She didn’t need to pay me for my opinion. I’d give it to her for free. “Maiden Death.”
Her black lips pursed. “Excuse me?”
“I’ve decided I’m going to call you Maiden Death.”
“You will not,” she gasped, chest rising and falling in irritation.
“Mmmm . . . I think I will. Yes, Maiden Death is the perfect name for you.” Perfect for an ignorant human who thought she could actually best me.
I’d been hunted for centuries.
Killed more times than years she’d been alive.
Even with my magic a pittance of what it once was, I could still boil the blood in her veins with a flick of my wrist.
I was a true immortal.
Maiden Death didn’t stand a feckin’ chance.
4
“She’s insane.Absolutely stark raving mad.” My words echoed around the castle’s wide entry hall. I threw my bag to the floor. The tin of enchanted kohl skidded across the stones, landing next to Rían’s boot. He took one look at the thing before kicking it back. Mumbling my thanks, I tucked it into my overcoat pocket.
That woman.
Thatfeckin’woman.
It hadn’t helped that I’d been hungover and wrecked or that the rivets from the trunk dug into my ass every time we hit a blasted bump in the road. Still, I could’ve handled all those things if it weren’t forher, looking at me like I would suddenly grow fangs and rip off her head.
Rían went back to arranging a bunch of blue flowers in a crystal vase on the hall table. He had probably made them that hideous shade because they were the color of his fiancée’s eyes. He was forever doing things like that to make Eava pity him.
As if the old witch didn’t pity him enough already.
“I take it today went well,” the bastard said with a smile.
I inhaled through my nose and then exhaled through my mouth.Once. Twice. It didn’t help cast the memories of that infernal woman out of my brain. “As well as can be expected for traveling with an aspiring murderer.”
The wasp hadn’t said one nice thing to me the entirety of the four-hour journey. Never bothered with a word of thanks for dropping everything to “assist” her.
Glancing at my fingers, Rían clicked his tongue. “No ring?” A sprig of baby’s breath appeared in his hand; he forced it between the godawful blue roses.
“Not yet.” Although enchanted objects couldn’t be shifted, it hadn’t stopped me from trying to call my ring to me. No matter what I did, the blasted thing remained concealed beneath Maiden Death’s black shroud.
Rían stopped arranging the flowers. “And where’s your little murderess now?”
“Staying the night in Guaire. We should be in Port Fear by the weekend.”
“You’re bringing her to a portal?” Wincing, Rían scratched the back of his neck. “You know the rules.”
Rían and his feckin’ rules. Always following them to the letter.
“What other choice do I have?” I would blindfold her so she didn’t know where to find it again. Not that she could work the portal herself; the doors only opened with blood magic.
“You could ask me for help. I’d only require a minimal amount of begging.”
“I’d rather die.”
I didn’t need Rían’s help.