“I’ll make you a deal?—”
“I’ve made enough deals with you,” I say coolly.
He ignores this. “Try to stop me taking the dagger from you. If you fail, you have to answer one of my questions.”
“I told you—” I stop myself before I waste my breath. I can’t expect this man to respect my boundaries when he spends half the time invading my head. “Why?” I ask instead.
“Because it’s motivating,” he says. “For both of us.” The ghost of a smile plays on his lips, and I roll my eyes. Of course he likes the idea of forcing me to do something I don’t want to,again.
“And if I stop you taking it? What doIget?” I ask.
“It’ll be one less time I’ll make you carry that stone up the steps tomorrow,” he says.
It’s both bullshit and pretty tempting at the same time. I suppose you can’t be the Lord of Malice without having at least a little skill at dealmaking.
“Fine,” I say, taking the defensive stance Viz showed me earlier. He drops lower too, even though I’m still looking up at him, and bounces lightly onhis feet. I grip the dagger tightly in my hand, the tip tilted toward him, waiting.
He charges, incredibly fast, but I still have time to pull my arm back, putting the dagger out of reach as I swing at him with my other arm. He takes the hit in the stomach, and my knuckles collide with a wall of pure muscle. He uses the opportunity to jab me in the ribs with the edge of his hand. I fold over as a sharp pain radiates through my side, and that’s when he leans over and rips the knife from my fingers.
“How long have you been a scavenger?” he asks.
I straighten up with a groan, rubbing my ribs as I consider how to answer. I’m reluctant to give up even one more inch of myself when he’s claimed so much already. Still, it’s not worth denying him.
“A little over three years.”
He hands me the dagger back. “We’ll try again. Keep your attacker in front of you when possible. If someone tries to position themselves toward your flank, pivot with them.”
He disarms me a second time and resumes his line of questioning.
“What made you start working on the plains? There must’ve been easier jobs.”
“I wanted money,” I say, shaking out the hand he’s just twisted. “And no, there weren’t. Not ones that paid enough and didn’t require a guild license, anyway.”
“That’s all you’re going to tell me?” he raises an eyebrow.
“That was two questions!”
“Yes, but wanting money is hardly an answer,” he says sardonically. “You’re not playing fair.”
“And you are?” I protest. “Like Viz pointed out, I’m human, and you’re not taking that into account. Whatever instructions you’re giving me are never going to help against someone as strong as you.”
“They don’t need to,” he says. “What I teach you will work well enough on any humans you fall afoul of.”
“And if we run into any ephilium? Those are the people we’re actually investigating, right?”
He tilts his head to the side, thinking about this. “I’ll teach you some tricks for killing an ephilium too. It’s possible, even for a human. Especially for a human with some shadow magic at her disposal. But that’ll come later. For now…” He hands me back the knife.
The third time the dagger is snatched from my grasp, I wind up on the ground, my legs swiped out from under me.
“Mexalor…waspvine…yablon’ti…kuvvel.”This time I chant the plant names in my head to stop myself cursing out the Lord of Malice. I lie there, panting, until he comes to stand over me,grinning. The expression startles me. It’s almost like he’s having fun.
I preferred him when he was bored.
“So what did you want the money for?” he asks casually, as if he didn’t just throw me to the ground.
“To leave home,” I grunt, climbing to my feet. He’s made kicking my ass look effortless, but this close, I can see the light sheen on his face, his natural scent mingling with the musk of sweat. It’s…not unpleasant.
“Try again,” he says, taking my wrist and placing the dagger in my palm. I’d expected him to lose patience by now like Viz, but his voice is as calm as before. After each failure, he carefully explains to me where I went wrong. It doesn’t stop me from losing, but I am getting smarter with my choices with each subsequent round.
