Do you think I would hurt you? I wouldn’t. I won’t. Not you, Pandora. Never you.Maybe he could help me.
But fear plummets my heart forward so quickly shadows quiver at the edges of my vision, and the daemon scours one sharp shock after another. I grit my teeth. It might ruin everything.
I swallow down the knot in my throat. “Something is wrong with me,” I blurt out. My face grows hot. I sneak a glimpse to find his brows scrunching together. “People in Eden tend to stay away from me, actually. For good reason.”
“Pan…” His eyes narrow as he searches my face. “I don’t know what happened to you in Eden, but I get the feeling you weren’t treated very well, and it’s caused you to not see yourself clearly. I know you.”
“You don’t,” I bite out. “And you’re not listening, Sitri.”
He stands swiftly, searching the surrounding area before his face contorts into something brutal. He yanks me up by my arm. A single pulse of fear lances through me before it registers. This is only for show. To keep the facade up of me as the nought he despises, his punishment. It all seems so obvious to me now.
He drags me toward the nearby Wood. As soon as we’re eclipsed by the curtain of trees, he steers my back into one, and his face softens. “I’m listening. Please, talk to me.”
I open my mouth. Close it again. I want to. But I don’t know how. My breathing quickens.
I don’t know how.
I search his face. “You won’t….?”
“Pandora.” He looks around once to make certain we’re alone, reaches forward, and takes my face in his hands. I flinch slightly with the daemon toiling so close to the surface, but I don’t pull away. “There is nothing you could say to me that would make me feel differently about you.”
Doubt bars around me, tightens around my throat. He says thatnow. I suck in a deep breath and then another and another, feeling the weight, the warmth of his hands on me, wondering if it will be the last time. The daemon’s pulse grows calmer.
“I told you when I was eleven, I fell from a great height.” The words come out in a jumbled rush, and I suck in another breath, hand sliding to the daemon’s blight on my chest in an attempt to calm my racing heart, racing mind, racing daemon, racing words. “I fell because something hit me here. When I woke up, I was—“
“Well, isn’t this sweet?”
We both jump, and Sitri’s hands quickly drop from my face as he steps back.
Valik.
Sitri draws a series of motions to remove the sound wards he placed around us.
“Fuck off, Valik,” he snarls once they’ve dropped.
“What could be so important you didn’t want anyone to overhear your tender moment? Did the Blood of the Gods bind after all? Or are you just trying to one up your father with a nought cunt instead of a low-born cunt?”
There’s no warning. The movements are too fast. I don’t even know what’s happening until after it’s already done. Sitri moving forward, swinging, punching Valik right in the jaw. The violent crack of bone hitting bone.
Valik’s face swings to the side as he startles back. He clutches a hand to his jaw, looking just as startled as I am. He spits and then laughs as he glances back and forth between us.
“Holy shit. It really did bind, didn’t it? I think Morin will be very interested to hear about this.”
Sitri’s chest heaves beside me. When he starts to move forward again I clutch at his arm. “Don’t Sitri, he’s not worth it.”
He jerks his arm out of my grip. “Be a good pet and stand over there,” he snaps. My lips part. “Now.”
I clamp my mouth shut and retreat to the area beside the tree he’s gestured to, face flaming. I know it’s an act. It’s not real but I still can’t help myself from reacting to it.
I watch heart quickening as Sitri advances on Valik, hands clenched at his sides. He doesn’t seem to have any interest in handling Valik with magic at the moment but rather his fists. But Valik steps back, hands raised in surrender like the coward he is.
“I just came to tell you Morin would like a word, Nightshade.”
Sitri stiffens. “Why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it was the sound ward that piqued her curiosity. But chop chop, better not keep her waiting.” Sitri spares a glance back at me and swears. “Oh, thisisa conundrum, isn’t it? Don’t want to take your pet to the Queen, do you Nightshade? Your pet might even hear some things about you that you don’t want her to know. Don’t worry--I’ll be a pal and watch your nought for you.” Sitri’s already turning around and walking back to me. “As long as you don’t mind me getting my dick a little wet.”
Sitri’s eyes are cold, vacant but I see that rage spark in him as he stiffens, fingers twitching and jaw flexing. I shake my head. Just let it be. Valik raises his hand and draws a spell. Whatever force was meant for Sitri is blasted back by an invisible shield, but I can feel the aftershocks move through the air. Sitri's fingers move quickly as he lets out a voiceless snarl. Valik’s too slow, rather, and I let out a gasp as he soars, smacks right into the tree, and crumples to the ground.
