Saint grunted.
“So, Maxen, I ask again, whatamI to you? Because I assure you, I don’t find the answer to that irrelevant at all.”
Maxen opened his mouth, closed it. Her words blazed with damn danger. Because the truth wasn’t safe. Not for her. Not for him. And not in this world where blood covered his hands and death was just a question of time.
So he didn’t answer.
Couldn’t.
She’d just asked the one question he’d been shoving into the dark where it couldn’t touch him for a long, long time.
Chapter Eleven
What did youexpect him to answer, Calliope?
Anything. But instead, he stood across from her like a storm just barely contained, jaw locked, shoulders tight, staring at her, eyes dark and fathomless, as though she’d asked him to lay bare every scar he’d ever hidden. His silence struck like a rebuke.
She hadn’t even meant to press.
At first, the question had just slipped out. Foolish. Brazen. Dangerous. A question that, once spoken, begged to be answered. Even the fact that she might have been used for something nefarious fell short beside the answer.
She wished she could look away. Pretend the answer didn’t matter.
But she knew better.
The answer mattered a great deal.
Stars, even if he told her she was histenant, that would be something. That was all she needed. Anything but that she was trouble. A hindrance. A nuisance. And perhaps she was foolish to give sentiment to the question, but she couldn’t help herself. Foolish, she knew. Irrational, she understood. Yet, done, nonetheless. His lack of response, however, was telling enough.
Urgh. She wished the topic had never surfaced. She hated how the silence wedged itself in her head. His lack of answer struck her with ashocking truth.
Maxen wasn’t just a landlord.
He wasn’t just a beast who ruled this town.
He wasn’t just danger itself.
He was where she felt most secure. The one place her fears seemed to hush. He ruled shadows, yes, but with him, she wasn’t afraid of the dark.
And she . . .
She ruled nothing. Only a tiny shop. She fled. She hid. She could never measure up to this man. Never stand equal to him. Even now, with her carefully planned, peaceful life in shambles, she was being hidden away here in the “ship.” She would laugh at the irony if she didn’t want to scream at the injustice.
Calliope changed the subject before she was tempted to swing another boot at him. “And what if I don’t wish to stay here?”
Maxen said nothing. Didn’t move. Didn’t so much as blink at her.
The whole room seemed to take on a new hush.
Right, then. She simply didn’t have a choice. How long had her freedom lasted? Three months? Just a bit more?
“My hound . . .”
“I’ll have Reaper retrieve him and your belongings.”
Reaper groaned. “Why me? You know how I feel about dogs. They scare me.”
“Because you have the biggest mouth,” Maxen snapped.
