—even she could get hurt in a fight. She had been hurt, more than once, most recently at the hands of Atë. That didn’t make either of us fragile.
She squared her shoulders. It took several breaths of us staring at each other before some of that hardness eased.
“Who did you fight?” she asked.
“Didn’t get his name. It’s nothing, Lu. I’m fine.”
She leaned back, taking her soft touch with her and leaving an ache in me.
If I told her I’d been jumped by a vampire, it would explain the fracture. Hell, she might be relieved that all I had ended up with was a bum wrist.
Or she might use my newest failure as another reason to close herself off, to walk away. To leave me and fight our battles without me.
“Where were you?” I asked.
“Walking.”
“Did you find him?”
Her gaze cut to mine, startled.
“I know you were looking for the hunter. To clean up the mess I made of it earlier, right?”
“This isn’t something you need to be a part of.”
“Finding Hatcher?” I asked. “Or hearing the deal you made with him?”
She was a coiled spring, a snake drawn back before the strike. She wanted to deny my assumptions, my accusations. Instead, she folded her arms and stared at the medical trash in the can.
“Yes, I found Hatcher.” She looked back at me, arms still defensive. “I didn’t make a deal with him. He says he has information. He says he knows where we can find the book. But he wants something in return for the information and won’t tell me what it is.”
My breath went shallow as I processed that. She’d met with the hunter without me—
—fragile—
—and all he could offer was the same false promise we’d heard from god, demon, and witch.
“You could have been hurt,” I said. “Areyou hurt?”
“He didn’t touch me, Brogan. I wouldn’t let him hurt me. I don’t think he could if he tried.”
“Because you’re stronger than any man? Stronger than me?”
“No. Because I wouldn’t let him get near me, of course.”
I raised my eyebrows, and color flushed across her pale skin.
“This time. I didn’t let him near me this time.” She hesitated, then said, “I don’t think he’s human.”
“Great. That’s what we need. Another supernatural tied up in all this. What do you think he is? God?”
She shook her head, and her arms loosened. “He passes as human but isn’t a god. We’d both know if he were a god.”
“Like we knew Mad Mat was a god?”
“Fair,” she said. “We really failed spotting that, didn’t we? Mad Mat.”
Thewegot me. I smiled. A little crooked, a little wry, but a smile. “We were young and innocent.”
