Xuri had never felt worse, which, given his past, said a lot.
“She thinks you’ve lied to her.”
He turned sharply at the unexpected voice in the doorway. It took him a second to remember the name of the Dark-Huntress Janice Smith. Her lyrical accent was smooth, like her dark skin and beauty. She had the kind of lush curves and sweet scent that had once driven him to madness and lured him into all kinds of trouble.
Before Vala.
Now …
He only craved one lady and she was currently furious with him. “What do you know of it?”
Dressed in dark breeches like a man, along with a long overcoat, she came into the room, careful to avoid the sunlight that was deadly to her kind, and sat down on a bunk to his left. She glanced to the porthole someone had left open. “Would you oblige?”
He used his telekinesis to close it and seal the room in total darkness so that the rays would threaten her no more. Though to be honest, he’d always thought that particular restriction from Artemis for her warriors was a bit shortsighted. While Nibo understood why Apollo had banned the Apollite race the god had created from sunlight after they’d attacked Apollo’s mistress and slaughtered her and his son, and then cursed them to prey on each other for blood sustenance, he’d never quite understood why the goddess Artemis had done the same for the hunters she’d created to police them. After all, he’d have gone insane too, over such a betrayal by his people. But Artemis’s insanity made no sense given that the Dark-Hunters were supposed to keep the Apollites from eating humans.
But then Artemis seldom made sense.
“Thank you.” Janice watched him with a strange curiosity.
He inclined his head to Janice. “Why does Vala think I’ve lied to her?”
“You have, haven’t you?”
That was beside the point. “Everyone lies.”
Janice shook her head. “Nay, Nibo. They don’t. Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out. In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with a purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach so that your opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about you.”
He rolled his eyes at her quote that had almost made bile rise up inside him.
Still, she gave him no quarter. “You have a problem with that?”
“Aye. You seriously misjudge the wickedness of a corrupted tongue out to court mischief. Those who seek to sow strife for the sake of misery and entertainment need no more reason than that to do so.”
“And by that tongue they are always undone and found out. For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed. Nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light.”
She was as naïve as Vala had once been. “You’ve no idea of the depths some will go to to keep their secrets buried.”
Janice snorted at him. “I’m a Dark-Hunter, Nibo. Born of vengeance and violence. Made such because I was so betrayed by the one I trusted most in this world that upon the hour of my death, my soul screamed out so loudly for retribution that it summoned forth a goddess I didn’t know existed to offer me a bargain to strike back at the one who had wronged me. Do you really think I know nothing of the lengths people will go to, to keep their bad acts buried? But what they underestimate is the determination of those who have been so greatly betrayed to repay that debt in full and in kind. For Nemesis wields a mighty sword, and she is fueled by a fury so great that it can and will defy the grave itself to ensure justice is done, and that those who have done wrong against them will pay for their sins in this world and in the next. May the gods have mercy upon them, for those of us who are wronged will not.”
Her heartfelt words sent a chill down his spine. Not just because they resonated within her and he knew she meant them. But because he knew of his part in what had happened with Valynda.
That had been an accident.
Did it matter?
He’d known better than to care for anyone. That was his punishment. He knew of the curse. Had he simply dallied with her and moved on, she’d have never been harmed.
They had killed her because he made the mistake of caring. Because he’d been unable to walk away.
Forever damned.
He might as well be one of Apollo’s Apollites who was cursed from birth over something he’d had no part in. For he was caught in a vicious cycle he didn’t know how to break, and like a spoiled toddler he lashed out at everyone around him. Even Masaka and Oussou because they were part of it.
No one was immune. If he felt anything for them, they would pay for it. There was no hope for him and he knew that, too.
“Janice?”
Nibo moved aside as Belle leaned in through the door to have a word with the Dark-Huntress.
