“So vicious,” he said, amused. “But far from wicked, aren’t you?”
“Well, you haven’t seen me in the morning pre-coffee. I make the wicked witch look like the fairy godmother.” I sidestepped a low-hanging branch and got tangled in a vine. To wrangle free, I chopped at it with my arm.
“Keep still. You’re makin’ it worse.” He helped free me, smirk still in place. “What’s this nonsense about fairies? Stories of that sort are for children.”
“Excuse you. It’s not nonsense. No one is too old for fairy tales.” I continued forward and took a small amount of pleasure when I pushed aside a thornbush and it came back to smack him. The thorns and I had formed an alliance. A ceasefire, anyway. “Speaking of stories, how did you lie while under the influence of a truth serum? I heard it’s impossible.”
“Is that right?” He easily caught up to me, humor lighting his eyes. “Then it must be true. You know your way around a brothel and have quite the gambling problem.”
“Seriously. How?”
As if realizing I wouldn’t shut up until he gave me a real answer, he sighed. “Years of training. Building a tolerance for poisons and serums alike. The key is to weave a bit of truth in with the lies. You aren’t the king’s son, but you are of royal blood. And your mother, although not a whore, did give you away when you were a baby.”
“To protect me,” I told him.
“Motive aside, the truth remains the same.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “But a prostitute? Really?”
A laugh rumbled in Stryder’s chest. “Worked, didn’t it? The prince believed every word.”
“You could’ve said I was a pirate or something else cool.”
“Not even my skills in deception would be enough to make that lie plausible,” he said. “You’re too clumsy to be a pirate. You’d slip on the deck and fall overboard. Yet, I reckon I could’ve spun the tale of you being the captain’s plaything. A cabin boy who satiated the lust of the entire crew.”
“An entire crew is pushing it. Five is about all I can handle.” I widened my steps, trying to get away from him again.
He followed behind me, chuckling softly under his breath.
“You’re cruel, you know. Telling Cedric I was the king’s son. He almost killed me on the spot.”
“I had to play into what he already suspected.”
I stopped walking and turned to him. “What do you mean?”
“Your resemblance to the royal family.” Stryder touched a strand of my hair. “Golden locks, fair complexion, and emerald eyes. There’s no denying it.”
I inched away from him. “Just because I’m willing to talk to you doesn’t give you the right to touch me.”
“Oh?” His attention lingered on me.
“Yeah. Because you’re still an asshole,” I said, voice shaking with a sudden spike of anger. “You hurt my friends. Prince Sawyer, Finnian, Ban, and Sir Noah. They could’ve died because of you.”
“Don’t take it personally, kid. I was just doing what I had to do for the job.” Stryder pushed against my back again to force me to move. “But I find it interesting how your anger stems from my treatment of them when you’re the one I nearly killed. Those scars are proof.”
I touched my chest. “You can’t even see them.”
“I don’t need to see them to know they’re there. My magic caused them. It leaves behind a distinct scent.” When he focused ahead again, there was a tightness to his jaw.
Did he feel… guilty?
“How much do you know about me?”
“Enough.” He slowly exhaled and stared up at the branches we passed beneath. “Nocturne has history with your family.”
“You killed my dad.”
“I had no part in killing him. That was before my time.” His expression turned grave. “I’ve only heard stories.”
