocuted her. Are you really done being a Champion? You were always everyone’s favorite.”
“I don’t want to be everyone’s favorite. I want to beherfavorite.”
“I can see that.” She inhales shakily and glances toward the door, but there’s a plant at her eye level that blocks us from sight and that she can’t see over.
“I’ll tell you the second somebody comes in,” I offer her unexpectedly.
She loops her forearm between my body and my bicep and squeezes my upper arm tight. “Please.”
“The Wyvern told you I liked Monika already, though, didn’t he?”
She nods. “Yes.” She doesn’t even try to lie.
“Did he tell you about this mission?”
She whispers, “I thought he was invincible.” Tears continue to drip from her eyes. “I feel so stupid.”
My claws clench into my artfully torn jeans, designed by Sandra to fit over my massive thighs and lupine feet. They’re now speckled with dirt and blood from when Monika’s legs were pressed against me. “Not as stupid as I feel. Monikaliedto me about where she was going. She said she was going to take pictures of you. She didn’t tell me shit.”
Vanessa just nods like that’s okay. I growl in the back of my throat and open my mouth, but before I can speak, Vanessa says, “Of course she didn’t tell you. You’re the bad guy.”
“What the fuck?”
“The Wyvern and I know that you’re working with the Marduk. Monika told us. She’s the one who found out in a recording she took of you talking to the Meinad and Bia. So of course she didn’t tell you about the mission. You might have tipped off the Marduk—or worse, joined him.” She looks up at me and she’s crying in earnest now, and it tears through the tattered remnants of my soul. “She didn’t tell you because even though she knows you’re the villain, it doesn’t matter to her.”
“What?” I choke.
She offers me a smile—a smile in the face of her scandalous accusations—and then she squeezes my arm again. “She likes you back.” She sniffles and turns forward. “She must have been trying to protect you. If she hadn’t been, the COE could have led you into a trap.” She tenses and turns to me then, placing both of her hands on my arm. “You won’t, will you?”
“Won’t what?”
“Fight against Roland? Fight with the Marduk?”
“No,” the answer comes through my teeth like a hammer hitting nails through concrete. No word I’ve said has ever been truer.
Vanessa exhales, seeming to take my word, though I’ve given her no reason to trust it. “Good. I didn’t think there would be so many of them. Roland told me that there were thirteen, including the Marduk.”
“Which villains?”
She gives me a look. “The unknown ones. The Inconnus.”
I blink at her. And because we’re here, sharing this private moment that exists outside of time, a moment with no consequence, Vanessa tells me everything she knows. Everything Monika knew. About how Monika was the one who got the information from Cynthia about the Marduk’s location—about how Cynthia wasn’t in a crash but actually had her legs broken by the Marduk. All I can think is all the ways that Monika lied to me. And all I can think is what she said to me when she sent that cropped video to my PR team.I wanted to protect you.
This can’t stand. None of it can. The punishment I have in store for her will be epic. Though nothing will compare to what I have in store forhim.
A prickly feeling that creeps across the back of my skull tells me that Monika wasn’t at the ports by accident, and if the Marduk was there, he could have easily ensured her safety but didn’t. He’s declared war, and I think I know the reason.
“I didn’t have time to ask Roland what the powers were of the beings that attacked them, but he did tell me that Three was there, a being that can teleport.” She glances at me sideways and shivers. “They attacked me about six months ago.”
Attacked her? Roland’s woman?
My vision starts to go red. I don’t know Vanessa. She’s a human. I should hate her. But in this moment that stands so far outside of time, I can no longer see the reality that existed before I plonked down beside her in this shitty plastic chair—I don’t. I feel protective of her, and when she next squeezes my arm, I squeeze hers back.
“Monika’s so fucking badass,” Vanessa says, and it’s so unexpected I snort. My light laughter causes her to jump, then smile. She relaxes a fraction after that.
