Darker Days (The Darker Agency #1)(23)
“She chose him over you?”
“She did. But it wasn’t that simple. As I said, our union would have put our families in a favorable place. The marriage was arranged as a merger of wealth and status. Our parents had gone to great lengths to secure the union. I knew if her father found out what she’d done, he’d disown her. That wasn’t something Meredith could have handled. She liked her life of privilege. Her elegant parties and fancy dresses. Being waited on hand and foot. She’d never lifted a finger in her life.”
“So you threatened her.”
He nodded, tearing his gaze from the darkening sky, and started to walk. “I thought it would make her see reason, but she didn’t take it very well. Maybe her emotions were heightened by him, I don’t know.”
“Him? Wait—you mean she was shacking up with the original Wrath? That’s the guy you found her with?”
His expression twisted in pure disgust. “Yes. The farmer’s son was the one infected by Wrath. She’d seen him a thousand times, but he was beneath her notice. Lowly.” A bitter laugh escaped his lips and his fists curled tight. “I can only guess that when they crossed paths, after he’d been infected by Wrath, she saw something in him. Something different—and powerful. Meredith’s reasons for doing anything were always her own, but she craved power above all else. Maybe she thought she could get something from him. Or possibly, she saw him as an amusing distraction. Whatever the reason, it sickens me to think about it. At least, even now, I am still human at my core. He though, he was never human. He was a thing. A soulless demon.”
Even though I was sure he didn’t realize it, his words stung like salt crammed into an open wound. Voice remarkably steady, I said, “Not all demons are disgusting. They’re not things. My father’s a demon. I’m—I’m half demon, and I’m not a thing.”
He flinched like I’d slapped him. As I’d suspected, he’d been clueless, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. “I didn’t mean—”
“Whatever,” I said, trying to sound casual. I wouldn’t let him see his less than stellar opinion of demons bothered me. “So then what happened?”
He hesitated, almost as if to make sure I really wanted him to continue. “I don’t know the whole story. She’s long dead, and I will never know the truth behind her motivations. All that is certain is that she devised a way to set Wrath free—to essentially make him human—all she needed was someplace to store his essence.”
“So she damned you to an eternity inside the box? No offense, but your taste in girls sucks.”
“I didn’t choose her. She was chosen for me.”
He didn’t sound happy about it. Understandable. I mean, who would be, right? Getting told who you had to look at for the rest of your life? Who you had to kiss? Barbaric if you asked me—especially when your betrothed was a big fat ho.
“So who would you have chosen? What’s your type?” I started wondering again what it’d be like to kiss him. Actually kiss him. For real. Considering his aversion to demons, I’d probably never find out.
“Type?”
I rolled my eyes. I had to keep reminding myself we had a bit of a language barrier sometimes. “What kind of girl were you interested in?”
He thought about it for a few moments. “I don’t know that I had a type. I could have had anyone I wanted, really.” Expression darkening, he finished with, “If I’d been allowed to choose.”
“Wow. Cocky much?”
He frowned. “It was just fact. I inherited my father’s looks and stood to one day inherit his fortune. It made me desirable. And really, the girls were all the same back then. Demure and obedient.”
I stopped and plucked a leaf off a low hanging branch. Twirling it between my fingers, I said, “So you’re saying they were all snoozeville?”
He cocked an eyebrow and my pulse spiked. Oh, yeah. Meredith was an idiot. Whoever coined the phrase ugly as sin had never set eyes on Lukas Scott.
“Boring,” I supplied, after a deep, brain-clearing breath. “Dull.”
“Ah. I suppose dull is an adequate description. Things are very different now. Free. Women seem to stand equally against men.”
“Careful—normally this is a chick-only household. Estrogen is combustible under the right circumstances. And yeah, men and women are equal.”
“But to allow women to have such freedoms—is it safe? I must admit, the thought of Klaire—or you—doing the things Joseph Darker told me of…”
Good thing it was dark. He probably didn’t see me getting ready to deck him. How was that possible? To go from kissy thoughts to kick-your-ass thoughts in a matter of seconds? I’d never met anyone who could make my head spin on a dime like this before. I loved it and hated it at the same time. “What? Makes you sick? Gives you the creeps?”
“Worries me.”
“Huh?”
“Do the men in this century not look after their women? To allow them to participate in such dangerous things—”
“Whoa. First off, something you’re gonna need to know if you have any hope of not getting creamed in public—women can take care of themselves. We can ass kick with the best of them.” I winked. “In some cases, even better.”