Stella’s eyes flickered with surprise and then hatred.
Well, that settled that. She was still mad.
Enjoy your vigil. What an unbelievably cruel thing to say. Teddy didn’t even know why he’d said it.
No—he did know. He’d started to realize he’d been wrong in some of the assumptions he’d made about her. He’d started to see an unnerving kindness in her and so he’d said the meanest thing he could to shove her away.
Now he regretted it because he could tell by the distrust in her eyes that he would have to pry the information she’d shared with Endros from her. Drunk Teddy was so shortsighted.
Stella brushed by him. “Good luck,Your Grace.”
“Thank you,my lady,” he countered.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the menace in her tight smile. Whatever momentary lightness had come from fightingtogether last night was chased away by the familiarity of being at odds again. Her anger was almost a comfort. This, at least, was a place that he knew how to work from.
Endros gestured Teddy into the room, but he didn’t step out of the way. Teddy was forced to brush shoulders with the god. It was a power move, meant to display he was just as corporeal as a mortal.
The god closed the door as Teddy crossed the room and slumped into a chair. He tried to look as pained as he felt. This was actually a scenario where his senses being dulled was a good thing. It would slow any reactive impulses.
Endros gestured to a cup of tea on the table. “Drink.”
Teddy lifted the cup and sniffed.
“No need to test it. Poison is a woman’s weapon,” Endros said.
Teddy sipped the tea instead of saying what he wanted to say, which was that poison was anefficientweapon. There was no point trying to convince a man of brutality that poison could be as much an art as swordsmanship.
He studied the god of war and discord through the steam rising from his cup. Endros looked every bit the warrior—broad and muscular, with a crisp linen shirt and leather vest that strained against his chest. His dark hair was threaded with gray and brushed back into neat waves. A scar several shades lighter than his tan skin ran down the right side of his jaw, and his silver eyes glowed faintly with something otherworldly, just like his son Cato’s. Though, where Cato’s were usually lit with curious mischief, his father’s held only predatory menace.
Endros had no weapons, but he exuded the kind of powerful aura that made it clear he didn’t need one. He probably knew ten ways to kill a man without breaking a sweat.
Teddy knocked back the rest of the tea, his stomach gurgling loudly in protest. He should have at least had some toast before coming in here. He set the cup down with a clatter as his stomach roiled. Maybe Endros had lied, and it was poison.
“It’s truth tea,” Endros said.
Teddy’s stomach plummeted. He’d had a whole cup of truth teaand now he was about to be interrogated. What had Isla said about truth tea? His magic was sluggish, buried under the weight of his hangover.
Her voice floated into his mind.Skirt the truth. Say things that are true but not the exact answers to the question, or offer slight deviations. Instead of saying “I don’t remember,” when you do, say “my memory is fuzzy.” It’s vague enough to be true.
Seemingly satisfied that the tea had enough time to work, Endros sat down across from Teddy. “What kind of man are you, Theodore Savero?”
Teddy stared at him, trying to look as bored and hungover as possible. “How do you mean?”
Endros grinned in a feral way that let Teddy know he’d stepped right into a trap the god had laid for him. “I mean, are you the type of man who is eternally in competition with your peers? I can’t imagine why else you would be interested in so many women who want Prince Arden instead.”
Teddy’s eyebrows shot up, and he laughed out of sheer surprise. Not neutral like he’d promised his mother, but hopefully it read as apathy.
Endros cocked his head like a predator studying prey. “That’s funny.”
“A bit. Yes.” Teddy leaned back, tilting his chair onto its back legs. “No. I’m not eternally in competition with my peers, nor do I see Arden as competition. When you’re the best, you don’t feel compelled to prove it relentlessly.”
“Perhaps you are like your father, after all. He thought he was invincible once.” The god pursed his lips and shook his head. “He learned, though.”
Teddy allowed the silence to stretch out. Isla had taught him everything she knew about interrogations, and silence was his new best friend.
“Surprised your ego is still intact after your fight yesterday. Not sure that it’s warranted,” Endros said.
Teddy was comforted that there was nothing the god could saythat would be worse than the way he’d already taken himself apart piece by piece, retracing every mistake he’d made down to the way he’d first drawn his blade. Endros thrived on creating fear and conflict, but Teddy would be shocked if the god could find something meaner to say than the constant running monologue of inadequacies in his head.
