The Darkest Secret

«Satisfied?»

She’d seen that reaction before, recognized it as what he’d claimed. Acceptance. «I’m as satisfied as I can be in a place like this.»

Those pupils continued to grow, as if she’d said something provocative. And maybe she had — a virile man would see her words as an invitation to satisfy her physically, and this man was more virile and invitation-happy than most — but it had been unintentional. She wasn’t attracted to Defeat. He was beautiful, yes, but he lacked Amun’s intensity. She also wanted to throw up in her mouth a little every time she looked at him.

«What’s your first question?» she demanded.

He didn’t hesitate. «What the hell are you?»

She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. «I’m human.»

Fast as lightning, he struck out, his fist pounding into the bar and rattling the very foundation of the cell. «Already you’re lying. You can materialize weapons out of thin air. That’s not something humans can do.»

She gave no reaction to his fury. «If I can, why haven’t I produced one since being here? And I promise you, I would have sliced your throat from end to end if I’d had even the slightest opportunity during our trek.»

Now a muscle ticked in his jaw, but at least he didn’t strike out again. «An easy boast, almost believable. Maybe you just wanted a ticket into this fortress.»

«To do what? Expedite my torture?»

«You were Bait once. Maybe you’re meant to be Bait again.»

«Then you were an idiot to bring me here,» she lashed out.

His nostrils flared with the force of his renewed fury, but he said nothing else.

«This is getting us nowhere,» she said, as calmly as she was able. «The weapons didn’t simply materialize when we were in the jungle. I hid them from you until I found the opportunity to use them.» And that was the God’s honest truth. «That, and you’re kind of a dumbass.»

He exhaled, the breath seeming to drain his fury. «Well, that’s an improvement over stupid and idiot.»

Gentle, amused teasing. From him. Shocking. Or was he trying to throw her off balance? «I answered. Honestly. So, second question.»

The gentleness faded, only a single thread of the amusement remaining. «If you’re human, how are you alive? I watched you die. Which is a nice way of saying I fucking murdered you!»

«I’ve been reanimated.» She didn’t mention how or how many times. He hadn’t asked. «That’s two. Next.»

He shook his head. «Not done with that one yet. If you’ve been reanimated, and I’m guessing that’s just a fancy way of saying you were brought back to life, a god aided you. Only a god has the power to reanimate a body after a beheading. And even then, I’m not sure it’s possible.»

Silence enveloped them. He stared at her pointedly. She stared back.

«Well?» he demanded, spreading his arms as if he were the last sane man in the universe.

«Well, what? You didn’t ask a question.»

The muscle in his jaw started ticking again. «Who aided you?»

Aided was not the word she would have chosen. Cursed, maybe. «A creature very much like you. I think. I didn’t see it, only know I had a reaction to it the first and only time it touched me.» And that’s all she would say on the matter. Even if he asked for more. «That’s three. Next.» Why hadn’t he asked her about the Hunters?

«Rhea, then,» he said, as if that explained everything.

Haidee schooled her features, unwilling to show him the depth of her confusion. Rhea, the supposed queen of the Titans? Haidee had heard of her, of course. A small group of Hunters even worshipped her. But why did Defeat assume the woman was responsible for Haidee’s curse? Or «infection,» as the Bad Man had called it? «Two more questions to go. Better make them good.»

«When I saw you with…him, kissing—' he’d almost said a name, she realized, but had managed to stop himself in time «—were you interested in him as a man or as a possible escape route?»

Of everything Defeat could have asked, why that? «Why the hell do you care?»

His traced the tip of his tongue across the seam of his lips. «I don’t believe our bargain involved explanations on my part.»

Fine. «The man.»

There was a beat of silence before he gave her a reaction. A flash of that fury, quickly gone.

«He’s always been the gentle one, you know,» Defeat said almost absently. «He’s rarely ever displayed a temper. Has never hurt one of his friends. And he would be horrified to know what he did to me.» As soon as he realized what he’d said, what he’d admitted, he scowled at her, as if the confession was her fault.

She pretended not to notice. «You have one more question. And did I forget to tell you that if you lied to me, I would personally reacquaint your spine with a shard of glass?»

He stared at her for a long while, studying, searching for something. Whether he found it or not, she didn’t know. Then he spoke, soft, gentle. «Why did you help kill Baden, Haidee?»

She sucked in a breath. Of everything he could have demanded to know…how dare he ask that? As if he didn’t already know the answer. As if he hadn’t rallied to destroy her, all those centuries ago. As if he would enjoy hearing her pain and her heartbreak.

Just like that, all the hate inside her exploded to the surface, and she stomped to the bars, placing herself within striking distance. She didn’t attack him but dared him to attack her.

He didn’t move, just continued to stare at her.

«Why did I help kill him?» She threw the words at him as if they were weapons, and maybe they were. «Because he took what I loved most. And don’t try to lie and say he didn’t, that I’m confused, or misremembering. I saw him. I was there.»

«He—'

«I’m not done! Why else did I help kill him? Because he represented what I despised most. Because he deserved what I did, and he knew it. He wanted me to do it. And not once, not once in all these years, have I ever regretted it.»

Again, silence. Those blue eyes glittered far more dangerously than before as he reached inside his pocket. Haidee expected a dagger to the stomach but still didn’t back down. Physical pain might dull her emotional anguish.

He merely keyed the lock. The cell door swung open, the hinges squeaking. «For some reason, you calmed…our boy before. He’s worse now, and we need to know if you can calm him again.»

Him. Amun. So, she thought, furious all over again, Defeat had meant to take her to the warrior all along. She hadn’t had to answer a single question. She’d been tricked, just not the way she’d thought. What a fool she was. «And what is it, exactly, that I calm him from? How is he worse? What the hell did you do to him?»

«I’m going to take you to him,» the demon went on, ignoring her. Either he was unaware of her volatile emotions or he just didn’t care. «But if you harm him, Haidee, I will kill you. And I’ll make it hurt in a way you can’t even imagine.»

The moment Defeat led her down the hallway to Amun’s bedroom — a hallway still filled with towering angels and their outspread wings — she heard the warrior’s voice inside her head and forgot everything else.

Haidee! That single word was a tormented wail. Need…you… please…

How long had he been calling for her? Why hadn’t she heard him before now?

Haidee!

She’d uncover those details later. Right now, he was in pain, so much pain, and nothing but helping him mattered.

Wrenching away with all her strength, she broke free of Defeat’s hold and rushed forward. No one tried to stop her. Not the angels and not the Lord. She expected Amun’s doorway to still be splintered from Defeat’s vicious kick, but someone had fixed the metal and wood, both now blocking her entrance.

She twisted the knob — unlocked, thank God — and raced into the bedroom, quickly slamming the door shut