“That girl? Like I said, Aiden was simply using her to get to me. She’s nobody,” Logan said dismissively. I winced at his hurtful words and tried to convince myself he was somehow trying to protect me.
“She doesn’t seem like anything special,” Cerus scoffed, and I peered through the crack of the door again, scowling. From my position behind the door, I only had a view of Logan’s back. He stood with his arms folded in front of the bathroom, as if he were guarding me.
“As if you’re such a prize.” Ajax’s voice was muffled—probably because his mouth was crammed full of chips and cheese—but the sarcasm was evident. “You’re twenty pounds of dung crammed in a ten-pound sack.”
I quietly snickered. If he weren’t an evil demon, I might actually like Ajax.
“As usual, you’re full of jokes but have no real contribution to offer. I still want an answer to my question. What can she do that’s intrigued you so much, proditori?” Cerus asked in a measured, calculating voice.
“Aiden has seen that I’m fond of her. I haven’t identified the Traveler yet, so I’ve been passing the time with this one.” Logan jerked his thumb over his shoulder toward me, his voice so dismissive that it stung.
“And that’s all she is to you? A recreational activity?”
“What do you want me to say? She’s hot. And she won’t remember anything by the time I’m done with her. I erase her memory so often, I’m amazed she can still tie her shoelaces,” Logan said callously, his uncaring words slicing right through me. Had he erased my memory? I was working with the general assumption that Logan was lying to protect me, to hide what it was that I could do, but still...damn, that was harsh. My heart lurched at the thought of such a deep betrayal.
“I forget sometimes that you’re still a teenager,” Rego muttered, his voice, for once, not sounding angry. It was almost...indulgent. I had forgotten Rego was in the room. Why hadn’t he interrupted Cerus’s relentless questioning?
I bit my lip, realizing that I already knew the answer: Rego wanted to hear how Logan would handle himself. And if he’d leap to defend your honor, or if you’re just a distraction that keeps him waylaid, as he said.
Well, according to these guys, I was keeping Logan way laid—and as long as it was nothing more, Rego was apparently fine with it. Suddenly, my dad’s desire to keep me away from all males made sense. Even males of different species only cared about one thing.
“Ajax, does your friend have anything to offer me?” Rego asked. “Or do you plan on justifying this intrusion by eating all my food?”
I listened as Ajax and Eva began talking about a hive of fire demons that had pledged support to the Queen, but their words were muted and difficult to hear now that the conversation was no longer heated.
I rested my head against the wall, still slightly dizzy and completely overwhelmed, and found myself staring at my reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror. And I gasped in shock.
It’s a good thing my jacket had a hood, because if I’d walked through the streets of New York uncovered, someone would have called the cops. My hair was a knotted mess, a soft halo of frizz surrounding the tangled snarls. Stiff dark lines curled across my slashed face, strands that had gotten caught in the blood and dried in a veinlike web that crept across my right cheek. Part of my face was stained red, a crimson mask that coated my skin, dripping down my neck and onto the white collar of my shirt. A thin red welt stretched around my neck, a tender line of skin that resembled a ropelike choker. My eyes were haunted, almost sunken, and ringed with deep shadows—which made sense, since I was completely exhausted.
But the worst was the sticky, two-inch gash on my face, a stinging reminder of Della’s knife.
I grabbed the jar of healing balm, which opened with a satisfying pop, and greedily scooped my fingers into the oily ointment, smearing a healthy glob of it onto my cheek and neck. It fizzed, a barely audible hiss that stung along the lines Della had carved into my skin.
The water that came out of the faucet wasn’t hot. It was the tepid, barely warm temperature that was the calling card of a landlord providing just enough heat to avoid any fines. But it felt like heaven as I splashed it on my face, rubbing my palm along my skin, feeling the raised, puffy wounds disintegrate like soap flakes underneath my wet fingertips. I quickly unbuttoned my shirt and slid it off, using it to scrub the remaining blood off my face. The shirt was ruined, anyway.
Turning in the mirror, I poked at my ribs, rubbing the balm on the shadow of a dark bruise that was already blossoming on the skin underneath my yellow-and-white polka-dotted bra, and along where my shoulder had taken the brunt of my tumble down the stairs. The deep ache in my side had almost disappeared when I heard Rego swear—loudly—outside. I slipped my shirt back on, the damp fabric sticking to my skin as I peered through the crack in the doorway.
“Either we find a way to have the incindia colony unite with us, or we destroy them,” Rego said, and I heard a loud bang.
“Careful, Rego. Don’t knock this table over while I’m sitting on it,” Ajax said, his voice sulky from where he was now perched on the wobbly table. “I’m quite comfortable. But I guess I do have to leave soon...Eva and I are expected back shortly.”
“I must take my leave, as well. I’ll follow you out, Ajax. But first, Rego, you owe me something,” Cerus said, walking into view, his head tilted up arrogantly. He regarded Logan dismissively, glaring at him down his nose as he sauntered off to Rego’s office of sorts, that curtained-off room full of artifacts and mysterious trinkets.
“It was quite the joy to meet you,” Ajax said loudly as he and Eva approached Logan, bowing with a playful flourish before adopting a more serious demeanor.
“Sorry about performing my little parlor trick on the young lady, but we had to distract Cerus and get her out of his way,” Eva purred, resting one hand against Logan’s chest. “She didn’t look like she could take care of herself. Hope it doesn’t affect your enjoyment of her.”
I rolled my eyes as Logan stepped back from her, letting her hand drop. The thought of being someone’s magically induced sex slave is way more nauseating than your little physics-defying trip through space, lady.
Ajax cautiously glanced to where Rego and Cerus had disappeared before leaning in to whisper to Logan in an impassioned voice.
“I really, really hate the way he talks to you, especially in front of people like Cerus,” Ajax fumed, and Logan just shrugged, as if to say, “That’s Rego.” But Ajax grabbed his arm.
“If I don’t see you again, please, believe me this—he is not to be trusted.”
“What? Why wouldn’t I see you again?”
“He’ll use her against you, Logan,” Ajax warned. “They both will.”
“Cerus and Aiden?”
“No, Cerus and Rego.”
Logan yanked his arm back and stared at Ajax in shock as I blanched behind the door.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Logan asked, his voice suspicious.
“The final battle in this war is coming sooner than we thought, and we’ve lost the advantage. Get out. You have to get—” Ajax jumped back as Cerus strolled into the room, brandishing a new crossbow, this one a shimmering gold color. Both Ajax and Logan feigned casual, unaffected poses as Cerus interrupted their secret conversation, aiming his unloaded crossbow at Ajax.