Page 13 of The Salted Sceptre
Triumph flared in his eyes; he’d succeeded in engaging me in conversation. I clamped down the burst of annoyance I felt at my inability to remain quiet and waited for his answer. ‘Too many,’ he said. ‘And yet not enough.’
Icy fingers clutched at my heart.
‘Good evening, folks!’ I jumped and turned to the cheerful waiter who’d appeared at the side of our table. If he was aware of any tension he didn’t show it, he simply grinned and presented us with two menus. ‘Our specials today are on the board behind the bar. I can recommend the hake. It was freshly caught this morning and the chef has created a wonderful cream sauce to go with it. We have a small wine list, if you’d like to see it.’
I shook my head. Alcohol free all the way for me. ‘Water is fine,’ I said.
Athair tutted. ‘I’ll have a double Scotch on the rocks. Macallan, if you have it.’
The waiter made a note. ‘Do you have any dietary requirements or allergies?’
Hester, who remained in hiding behind my back, piped up. ‘No strawberries!’
The waiter took a step back and his eyes swung to me with alarm. When he spotted Otis, he took another step away from us. ‘Fucking hell!’ Then his cheeks coloured. ‘Uh, sorry.’ He backed away further. ‘Sorry. I’ve never seen fairies before.’
That was enough to draw Hester out. ‘We’re brownies!’ she protested.
The waiter swallowed hard. ‘Okay.’ His knuckles tightened on his notepad. ‘We don’t have a menu for brownies.’
‘It’s fine,’ I reassured him. ‘When you bring our drinks, I’m sure we’ll be ready to order food. These two will share my meal.’
He swallowed again. A heartbeat later, he was scurrying to the bar and doing his best not to look scared. Brownies were incredibly rare but his reaction was still extreme: they were hardly threatening creatures.
‘You see?’ Athair said softly. ‘People always treat the unknown with trepidation. That young man is terrified of your two pets, even though they couldn’t harm him in the slightest.’
‘You wanna bet?’ Hester snarled.
‘And we are not Daisy’s pets!’ Otis said. ‘We’re her equals. She has always treated us as equals.’
Athair smirked. I wouldn’t let myself be side-tracked. ‘What did you mean when you said you’ve killed too many people but not enough?’
His answer was measured, or perhaps that was just what he wanted me to think. ‘I have been alive for a long time. Times were very different when I was your age. They were … bloodier. Even before I made my transformation, I often had to defend myself. As you have also had to do,’ he said, reminding me that I had also killed. But it wasn’t the same; it couldn’t be.
‘However,’ Athair continued, ‘when I came into this world, the population was less than five hundred million. Now it is close to eight billion. That is not a sustainable number.’
‘That’s your justification for murder? Over-population?’ I sneered.
‘No. But it isajustification. I will not apologise for the deaths I have caused, Daisy, and I will not promise to refrain from causing more deaths in the future. But given I could click my fingers now and strike every person in this restaurant stonedead, I think I show far more restraint than you give me credit for.’
He was unbelievable. I was finding it harder and harder to keep my temper. ‘Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do it. And you haven’t answered my question. How many people have you actually killed?’
He gazed at me impassively. ‘I don’t keep count because to do that would truly be evil.’
A different waiter appeared. ‘Here are your drinks,’ he said. He didn’t look directly at Hes and Otis but at least he appeared less frightened of them than the last guy had been. ‘Are you ready to order?’
I hadn’t even glanced at the menu. I flipped it open and picked the first thing I saw. ‘The mushroom tagliatelle, please.’
Athair looked down. No doubt he’d choose the rarest, bloodiest steak he could manage. ‘I’ll have the vegetarian burger,’ he said.
I stared at him.
‘I hate killing things unnecessarily,’ he told the waiter with a brief smile.
My hands curled into fists.
As soon as the waiter had made a note of the order and departed, Athair took a sip of his whisky and smiled at me. ‘You have it all wrong, Daisy. Being a fiend isn’t about death, it’s about life. Very long life. Think of all the good that you could do when you have the experience and the time to create whatever you want. Fiends have the opportunity to be the best at everything.’
He was trying to appeal to my competitive nature but he didn’t understand that competition was at its finest when everyone was on a level playing field.
