A smile twitching his lips, he dipped his head and entered the hall. I trailed behind him, texting Colby a heads-up I would be doing a perimeter check with Asa. Clay, I could hear, was in the living room.
When I moved to follow Asa outside, Clay gripped my arm to stop me. “Think hard about this.”
Dipping a hand into my pocket, I worried the dented cold iron bullet I hadn’t disposed of yet. “I have.”
“All right.” He released me. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Dollface.”
“That makes two of us.” I quirked him a smile. “We’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be here.” He resumed his sweeping. “This sh—” He glanced toward the loft. “It gets everywhere.”
I did a visual check on Colby, who was bundled up in her blanket, headphones on, antennae alert, and I couldn’t decide if I was glad the carnage hadn’t fazed her or disturbed by how she took it in stride. The kid had been through a lot, and I was worse about hanging on to who and what she used to be than she had ever been. The harder she worked to shed her past and embrace her present, the more left behind I felt.
Maybe because my parents’ beliefs and values hadn’t shaped me. They died before leaving their marks on me. Maybe because the director was the defining figure for me? He molded me, shaped me, groomed me. Or maybe it was because she decided to forget her life, but the director had robbed me of the choice. I kept nudging Colby toward her past, her parents, because she had one. I had…fragments.
“Rue?” Asa touched my elbow. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Another side effect of Asa peeling back my layers was I spent more time looking back instead of forward. I couldn’t change the past. No one held that power. All my history contained was the same old pain and a yawning void where my childhood should have been. I was better off keeping my eyes on the horizon.
“I’m good.” I patted his arm. “I got distracted, that’s all.”
Without saying a word, he warned me that distractions could get me killed. “All right.”
Focused on Asa and the woods around us, I kept an eye out for the challenger. I didn’t have to search hard to spot him. The gorgeous turquoise skin made him stand out from the greens and browns around us. At first, I thought he assumed we couldn’t see him. He wasn’t moving. Not even blinking. Barely breathing.
I grasped the situation when he hit one knee, dipped his chin, and pounded a mighty fist with webbed fingers over his heart.
“You may rise.” Asa gave silk a run for its money with his smooth voice. “Speak your piece, then leave.”
“My lord, Astaroth.” As the challenger rose, he flexed open thick red slits on his neck. Gills. “I humbly challenge you for your seat.”
Astaroth to Asa. I filed that away. Yet another example of him folding himself to fit inside a box.
“Challenge accepted.” Undaunted, Asa flicked his wrist to hurry him along. “You are aware of the rules?”
“I am.” The daemon lifted his gaze to me, his eyes black from corner to corner, and then grinned at Asa. “You are fascinated with her.”
Jutting out my chin, I dared Asa to deny it with the force of my glare. “He better be.”
“Oh.” Asa fit his hand to the front of my throat and stroked my carotid with his thumb. “I am.”
“It was nice meeting you.” Unable to tear my gaze away from the molten heat in Asa’s eyes, I addressed the challenger. “Enjoy your final days.”
A rumbling laugh poured from the challenger. “Are you so certain of him?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t have to think about it. “I am.”
“Then perhaps I made a mistake.” His gills flared as he laughed. “Or perhaps the fates will favor me.”
“Fate favors no one. Gods take credit for all good things while they ignore the bad that happens on their watches. Faith is for suckers. You have to make your own luck.” I shrugged. “That’s my humble opinion.”
“Thank you for your time. I am grateful you have accepted my challenge. I look forward to our battle.”
“As do I,” Asa said, never taking his focus off me.
The daemon retreated into the woods. Hard to miss him, even on my periphery, with that skin tone. I did my best to ignore the crunching of leaves as legs scuttled over the forest floor, leaving with their master.
“He seems nice.” I cut my eyes left, but he was gone. “Pretty skin.” I considered him. “Aquatic daemon?”