“That’s stealing.”
“It’s survival.”
“How did you know to tempt me to your trap with beauty products?”
“I put out traps with survival necessities like flint and water purifiers and edible herbs too, but you walked right past those until you found the fucking sunscreen.”
I pursed my lips. “I must have not seen them.”
He held up two different bottles of shampoo. “Which one do you want?”
“The Diante,” I said. “The other has SLS, that causes cancer.”
He threw the other outside the window. “Why’d you choose the sunscreen when you came into the Battle? I could have gotten some for you.”
“The same reason you chose a book.” He showed me a frown and waited for me to continue. “What’s the point of choosing a weapon?” I smiled at him. “There are thousands left over from previous battles. It’s better to choose something else that wouldn’t be in the arena.”
He nodded to that.
“I’m guessing Pride and Prejudice wasn’t in the city?”
“I looked for it.”
“You’re a Jane Austen fan?”
“You are.”
“What?”
“It was on your bookshelf.”
I paused, skipping over the memory of him in my bedroom years and years before. “You’re reading it because… it was on my bookshelf?”
He decided the bath suddenly needed his attention.
“That wasn’t Jane Austen on my bookshelf,” I said. “They weren’t the actual books, just the book dust covers to conceal over different books. I did that so people thought I was reading Jane Austen instead of seeing the actual books I read. I have to go out into public a lot so I can’t have people thinking Delphine De Astor prefers reading monster smut.”
He ripped his head back to me, mouth parting. “What?”
I yawned. “I read monster smut.”
“You don’t read Jane Austen?”
“I’ve never read Jane Austen.”
“Fuck.”
He spent a moment hitching with irritation and seemingly contemplating life. Afterwards, he grabbed his Pride and Prejudice book and threw that out of the window too just as he had done with the cancer shampoo.
“Oh, but I do actually want to read it,” I said. “It’s on my ‘to be read,’ list.”
He looked outside of the window, cussing.
Because I was not permitted to walk around or stand up, I waited for him to come over to the bed and pick me up and carry me into the bathroom.
While he scooped me up in his arms I flipped his hood down, uncovering his tousled black hair.
He jerked as I did, showing me a grimace that promised violence.
