Too used to honesty, she had little experience with deceit. That expertise belonged to Belial and his ilk.
Suddenly an idea came to her. Aye, she’d use Valteri’s own logic against him. “What of my brother then, milord? If I’m a witch, what would that make him?”
The confidence in his gaze faltered, then his eyes sparked fire. “Heisa demon, isn’t he?”
Oh,thathe would believe.
Damn her luck! And damn him for being able to see the truth of Belial while he was drunk.
“And what of Thorn and Shadow?”
“Demons, too, I’d wager.”
“So now you believe in them?”
“Why not? What the hell? Demons. Angels. Let’s believe in the whole giddy crew, shall we?”
“You need to go to bed, Valteri.”
He scoffed as he released her. “What I need, sleep won’t repair.” A tic started in his jaw. “Tell me the truth, Ariel. What are they? Men, demons. Or just another asshole sent to torment me?”
Ariel chewed her lip, trying to decide what to say. What should she tell him?
Tell him the truth.She flinched at the voice that sounded so much like Raziel’s, she wasn’t sure he wasn’t in the room with them.
Dare she trust that voice?
At this point, she wasn’t sure which side was even lying or using her anymore.
“If I were to say yea? What then would be your reaction?”
The fire faded from his eyes. Pushing his chair back from the table, he slowly stood. “I want the truth.”
“Would you accept it?”
A knot tightened her throat as she watched him pace the area between their table and bed.
“I’m not human, am I?”
That question caught her completely off guard. “Pardon?”
He paused beside the fire to pin her with a look so tormented and raw that it left her breathless from the pain. “The scars on my body aren’t from battle. I’ve never once been harmed from another’s sword. Whenever I fight… something unholy possesses me. Don’t think that I’m unaware of it.”
A peculiar, faraway look entered his eyes. “I never wanted to believe the bastard monks who told me that I was hellborn or hellbound, but with every battle I’ve had to wonder how it is that I’m never scathed. Others fall all around me, and while I seek to die, I’m never harmed.”
Agony filled his gaze. “It never made sense to me. How the monkscould scar me so easily with their whips. But no mortal weapon made of steel could ever pierce my flesh.”
Her heart wrenched at the bitter agony in his whispered tone. “Valteri, it’s not what you think.”
“Isn’t it? How else do you explain all this?”
“You’re not a demon.”
“Then what am I?”
She went to him and took his hand into hers. “You’re not a demon. You’re not the same as Belial.”
He scowled at her.
