“Someone like you, calling them out on what they deep down believe about themselves already?” His head turned to the window. “It cements their worth in this world; how they are looked at and treated. No one cares to find the murderer of a whore. She deserved it, right? She put herself in that position... When those in power are the ones who forced them into this life. They take away everything; the only choice they have is to sell their bodies to feed their children. And getting a so-called respectable job in a factory? You work nine times more, killing yourself every day for less than half the pay. This world is so upside down and fucked.”
He kept his voice even, but I heard the emotion under his words, the anger and frustration.
“You told me you were born in a brothel, and she died when you were ten, right?”
He grunted in agreement.
“What happened after that? Ten is so young to be alone. You were a kid.”
He stayed quiet so long I thought he was going to avoid my question, but he took another drink, a deep exhale rolling from him.
“I was never a kid. I never got the luxury. I took care of other women’s bastard children in the brothel. By six, I was hustling and stealing food, medicine, and money to keep us all afloat. More pressure was put on my shoulders when my half-sister came along. When Mom died, my sister was a baby. A woman took her in to raise, but I wasn’t wanted. Too wild and old.” He exhaled, sipping down more. I didn’t want to make a peep. The booze was loosening his tongue, which was beyond rare.
“Because I was so quick and scrappy, I thrived on the streets, building a gang of other orphaned and unwanted misfits. That’s where I met Ash and Janos—Kitty. We were inseparable, each of our talents building us stronger. By the time we were in our late teens, we were running the streets, controlling our area of the city. By our twenties, we had control over the whole city. But with power comes enemies and people who will do anything to take it from you. The assassination attempts were constant, and with times changing and this country becoming seized by human dictators, we left. Moved around the world, fought in wars, stood by each other through thick and thin. And when we returned, old and new enemies wanted to make sure we didn’t find a place in it or wanted to use us to get their own foot in the door.”
Drinking another third, he handed the bottle back to me.
“Killian was one of those moving up. He secretly hired me to take out a few men he knew were traitors and spies in his own faction. It was really good money, so I did.”
“That’s when the others came after you.”
He nodded.
And during the fae battle, Warwick was murdered by those men. I had seen with my own eyes what they had done to him. And after he came back to life, he tracked each one down and slaughtered them until he was caught and thrown into Halálház... Killian’s prison.
“And Killian puts you in jail for something he hired you to do.” My throat burned from the cheap alcohol while my body heated and warmed.
“Politicians for you.” He smirked disdainfully. “Most wanted my head, so he thought putting me in prison, making me spy for him while giving me perks and more freedoms than others, was a very considerate trade-off.”
Snorting, I scrubbed my temple. It perfectly fit the man I got to know in the palace. Shrewd, calculating, and oddly fair within the parameters of his goal. Killian didn’t kill to kill or do something that didn’t benefit him. He was reasonable, even kind, but if you betrayed him, he went for your Achilles heel, the very thing you would turn the world over for.
Like a sister and nephew.
“You think the journal will tell us anything about the nectar?” Warwick stared off, his obvious switch of topics not lost on me.
“I hope... or maybe something about me. What I am.”
His head turned in my direction. “What you are...is mine...Sotet démonom.” His turquoise eyes flamed with a possessiveness.
No matter how many times he called me his dark demon, it affected my body with urgent desire.
His shadow flicked at my breasts with his tongue, fingers tracing down my stomach to my pussy, melting my brain to slush. I needed him now.
Setting the bottle down, I stood, the sheet falling to the mattress. My attention locked on him, I strolled confidently to where he sat.
“Is that so?”
I could distinguish the heat rising in him, his eyes tracking my naked body, his lust rubbing against my skin. His eyes shifted down me, his desire hardening him instantly, making me smirk.
“And here I thought I wasn’t your type, Farkas. Too skinny and bony.”
A wicked grin tipped the side of his mouth. “Guess that changed.” He grabbed my thighs, pulling me between his legs.
“Or you lied.”
“That too.” A roguish grin glinted his eyes. “I seem to have no off switch now.”
Absently, his fingers trailed over my hips and ass, his brows gathering in thought. “This time, it felt very real.” He wagged his head,tipping it back into the chair. “I was back on the field, could smell the magic, feel dirt and blood. I was fucking you on the field and in here too.Baszni... I felt myselfcomingback to life at the same moment I was actuallycominginside you.”
