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I splashed cool water on my face, which took down the swelling heat in my eyes after having cried. I’d come to the conclusion that my hormones must’ve been completely out of whack. The Farryn from before would’ve just told him to go to hell if she didn’t like, or agree with, what he was offering. She would’ve demanded that he meet her halfway instead of steamrolling over her. As I suspected, a bit of time to think had set my head straight.
I’d eventually revisit the conversation with Jericho, but for right then, it wasn’t necessary, so I forced my stubborn, argumentative-loving self to drop it.
A hard thump pounded inside my stomach, and I bent over on a sharp exhale, resting a hand there. What felt like a thousand serpents beneath my skin sent a shock of terror through me, and I lifted my dress, turning myself in the mirror, where I watched black markings move across my belly. As if there were little snakes running beneath my skin. My breaths hastened, pulse raced. Dizziness claimed my balance on seeing my skin move like that, and I stumbled to the side.
“Save him,” a voice whispered, and I glanced up to see the woman I’d seen in dreams, the blonde with dark eyes, standing behind me.
I spun around to find nothing there and turned back to the mirror. The figure had disappeared.
At a hard knock at the door, I let out an involuntary scream.
“Miss Ravenshaw? I’m sorry to bother you … it’s Vespyr. Um. Your attendant.”
Screwing my eyes shut, I took deep, calming breaths through my nose.
Just an illusion.
Resting my hand against my stomach proved that nothing snaked beneath my skin, and I sagged with relief.
It was just an illusion.
I strode across the room, out of the bathroom, and opened the door to find a slightly shorter girl with wet purple hair standing in the hallway, wearing one of the signature Blackwater dresses. The same dress I happened to be wearing. “Hi.”
“Sorry, um. Anya?” She hiked a thumb over her shoulder, as if Anya was standing behind her right then. “She thought I should come say hello. Introduce myself properly.”
The brief meeting in the foyer hadn’t given much insight into the girl, but Jericho had mentioned the integrity of her kind. And with as protective, and obsessed, as the man was, I doubt he’d have invited someone into his home that he didn’t have a good sense about. He surely wouldn’t have allowed such a person around me, if the conversation we’d had earlier in his office was anything to go by.
Mentally dismissing the hallucination with a shake of my head, I smiled. “Sure. Come in.” While a part of me thought it weird to invite someone into my bedroom as if it was an apartment, or something, in truth, the room was about as big as an apartment, with a fireplace and chairs, which was where I led Vespyr. I gestured for her to sit, and I took the other seat across from her. From the carafe that Anya had brought up to me earlier, I poured a glass of water, my hands shaking all the while. “Would you like some water?”
Her eyes shifted from my hands to me and back to my hands. “I’m good. Hey, is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just. I’m always shaky.” A nervous chuckle escaped me, and I drowned it in a long sip of water. An uncomfortable silence lingered between us, broken only by the sound of my gulps. I set the glass down and cleared my throat. “So, Jericho told me you were imprisoned?”
“Yeah, well, wrongfully so.” With a roll of her eyes, she sagged into her chair and toyed with the embroidered pattern of the upholstery. “It was self-defense, really.”
“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”
Shrugging, she folded her legs up onto the chair, as if to get cozy. “Nah. I don’t mind. I killed some … thing.”
“Thing?” Given what Jericho had told me about her being a demon slayer, I felt comfortable asking the next question. “A demon?”
Smiling, she rubbed a hand down her face. “What a relief. It’s weird that no one around here sees them like we do. ‘Course, no one where I’m from sees them either. They think I’m crazy.” She pulled her legs tighter, brows knitting to a frown.
“You can astral project.”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help studying her, wondering how exactly astral projection resulted in what seemed to be a physical body in Nightshade. But that was the case with all the souls there. “So, why stay imprisoned here, if you can just come and go at will?”
Another smile played on her lips as she lowered her gaze. “So, what did you do in the human world?” she asked in an obvious diversion.
No way I was letting that question slide, but I answered her anyway. “I was a student.”
“Of what?”
“How about you answer my question first?”
