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“No. It wasn’t ever for the coven.”
“That was what you told Grant.”
“Because I prefer not to expose potential weaknesses.”
“So I’m a weakness now?” I went to rise, because his lap wasnotworth me getting any more hurt than I already was.
He set a hand on my shoulder and pressed me back down, reminding me just how strong he was. “Stop it, Ava. Stop fighting with me long enough to listen. I have thought about you since I first saw you in that shop, and that obsession hasn’t ended. When I asked around and found out what little I could, it still wasn’t enough. So, yes, when given the chance, I hired Grant to discover more about you—not for the coven and not for Colter, but for myself. You can be angry with me for as long as you’d like for that invasion of privacy, for the lies, but do not mistake it for something it wasn’t. I hired you for the job with Olin because you could do it, I wanted to feed from you because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Iwantyou because I have since I first saw you. Besides, you shouldn’t be so angry with me when Grant found nothing useful out.”
“Maybe that’s why he got kicked out of the guild, because he’s a terrible mage.”
A snort from the doorway said Grant was listening, but I pretended it was a random sound so I didn’t have to think about our audience.
Kase went back to the gentle stroking of his fingers through my hair, and, despite my better judgment, it relaxed me. His voice, smooth and unfailingly calm, was even worse. “He ran every test he could, did everything he knew and he could not identify what you were. No matter how much I researched, who I threatened, I discovered nothing. You are an enigma, Ava.”
“And that’s why you’re still around? Because I’m a very interesting puzzle, and you’re old and bored? Or because I could be potentially useful to you?”
“No. I don’t think I care what you are anymore. Originally, it was a mystery, but I’ve discovered you are trouble no matter what you might be.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re herenow.”
“You’re smart enough to figure that one out. I’m not sure there are many reasons a man goes to hell for a woman.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Kase and I, we never talked. We didn’t admit anything. Where Troy liked to come out and say what he felt, and Hunter didn’t feel deeply enough for the need to have a conversation, Kase and I liked to exchange things in non-speak.
He didn’t say he cared, and I didn’t say I liked that he was there.
Even still…I couldn’t quite accept his words. I recalled Colter, remembered the coven house, and knew I had no idea where his loyalties really lay.
He might be a great piece of furniture, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill me if he needed to…
* * * *
I wiped my mouth after coughing and gagging some more.
As it turned out, werewolf and vampire physiology weren’t as affected by the smoke and ash as mine. Kase and Troy had no problem trekking along, mile after mile, while breathing in that junk.
Hunter lived here, so it didn’t bother him.
Grant coughed on occasion, but his immortality made him sturdier, which left me as the one who kept throwing up because the ash coated my esophagus and made me gag.
I wiped sweat from my forehead, already sick of hell.
Hunter passed a waterskin to me, the outside made of a leathery material that looked suspiciously like scales. I’d opened my mouth to ask Hunter what it was made of the first time he’d had it, but he’d told me it was better I didn’t know.
That seemed the general theme of hell. What was moving in the distance? What were those things flying above us? What was the shrieking?
Better not to know.
I took the water from Hunter and drank in large gulps, ignoring how warm it was.
Everythingwas warm. The breeze, the water, even in the shade, the rocks were hot to the touch.
Still, it was better than nothing, and the constant ash meant even warm water was helpful in clearing it away. Plus, he hadn’t tried to give me anything made of bone to drink from again, so I’d take the weird scale bag as a win.
“How can you figure out where you’re going here?” I handed back the waterskin.
Troy was far to the front, and Grant and Kase had taken up the rear. Hunter moved between the group, as if herding us all in the direction he wanted us to go.
