Oh, my. Itisincredible. Sweet and cinnamony and warm. It takes me back to my childhood. When was the last time I had apple pie?
My cloud of orgasmic culinary bliss is burst by a feral growl that comes not from a wolf that’s made its way through the gates but from the little sprite beside me. She has a slightly alarming, unhinged look in her eye as she launches herself at me, her hands grappling for the box.
“Insult my people, beat me in a fight, put me in prison, but donotmess with my motherfucking food!" She shrieks, her voice echoing off the shelves of age-old books around us.
And now I’m laughing. Genuine, shoulder-shaking laughter at the sheer seriousness of her tone and her tragic attempt at being scary. She grins, eating some of the pie off my fork. "You look beautiful when you laugh, Rexxan. I still wouldn't go near you with a ten-foot pole, though."
I roll us over so she is lying on her back on the roof, my body pressed into hers. "Is that right?"
"Mmhmm."
"I have a ten-foot pole you can have," I say, and she howls with laughter like that was the last thing she expected to come out of my mouth. Fuck, it's been so long since I've been...myself.We eat the food in companionable silence, and I wonder perhaps if this’ll be one of the last times I ever see the Shadow Commander.
I frown as she eats the last mouthful, a question materialising in the back of my mind. “I didn't ask if you were on preventative."
"Ah...well, we didn't anyway so….”
"Are you?"
"Yes, so it doesn't matter."
Liar. "Interesting. There is no preventative effective on mortals, only Evergreens," I say, tightening my grip on her hand. As much as I don’t like to admit it, I feel hurt. Hurt that even in the softness and the vulnerability of our moments together today, she doesn’t even breathe a word of truth in my direction. I feel her entire body seize up as she realises her mistake.
"So tell me, Renna, which is it? Are you lying about who you are, or are you trying to trap a king with a baby?"
Her head snaps up to mine, her face a picture of outrage. "You think I'm one of those?"
"Wouldn't be the first to try, or even the second or third."
She tries to separate from me but I hold her hands tighter in mine. "Which is it?" I know the answer. I know it’s the former, but not one of my spies or my staff can find a single detail about her. I’m not going to know anything about who she is unless it comes from her lying mouth.
"Get off me."
I release her hands and stand, shrugging on my jacket. "I swear to the fucking gods, Renna.Every word. Every word that has left your mouth since I met you has been a lie."
"That's not true."
"Tell. Me. The truth.” I’m trying to slow my breathing, trying to control my famously uncontrollable temper for her.
"Drop it!" She yells, her calm demeanour vanishing with the same quick ease as mine. We are too volatile to share a room together, I don’t know what I was thinking. She turns away, pulling her weapons on with unnecessary force. I let her leave without a word, but I ask a guard to follow her from a distance.
I storm out of the room, confused and pissed off. I choose to spend the remainder of my night and the following morning in my dungeons. I have some people from the south down there who need a bit of extra encouragement giving up some information I need about the Vault break-in. It is a fleeting distraction from the huntress that fills my thoughts, but as I wash the blood off my knuckles and bin my blood-soaked shirt, she is there again, at the front of my mind.
* * *
My head is still riddledwith confusion as I wash, dress, and sink down into the chair in my study the next day. I’ve never met someone so conflicting. Everything in my life has been black and white, but Renna is an orchard of colour. I sigh with my head in my hands as I ignore the overdue letters on my desk.
"It's me," comes a soft, seductive voice outside my door. "But you're busy so…goodbye?"
And now I’m grinning at my paperwork like a fucking buffoon. She'ssoput together, composed even with a knife at her throat, but around me she gets flustered. It's sweet. I stand and walk out of my study, watching her walk down the hallway for a beat longer than is necessary. She looks incredible. She’s trying to kill me. Is this how she gets all her victims? Just walks in front of them in black leggings?
"Renna.”
She twirls around, blushing. I like that her anger has cooled since last night, because mine has too. I like that neither of us is being petty about whatever it was that happened yesterday. "I'm leaving. I just thought I'd say goodbye, given I might never see you again and all that...and I want to talk about yesterday."
I lean against the wall, extending one arm out from my side. She laughs, running over and launching herself into my open arms with alarming force. I bury my nose in her honey-scented hair, taking a hit of my new favourite drug.
“I don’t really like you, but I think I’m going to miss you," she whispers, as I carry her into my room.
