“No, not in the slightest bit,” I replied, squaring my shoulders with bravado I didn’t feel. “I’d rather form a relationship with my hand and five fingers than with someone like you. I may have been naïve, but you ruined that when you captured me and left me in your godforsaken maze for an entire year. You’re nothing but a delusional prick who enjoys scaring women for your perverse enjoyment. At least I had good intentions with you. I am trying to help your and my people.”
“You don’t like playing with us? I know I enjoy chasing you and seeing the defeat glittering in your eyes when you’re captured. I guess it really doesn’t matter if you like it or not. We do. Here’s the thing, princess. No one here wants your fucking help. I don’t think you’re grasping the dire situation you’ve landed in. I think you need to be reminded, and shown exactly what we have planned for you.”
“I think I’ll take my chances running through the maze, asshole. If you’re done talking crap and seeking to terrorize me, we can start. You’re exhausting me with your claims and taunts. I told you that I’m not old enough to petrify with your reports. My father once hunted my mother down, and do you know what she said to him?” I countered angrily, bored of his shitty threats that were aimed to scare me, which were working. His eyes shimmered, and he shook his head, calmly closing the gap that remained between us.
The rich baritone of his voice swept over my bare flesh as he answered, “No, but I’m positive you’re about to reveal what she replied to the bastard that spawned you momentarily.”
“She told him good hunting. So, whatever the fuck your name is, good hunting. But a friendly warning? You’re hunting a fucking demi-goddess, and baby, I may hunt you down and show you who the hell owns the Wild Hunt.” I planted my hands on my hips, baring my teeth.
“I’m shaking in my fucking boots,” he snorted. “You’re delicate, and we break delicate things for fun.”
“I may look delicate and gentle, but I assure you I am not. They forged me from the same world that designed you, and do you want to know what the real kicker is? I’m the one who holds your fate and the fate of all who follow you, but you don’t even know it. My tiny palm has you and your people balanced within it, and you’re going to regret pissing me off. Faery gave me a vision of your extinction. I’ve watched how you and yours fall.” Examining his face, I grinned viciously.
“I’m not here because you captured me. I’m here because I chose to be here. I let you take me so that I could spare you from dying for nothing other than your ego and to protect those I love from fighting another savage war. If you think I made that choice without also placing safeguards to ensure I made it out of this with you alive, then you’re not as cunning as you think you are.”
“Go ahead, little girl, underestimate me. I’ll enjoy watching you figure out which one of us is more cunning and calculated. One of us is controlled by destiny, and the other is being driven and led by fate. Which one are you? Do you even know who helped me capture you? The answer might surprise you, princess.”
“Does it matter when I already know your fate and that both of our destinies are interwoven together? Who sent us into a collision course matters little when the impact has already occurred. But you should know this, if I leave, your chance of ever returning to your home leaves with me. Fate is fickle and always changing, but the bigger things, the things that are altered the most? They take two souls and solidify them into one to satisfy what fate demands play out. I used the time I spent inside the City of Gods to prepare for every eventuality of when you reached me. Tell me, asshole, did you plan for me as I did for you?”
His confident grin faltered, and his eyes thinned to mere slits.
“I didn’t think so. You’re fucking with a savage woman, and I’m a little more savage than you assume. So do your worst and seek me out in the darkness in which I was born to dominate.”
A whistle escaped my lips, and I turned on my heel, skipping toward the entrance of the maze. The response to what I’d claimed had shaken him and created doubt, and the arrogance he’d been carrying had eddied in his eyes.
What I’d just admitted hadn’t been easy, because truly, I was frightened of him. I’d lived in fear of being caught by my parents’ enemies. I was done living in gilded cages, locked away from those who would seek me out to use against my parents. The constant fear of never knowing if I was in danger, or if the enemies had located me, wasn’t how I intended to live my life anymore. I’d done that, and paid for it with what Destiny had allowed to happen to me, and I’d be damned if I went back to living in that constant mindset of fretful fear, and anxiousness of the unknown happening.
The fact was, I wasn’t as virtuous or tender as any of them thought I was. I’d devised and plotted in secret, and I had no plan to cower to any man, not even one who was archaic and more monster than man. Obviously, he hadn’t heard the true extent of the power wielded by my parents or that I was the one who’d taken in the beast and had been crowned the rightful successor to the horde. This prick was dancing with the wrong girl, and I was about to teach him the distinction between a damsel and the daughter of the horde.
Chapter Eight
The maze was a network of shady pathways, each one gloomier than the one before it. I could feel my pulse throbbing in my head. I forced myself to ignore it to take in the surrounding terrain. The heavy scents of earth, moss, and decaying foliage hung in the air, and I was keenly aware that every step I took was being watched by creatures I couldn’t see.
I looked at the symbol marking the tunnel I’d entered, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth briefly before freeing it. The symbols were duller tonight, but they were still bright enough for me to follow them through the maze and back to my cell. I have no idea if someone put them there to help me or if it was the maze itself offering aid, but I chose not to think too hard on it.
So long as they were here to help keep me from becoming someone or something’s dinner or plaything, I was thankful.
I didn’t have any experience with intimacy, but technically, I was only a child even if I looked all grown up and ready to face the world. I’d spent time inside the mansion learning to harness, and develop my powers with Spyder’s assistance. I’d be damned if I let this prick make me look weak, or childish after the way I’d taunted him.
The sound of metal scraping against something exploded behind me, and I turned, scanning the darkness as I crept backward. Power crawled over my uncovered shoulders, and I hissed at the familiarity, realizing the bastard was near.
I pivoted again, combing through the shadowy terrain for any hint of his presence nearby. There was only darkness, stretching and spreading through the infinite maze. The skin on my arms pebbled, and my palms smoothed over them, warding off the frosty air churning in a gentle current of wind. Swallowing back the tinge of fear, I continued forward.
I’d learned to count my steps, knowing exactly how many were in each winding inch of the labyrinth. Rounding a corner, I tilted my head, listening to determine if anything else was within the space I needed to pass through. Silence echoed around me, but it was something I’d grown accustomed to, even though I loathed it immensely.