His gaze moved down my body slowly, a feeling like spiders crawling over my flesh. “Joss mentioned that Xarion wastalking.”
I leaned against the door frame, the picture of disinterest. “Xarion is always talking. So is Joss.” My tone conveyed a rock-solid confidence I did not feel. “So are you, it seems. I can’t imagine that is a trait Granny is fond of in you.”
He studied me for a moment, no doubt hearing my subtle threat. Unlike the others, Granny gave me an audience. She listened to me. I’d made myself invaluable for just such a reason. If he tried to shove me around, I’d tattle without reservation. Even if what he’d said wasn’t true, and I suspected it wasn’t, he wouldn’t get let off the hook for saying anything at all.
He huffed, a little smile playing across his lips. He knew the score.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” he finally asked, his eyes sparkling with violence.
“Nope. I have too many memories of the times you forced your way in. It’s nice to have a choice this time.” Assuming I did have a choice, anyway. That was still up for debate.
“You deserved those other times.”
“Maybe, but that doesn’t make this situation any more palatable. What do you want? If it’s to tell me not to say anything, you don’t have to worry about that.”
“I know that I don’t. I know you’ll keep your mouth shut like a good little pet.”
“Fantastic. So why did you come?”
“I paid your buddy Xarion a visit. Joss and the others, too. They’ll know better than to talk about my business again. You’re the only loose end, and we’ve already established that you know to keep your mouth shut about anything I might’ve said.”
Hatred burned in my gut. “You’ve had a busy day,” I said. “Imagine if you didn’t speak when you should remain quiet, you’d have more time to relax.”
“What would be the fun in that?”
“What fun, indeed.”
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and then back to center. “You don’t need to hear about the Outside from those idiots, you know. You can get what you need directly from the source.”
The sexual innuendo dripped from his tongue. He’d made it very clear over the years that he wanted me in his bed. Thankfully, he would never force the issue, not with Granny watching over me. None of my punishments—no one’s punishments—had ever been sexual in nature. That fact had been greatly relieving to many.
Even still, everything in me recoiled at his words. Somehow, I kept my tone light and disinterested. “Is that right?”
“I know that she shelters you, keeps you in the dark. I could shed a little light on things, tell you about the world.” He paused for a moment, his gaze at my chest. “I tend to be very chatty after I come.”
“Yikes, a little too much oversharing there.” I straightened up. “Lovely offer, but I think I’ll pass. I’m not overly fond of the outside world. If that’s all?”
I grabbed the edge of the door, ready to close it.
He put his hand on the wood to stop me. “I got business with you.”
My legs started to shake. Maybe she’d let him off the leash, after all. It took everything in me not to wet my lips in worry. Memories clambered for attention. Him pushing past me and into my little cottage. His fists connecting. His smile down at me as blood trickled into my eye.
“And that is?” I asked.
“I’m your babysitter for tonight. Granny said you had to go looking for flowers in the wood. She doesn’t want you to stray too far and think about running.”
And just like that, my tight hold on my unenthusiastic responses cracked. I wanted to reach out, grab his neck, and shake him.
“Seriously! I got off course one time and everyone assumes I was trying to make a break for it. One time in fifteen years. Do you know why it is so fucking annoying?”
His brow furrowed. “I don’t care.”
“Oh no?” I stepped forward in a rush of anger and jabbed him in the chest. He flinched, stepping off the porch. “I’ll tell you anyway, how’s that? Quite frankly, I’m incredibly insulted that you all would assume, thatGrannywould assume, I was trying to escape, like this was some sort of cage. I get the reason for needing an escort to the Outside. I understand what wouldhappen to me if the wrong people figured out who I was. I’m fine with all that. I’ve agreed to it. But to assume I would run...?”
Tears threatened to well in my eyes. It almost felt like a betrayal that Granny still kept on about my leaving the path, as though I couldn’t be trusted. As though I’d just up and leave my family in the middle of the night. Because she was all I had now. She’d saved me, given me a home, and she was as close to a real granny as I’d ever had. It hurt that she would assume it meant so little to me that I’d walk away without a backward glance.
“I thought she’d had better faith in me than that,” I finished, my lower lip trembling. “I’d thought we had better trust in each other.” I hesitated at his intense look. “Granny and me, obviously. Not you. You’d probably brain me right now if you could, and smile while you did it.”
