Thorn ground his teeth and did his best not to think about something he dared not change. The consequences could be too dire.
For all of them.
Valynda eyed him with way too much sagacity for his comfort. “You like to frighten people. It keeps them away from you. You have that in common with Savitar. But even nightmares have things that scare them.”
“I have no nightmares, child.”
Hewasthe nightmare.
She cocked her head as if listening to something only she could hear. After a moment, she spoke in a whisper. “Here’s to the future.… May it never bring to me what I deserve.”
Thorn almost dropped his glass. “What was that?”
“It’s your toast, is it not? One that you’re fond of making?”
He tried to shrug it off. “Just something I say. It has no meaning.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe you, and I know you don’t yourself. You’re as afraid of the past catching up to you as the rest of them. That is the true demon that relentlessly flogs your soul.”
Thorn didn’t speak as she wandered off. There was nothing to say about the truth.
Suddenly, he wasn’t as fond of her as he’d been before. Indeed, he had a sudden urge to feed her to one of Savitar’s Charonte. Too bad they didn’t like rag dolls.…
“You’re looking grim.”
Thorn groaned at Acheron’s bad joke. “Ever wonder why they shoot the messenger?”
He screwed his face up in pain. “So not punny.”
Thorn begged to disagree. He thought it was quite a clever play on the fact that Acheron was the harbinger of death for his mother. Or at least that was the role he was supposed to have been born for.
But like Thorn, Acheron had chosen another path for himself than that which his parents had wanted. And for which they’d bred him.
“Nice coat, by the way. I particularly like the bloodstain on the lapel.”
Acheron glanced down and cursed. “Thought I got all that out.”
“Should I ask?”
He shrugged. “I liked the cut of it. Didn’t like the cut of the man who wore it. Nasty bastard. Pirate hunter. Human trafficker. Decided the world was better off without his participation in it.”
Thorn arched a brow at that uncharacteristic confession. “Thought you’d taken a vow to stay out of human affairs and to let nature run its course.”
“Had a moment of weakness. Needed the target practice.”
Thorn snorted. “Look at you… I’ll make a human of you, yet.”
“Don’t insult me.”
“And yet you head up the Dark-Hunters?”
“Only because I’m an idiot with nothing better to do. As you said, too much time on my hands.”
But Thorn knew better. While Acheron wasn’t altruistic, he wasn’t callous, either. They were both driven by guilt and demons that warred within them. Both running from a past they wanted to forget.
And a family that wouldn’t let them live in peace.
Thorn let out a long, weary sigh. “It’s hard to walk in the light when the darkness is forever calling you.”
