One corner of his mouth twitched as if he wanted to smile, but wouldn’t allow himself to do so. “Do you fear anything?”
“You, my lord demon. You are terrifying.”
“So you keep saying. Yet you don’t act afraid.”
“I beg to disagree.”
He shook his head. “In my opinion, people in terror run away, screaming. They don’t embrace their fear.”
“I can’t speak about how others behave. My father taught me that if you run, things will chase you. Therefore, you should stand strong and confront danger. Better to die trembling on your feet than screaming on your belly.”
Malphas paused at the wisdom in those words. He’d never known a human like her. She might not be a warrior, but she held more courage than anyone he’d ever fought.
Indeed, it was easy to confront enemies when armed and trained. Another matter entirely to walk unarmed toward something you knew could gut you where you stood. She was truly fearless.
“Your father sounds interesting.”
“He certainly thinks so.” Eyes wide, she slapped her hand over her mouth as soon as she said that.
“Are you all right?”
“I didn’t mean to say that. My father’s a good man. Wise and kind. It was wrong of me to disparage him so.”
Malphas laughed, amazed at the sound. Honestly, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d done such. Too many years to even begin to count.
His laughter seemed to confuse her.
“Trust me, lady, that wasn’t disparagement. Where I come from, we’d consider it a compliment.”
“Then I’m sorry.”
“For what?” he asked.
“It must be horrible to live in a place where insults are compliments.”
Strange, he’d never thought about that before. It just was. He’d always accepted it as normal. “It’s not horrible when you don’t know better.”
To his utter shock, she placed a gentle hand over his claw. “I wish, for your sake, that you’d known better.” With a tender squeeze, she let go and stepped away from him.
Malphas wanted to be angry. Normally such a comment would have infuriated him to an impossible level. But he didn’t want to induce terror in her, and that was the strangest part of all. He’d always reveled in his power to reduce those around him to tears or urination.
To watch them tremble in fear of his wrath.
There was no desire to do that to Lilliana. Instead, he wanted to hear her laughter. To see the light in her eyes glisten with mirth.
What is wrong with me?
Obviously, one too many hits to his head.He was battle-drunk. There was no other explanation.
Yeah, he’d accept that. It was a lot more palatable than thinking she weakened him. Thinking there was something wrong with his black heart.
He watched as she headed for the entrance. “Are you leaving?”
Hesitating, she gathered her basket. “I must. If I’m gone too long, my father will come looking for me and since he knows I used to play here, he might inspect our cave. But I can return tomorrow with more food and medicine.”
“That would be nice. Thank you.” He said the words, but didn’t mean them. Truth was, he didn’t want her to leave.
Ever.
