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“And you expect me to believe that?”
“I understand that you’re still unhappy with me,” he starts and that damned smirk of his resurfaces. He scuffles around a moment, seeming unsure of what to say next. “I could’ve been more of a gentleman upon our first meeting—”
“And our second,” I interrupt. “And our third, for that matter.”
“All right,” he says with a brief nod. “I’ll give you that too, but you have to admit that, if it weren’t for me, you’d be belly up on a beach with a water ghoul in your guts right about now.”
“Hardly,” I say, trying to hide the fact that I have to agree a little. After all, hedidsave me on the beach, and I now know that he didn’t slaughter my family… maybe he isn’t quite as bad as I first thought. Still, though, a gargoyle-vampire is still a gargoyle-vampire and vampires are monsters and I kill monsters. “I wouldn’t have even been swimming in that blasted water in the first place if you hadn’t kidnapped me.”
“True enough,” Derith says. Then he locks his hands behind his head and chews on his lip, thinking. “But, to be fair, we can cause and effect our way all the back to you slicing me in the forest so—”
“So, what?” I demand, my anger starting to get the better of me. “So, it’s a little your fault and a little my fault. Isthatwhat you’re saying?”
“No,” he says, waving his hands in my face as if to draw attention to them. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just asking you to look at the evidence.”
“The evidence?”
“Yes, the evidence,” he repeats, seemingly for emphasis. “If I wanted to hurt you, don’t you think I would’ve done so by now?”
“Not necessarily. You might enjoy playing with your prey.”
That smile returns—languid and broad. “Then you’re sayingyou’remy prey?”
“No, you undead gonad,” I spit back at him. “I’m not saying that!”
“Undead gonad?” he chuckles and my anger grows. “Not only are you a skilled hunter, but you’re apparently quite decent at delivering scathing insults.”
“Anyway,” I grumble, frowning up at him.
“Joanna,” he starts, taking care while pronouncing my name. “I understand that I didn’t approach things correctly straight away. I apologize most ardently for that, truly. I now only desire to make you understand.”
I don’t say anything for a second or so, just study him with narrow eyes as I remember the vision of his death that the witch revealed to me. I’m not sure how I feel about it. “Understand what?” I ask finally, crossing my arms against my chest. “Do you want me to understand how Balor killed you for laying with his woman? Do you want me to understand how that woman threw herself out of a castle window after you died, or is the thing you want me to understand the fact that you were brought back from the dead as a monster, only for you to turn your brother into a gargoyle-vampire like you? Or was that little bit of information you were searching for the fact that only the reincarnation of the dead woman, Suisse, can cause you harm? Or the fact that I happen to be that reincarnation? Isthatwhat you want me to fucking understand, Derith?”
Derith stares at me, a stunned look on his undeniably handsome face. “I suppose that does sum it up,” he answers, eyebrows reaching for the sky. He pauses for a thoughtful moment. “Then you are… Suisse?” His eyes are hopeful.
“If you want to believe what that crazy old witch said.”
He nods and I can tell he believes it. Hell, I suppose I believe it too—even if I don’t want to.
“She wasn’t his ‘woman’,” Derith continues, his eyes narrowing. “She was hiswife.”
“Well, aren’t you just a prince among men then?” I ask, rolling my eyes as I spit the words at him.
“Not exactly. I’m not even a man among men.” He shakes his head and gives me a disbelieving smile as something else occurs to him. “How the hell did you know… ah, the old witch,” he answers his own question and sighs. “You must’ve run into her.”
“So, what if I did?” I snap. “And just like I told her, I’ll tell you—I want no part of any of this.”
“I don’t know what she asked you for and I don’t care,” Derith responds, all the amusement missing from his voice. “But I need your help.”
I chew on that for a second. I don’t like how it tastes. “Help with what?”
“Balor, my brother, the one who killed me—”
“Yes, yes, yes, I’m clear on who Balor is,” I say and wave at him impatiently. “Get on with it.”
“He rules the Shadow Dark below the Chimera Forest.” Then Derith pauses like what he said is some big unveiling or that it should mean something to me. It doesn’t.
“Good for him?”
