She shook her head. “You don’t understand.” And she couldn’t explain to him and have him possibly hating her. That was something she couldn’t ever handle.
Honor meant everything to Alexandru. Everything. If he did not have honor, he would have put his own desires above everything, would have gone after Katarina and convinced her to marry him. But he had not. Because he was honorable.
Nothing, however, was honorable about murder.
“I need to leave,” she whispered.
“You’re mine.”
“And I will be yours for as long as you want me to, but I need to leave. Will you let me go to Chalys?”
Chapter Seven
ZARI
“You are…odd.” Rhapsody shook her head at me when I finished telling her everything. Something about my friend made me feel at ease in letting her know the truth, something about her too-old eyes that told me she would be the last person in the world to judge.
However, she could still be pretty dense and tactless most times.
“I’m odd?” I repeated crossly. “I’m heartbroken, not odd.” We were in her hotel room, and it was again protected by the same spell to keep our conversation private. She had performed the ritual herself, which both stunned and impressed me. She must have had seriously kick-ass professors when she had been homeschooled. But then, her Master turned out to be the Marquis of Sangre. It figured.
Remembering that little fact had me shaking my head back at her. “I can’t believe you’re that man’s pet.” I considered her thoughtfully. “Or maybe I can. Based on what I’ve heard, you guys are cut from the same block.”
There was a flush in her cheeks, adding rare color to her normally pale face, when Rhapsody answered sharply, “We have nothing in common.”
Whoa. Rhapsody was showing emotion beyond mild interest? I opened and closed my mouth, wondering if she knew how much she was giving away.
She glared at me.
Oh Lord, she was even furious now!
“Umm, okay, if you say so.” My head bobbed several times. “Nothing in common, right.”
Rhapsody inhaled, and afterwards she looked much like her expressionless self. “Let’s not talk about my Master,” she said. “You have worse problems than I do. I’m not the one who is likely to attempt murder on my Master’s ex-lover—-”
I winced.
“And whose Master hadn’t stopped me from leaving for Chalys—-”
I grimaced.
“Instead of sending the other woman away—-”
“Rhapsody. I get it.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Every word she had said was true.
My friend blinked, as if only realizing now how her words had hurt. “Oh.” She reached for my hand and gave it an awkward pat. “I am terribly sorry, Lady Zari.”
I shrugged. “You win some, you lose some,” I said lightly. Checking my watch, I realized it was already time. “I need to go.”
Rhapsody only nodded. She knew about my plan. “But if things do not go your way, I urge you to tell your Master about your vision.” She hesitated. “I have heard about the kind of demon after you, Lady Zari. It is not…pleasant. It is more revolting than most because it makes its victim do all the dirty work. The longer you withhold the truth, the harder you’ll find it to resist the demon’s urges.”
KATARINA APPEARED SURPRISED to see me when she opened the door of her room. She was dressed to hit the outdoors in a tank top and exercise leggings. The short tight top emphasized her breasts to perfection and bared her well-defined abs. Just looking at her made me want to kill myself, and I wasn’t even listening to the demonic whispers that filled my head the moment I saw how, well, fit she was.
“Oh, Lady Zari.” She looked over my head searchingly.
I cleared my throat. “It’s just me, Lady Katarina.”
“I see.” A ready smile immediately appeared on her lips, and I had to give it to her. She was really good at faking. “Is there anything I can do for you? I’m actually just about to leave for training.”
Training? She still had to train? I managed to return her smile. “Umm, great, I’ll watch you train!”
Katarina didn’t demur after that, but she did send me an odd look that wasn’t so different from how Rhapsody had glanced at me earlier. Maybe they were right. Maybe I was odd, and I’d probably appear even odder once my Master’s ex-lover found out why I was accompanying her.
We headed to the same woods, and I asked Katarina why it appeared so dead.
“Trees are extremely sensitive to the air, and that…” She jerked her head towards the ghost town. “Too many bad souls linger there, poisoning the air, preventing the trees from being able to properly breathe. The trees are too strong to be killed, though. I think they’ve been under the care of nymphs once and that’s why they’ve survived this long.”