Dark Champion (Flirting with Monsters #4) - Eva Chase Page 0,89

reasonably match his tone. It wasn’t as if I could have identified anyone accurately from that cacophony of agony.

They’d set me up. Tempest must have decided she needed the shadowkind essence I only bled when I was particularly worked up to manufacture her cure. Had she known for sure it would come out when I was frantic, or only been experimenting after I’d bled like a mortal during the initial torture? Maybe one of the Company assholes had noticed me leaking smoke during one of our battles. Shit.

It still might not be enough. She obviously hadn’t figured out how to transform what she was getting from me into whatever exactly she wanted.

The cure…

Maybe Tempest wasn’t quite as impervious as she wanted us to think.

For what felt like a millennium or two, I sprawled there in my cage. When I attempted the same melting trick on the lock at its base, the sprinklers went off in an instant, and all I got for my trouble was another freezing shower. After that, I pulled my knees up to my chest for warmth and willed my teeth not to chatter.

If Tempest had gotten what she wanted from me this time, what did that mean for my chances of surviving the next day? Or even the next hour?

She couldn’t be sure of her “cure” when she’d never made it before—or unleashed this disease before—right? I didn’t think she’d take the chance of offing me until she was one hundred percent convinced she had no further use for me. Of course, if that meant living out the rest of my days in this cramped box, death didn’t sound all that bad. Especially if Tempest went down with me.

My chilly reflections halted at the shimmering of a figure into sight just beyond the bars. The sphinx herself had returned. To gloat, it appeared, judging from the coy tilt of her head and the smirk curling her lips. I willed a small spurt of flame along my gums, ignoring the burning sensation of the flesh there.

“You really thought I’d give you a chance to escape,” she said, her voice languid with amusement.

I wasn’t in any mood to go easy on her ego. “Hard as it might be to believe, you don’t actually come across as all that smart.”

Tempest shrugged, but the twitch of her eyelid suggested I’d irritated her at least a little. Not the greatest victory ever, but give me a break. At this point I couldn’t be much of a chooser.

Unfortunately, she knew just how to needle me in return. “How does it feel knowing you’ve provided the final step in the plans you’ve been trying so hard to interrupt?”

“Pretty crappy,” I said breezily. “How do you feel knowing that you weren’t quite stealthy enough to stop me from figuring out what’s going on here? To shield against the weakness one or the other possesses, you must contain both their strengths. You’re trying to find some part of my essence to protect you from your own disease, because you’re not strong enough on your own.”

A spark flashed in her eyes. She managed to keep her tone even. “Not trying. I’ve succeeded. There’s nothing left that stands in our way. My people are ready to let loose our sickness tomorrow, and I’ll get to watch and laugh while both they and the ones they wanted so badly to destroy crumple in its throes.”

Using my smoky essence had worked, then? Or was she just trying to fake me out to set me up for some new trick?

“You seem to take a lot of pride in being a traitorous butcher,” I remarked. “And here I thought you were all about brains and brilliant schemes, not random slaughter.” I let my voice lilt into a skewed lyric. “Shows your lies, living so grand, darling. Do you mean to start cheating? Is your plunder planned?”

Another victory: warping songs appeared to annoy Tempest just as much as it had Omen. “Shut up,” she said with a wave of her hand that was clearly meant to be casual. The momentary narrowing of her eyes showed the truth. “I can’t imagine how Omen and his lot put up with you for as long as they did. I’d expect they’ll be pleased to find out you’re no longer their burden to carry.”

If she thought I was going to believe that after everything I’d been through with my shadowkind men, she was even more off her rocker than I’d figured. I rolled my eyes at