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“What do you mean?” he asked.
“It’s not every day I meet someone with a wealth of knowledge about dark magic and curses. In fact, I’m pretty sure my parents tried really hard to make sure I would never meet anyone like you at all.”
He looked reluctant to answer, I could see the conflict in his eyes, but he answered anyway. “It’s what I do. Or what I did.”
“What you do?”
“Before I was pulled into the Selection. I was a… hunter… of a sort.”
“A hunter,” I said, my eyebrows arching, my eyes lowering. “Like a catch game to sell to a butcher, kind of hunter, or a dark magic and curses hunter?”
“Dark magic, curses, and dangerous or misunderstood creatures.”
“You’re going to have to elaborate.”
“There’s not much to say. I learned a long time ago that I had an affinity for dark magic. I decided to use it for good.”
“Is that why I can smell it curling off you?”
“Funny way of telling me I stink.”
“You don’t—” groaning, I rolled my eyes, “You know what I’m trying to say.”
“I do.”
“And you’re deflecting.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s about as in depth as I want to go on the issue.”
There’s more there.I caught it in the way he spoke, in the lowering of his voice, in the way his heartbeat began to quicken. There was a lot more in there, lots more to say, but he wasn’t saying it… and he wasn’t going to, because they were scars. I could sense them, just in this little interaction. Something had happened to him a long time ago, or maybe there were a lot of somethings.
Valerian took a deep breath. “We should wait until morning,” he said.
“Is that thing that’s chasing us less likely to attack when the sun is up?” I asked.
“No. But we’ll be in a better position to see what we’re doing.”
“Speak for yourself. I can see in the dark, and so can Colbolt. You’ll also freeze to death… basically, we’re holed up down here because of you. Which reminds me, we should start a fire.”
He shook his head, and then he blew out the small candles under the makeshift hotplate he had set up for us. “No fires,” he said. “The light from these candles was small enough that no one would’ve seen it, but a fire will draw attention.”
“I can already see you’re shivering.”
“I’ll live.”
I shook my head. “I’m supposed to be the stubborn one around here, and I’m not letting this go. You’re the only person in the world who knows I exist—I won’t let you freeze to death in a cave. What kind of an ending would that be?”
“Worry about yourself, don’t worry about me.”
Frowning, I turned around and gave him my back. I could still see him, even in the dark, and I didn’t want to. He was just as stubborn as I was, and for some reason, I found that incredibly frustrating. I heard him shuffle around behind me, then I heard him settle, take a deep breath, and exhale.
When I glanced over at him, I found him snuggled up next to Colbolt. He was on the ground next to the Maukibou, his back pushed all the way up against Colbolt’s furry stomach… and he had a smug smile on his face.
“Seriously?” I asked, “That’s your plan?”
