Page 63 of Blood Oath
Is that what this is about? I suppose I should have anticipated Sierra’s friends getting pissed off. I’m sure Harlow is just another legacy who would like to see me dead. She’s probably approaching me like this to get a better read on me, trying to study me up close to decide a good way of killing me off later.
Good luck with that.
“Yes, I did. Do you have a problem with that?” I ask.
She surprises me by grinning. “Fuck, no. I respect the hell out of that. Any asscaster who can take on a high-ranked fire elemental and live to tell the tale is good in my book.”
Is she…complimenting me?
“I mean, you’re still just an asscaster and not worthy of your matches, but whatever,” she adds.
There we go.
“Great talk,” I mutter dryly, turning to go to Kenzie’s table, where Silas and Baelfire are staring at us with frowns. Crypt has vanished, but I still sense him nearby, and I realize he’s probably been listening in to this little chat with Harlow.
“Hold up, Oakley,” Harlow says, stepping around me and extending a…blank piece of crumpled paper. She winks. “I’m sure you’ll figure out what to do with this.”
Gee, I wonder. Maybe throw it in the trash?
Before I can say that, she drops the crumpled paper into my hand and leaves the eating hall. Barely a second after she’s gone, Crypt appears directly beside me, tipping his head.
“You mangled a fire elemental? I didn’t get to see that,” he pouts his lower lip.
“Odd, since stalking me seems to take up so much of your time.”
“Not nearly enough of it, darling. By the way, what do you want in exchange for taking down those dreamcatchers? I haven’t even tasted your dreams, and I already crave them.”
I scowl at him. “You really do just pop in and out of existence like a case of bad acne, don’t you?”
He laughs and drops back into Limbo as if to underline my point.
I’m starting to think he is a bit unhinged after all.
When I reach the table, Silas immediately demands, “Did that girl just threaten you?”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure? What’s on the paper?”
I hold his eye contact and tuck it into my pocket as I sit between Kenzie and Baelfire. “Not a damn thing.”
That clearly annoys him, but his neck twitches, and he grimaces, shooting mistrustful looks around the room as if he expects shadow fiends to leap out any moment. Then he just stands and stalks out of the room, clutching his bleeding crystal. Kenzie is distracted chatting with Vivienne and Dirk, but I arch a brow at Baelfire.
“Is he finally going to leave me alone?”
He rubs his neck. “Nah. Silas is just paranoid. There’s no way in hell he’d ever admit it to anyone, but it’s getting worse, especially lately. He’s probably leaving so he doesn’t accidentally kill someone and tip everyone off about how unbalanced he really is. Doesn’t want to appear weak.”
That must have something to do with his curse. I frown at the arched double doors Silas left through, realizing that in the short period I’ve known him, he does seem hyper on edge sometimes, fingers twitching and looking ready to kill at the drop of a hat. Suddenly I can’t think about anything but the haunting pain in his red irises when he’d looked at me outside the greenhouse.
Most of them killed each other. Including my parents.
He was vulnerable in that moment, trying to connect with me by opening up about our pasts.
But he can’t know about mine.
Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I make a mental note. Paranoia for Silas. I have no idea yet what my other matches’ curses are, but as much as it eats at my gut to even think about…maybe making Silas suspicious of me and preying on his paranoia will be the final nail in the coffin where he’s concerned.
And if I can get him to drop me as their keeper, I bet the others will eventually follow.
