Page 38 of Death Comes for Her
“Our solicitor had copies of most of the important documents. So, no significant loss there that we can’t recover from.” His fingers curled into a fist, resting on his thigh. “What is a loss—”
“I know.”
“—the wings were beautiful. And I understand enough of fairy culture to understand what might have led you to your actions. Burning them is important as a last rite, and any good subject would seek revenge for such a venerated leader.”
I bit down a scoff.
“But you also took the dagger.” His clenched fist traveled behind my back where he skirted careful fingers over hidden scars. “Why would a lost little fairy girl with severed wings found on a farm take the family heirloom of the Lorevain Monarchs?”
The dread I expected to feel left me bereft of emotion all together. I found the numbness settling over my nerves as a great comfort and took strength in the absence of agony.
“It’s not hard to figure out.” It was the closest thing to an admission I’d offer.
His hand dropped from my back, leisurely returning to his lap. “Is that what I’m to do with you? Treat you as some puzzle to solve?”
“You are my self-proclaimed master now. It’s up to you what you’re to do with me.”
“Hm, and if you had a say in it?”
A wicked grin lifted my lips. “Stab you again before you figure anything out.” I faced him then, steeling myself as I fell into the depths of his richly forested hazel eyes. “Though I think you’d enjoy that.”
His chuckle vented from his lips as if it surprised him to laugh.
“I think you’re right, pet.” He drew his bottom lip between his teeth as his darkened gaze dragged over me. “If I wasn’tburdened by the insurmountable weight of my task, I might linger here with you and revisit my hunger.”
“Your task?” I sounded far too breathless, my voice almost nonexistent in the wind. A hint of fear cracked through the unfeeling shield barricading my heart.
“Another werewolf insurgence. This time to the west. I’ve been commanded to leave immediately.”
Disappointment flushed through me. A hidden voice in the back of my mind had hoped for more of that wildness Dante radiated. I felt the lack of it before it had even begun.
“Ah, yes. Called away by beasts once again.” I gestured aimlessly at the estate grounds, where unseen wolves stalked shadows. “What will your pets here do in your absence?”
Dante sighed, then raised his hand. My breath hitched when he caught my chin, gingerly lifting my face.
“What will you do, pet?” His thumb stroked over my bottom lip, and the air lodged in my throat. “Find another way to torment me while I’m away?”
I turned my face away, sucking in a gasp. “Your brother—”
“What about him?” The words were a low snarl. He drew his hand away, curling his fist near my head, hesitating as if he might reach out to run his fingers through my hair.
“I’ll have him to torment in your absence, won’t I?”
He released an unwilling chuckle. “I suppose you will. Gods know you’ve tortured me enough, burning my office and stealing from me. It would do him some good.”
“I haven’t stolen anything—” I cut myself off before incriminating myself further.
Dante placed his hand, not quite placating, on my thigh in a gesture close to soothing, before briefly nodding his head. “Keep it for now. The stars tell me to leave it in your fine hands for the time being.”
I arched a brow at him. “The stars?”
“I’m very old, pet.” His head dropped back, staring far away as if he could see the stars through the dark clouds sweeping over the sky. “I came from a village that worshiped the stars as gods. Sometimes I still speak to them, and sometimes they answer.”
“The stars are suns so far away that we cannot reach them,” I reiterated a lesson taught to me ages ago. “Does that mean our sun was a god before your Grandmaker consumed it?”
“Perhaps,” he shrugged out. “All mortals are driven to the point of devouring their gods, though, aren’t they?”
“Maybe so. Cannibalism is the ultimate form of worship. Isn’t that what the vampire elders say?”
