That was what she thought. In his experience, it wasn’t always so. The truth had once gotten him killed.
So, he sought to divert the sorceress from this discussion to a new one that was much more palatable. And a lot less dangerous. “I owe you for helping to bring Valynda back into this world. But never mistake that gratitude for leniency.”
Belle frowned at him. “Meaning?”
“I don’t like to be questioned, Mistress Morte. Not by anyone, and especially not by Deadmen walking.” He stepped around her and headed after Valynda.
Then wished he hadn’t. The minute he entered the bunk room and she saw him, she cursed him and his parentage.
“Love you, too,” he said simply.
She cast him an annoyed grimace as she straightened the blanket on her rough wooden bunk. “Is there a purpose to your harassment?”
He hadn’t meant to harass her. “I was hoping for a bit of a warmer reception.”
“And I was hoping not to die. Really hoping not to live as a scarecrow. So, I guess we’re all disappointed, eh?”
Nibo bit his tongue as he realized the mood she was in and the fact that he’d walked right into the midst of a hurricane. Naked and unprepared for it. There was no way to reason with her when she was like this. He knew that from his years of dealing with her and still, like a fool, he found himself trying anyway, because he was an idiot and he didn’t like to see her upset. “I came for you as soon as I could.”
“Youdidn’t come for me at all, now, did you?”
Technically, she was right. But … “I came as close as I could.”
She paused in her frenetic cleaning to right herself and glare at him. “Really?”
He’d never realized before how much that one word could be weaponized. “Vala—”
“Don’t you even try to charm me right now, Xuri. I’ve no mood for it.”
He ground his teeth in frustration. This was not how he’d seen their reunion going in his mind.
At all. Rather, he’d envisioned a lot more kissing and sweet-talking.
In the past, there would have been a lot more nudity.
“What do you want from me?”
Pain flickered behind her reddish eyes, and that singed his soul. Never had he wanted her harmed in any way. She’d been so innocent when they met. So full of fire and joy. In all his life, she had been the one pure thing he’d wanted. The only real thing to make him happy.
And happy was all he’d ever wanted to make her.
So, whenever she looked at him like he was her nightmare, it cut him to the marrow.
“Nothing, Xuri. I want nothing from you.”
Her lips might be saying that, but the rest of her …
She was angry and he’d done something that had seriously pissed her off. He knew that tone, and she definitely wanted him to do something to appease her mood. Some sacrifice to the angry goddess before him. Too bad she wasn’t telling him what it was that she wanted him to do to make it up to her.
Damn it.
I am in so much trouble.Too bad he didn’t know why. Or how to undo it.
Wanting to please her, he held his hand out and manifested a single red rose. “I’m here for you, Vala. If you need me.”
For once, she didn’t take it. “But you’re not … and you weren’t.” She shifted her gaze from the rose to him. “Were you?”
With that last hurtful question she brushed past him to leave.
