not tell that I’m not asleep?” I ask.
She bites her lip. “Not all of us have adapted to see in the dark like you.”
Good, I like that I can see her, but she can’t see me very well. It gives me an advantage. When it comes to her, I’ll take every advantage I can get. It was wrong to assume I could just bully her into telling me everything. She’s a worthy opponent, playing her own game. Her odds of winning are as strong as mine.
“Let’s play our game then since you can’t sleep.”
“I can’t tell you about our secret. Whoever is holding us could be listening. You can’t punish me for not telling you the truth when it could endanger our lives.”
“No, but you can still tell me a different secret.”
She sighs. “Fine, I’ll answer a question, but only if you answer one of mine as well.”
“That’s not how this works.”
She folds her arms. “Then kill me. We are trapped in a dungeon for who knows how long. There is nothing worse you could punish me with. You aren’t going to kill me until we escape and you get all your answers out of me, so your threats won’t work here.”
She’s right. “You answer one of my questions; then I’ll answer one of yours.”
“With the truth?” she asks.
“That’s up to you to figure out.”
She smiles knowingly. “Fine. What’s your question?”
I have a million, but one pulls at me more than any other. One I still don’t understand.
“Did you love Waylon?”
She stills, not expecting that question. Her eyes glaze over as memories flood her head. She’s no longer in this room with me; she’s lost to her thoughts.
I give her time to think about Waylon, about how she’s going to answer me.
I study her every feature looking for clues as to how she feels about the man. She was so distraught that I killed him that she tried to take one of the most important people in my world from me. Her actions speak louder than any words, and yet, I still feel like I’m missing something. I didn’t think Liesel was capable of loving another man, loving anyone.
“Love is weakness. I have no use for love,” Liesel finally speaks, not looking at me, just staring out into the darkness.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I’ll answer you honestly because I have a question I want you to answer with the truth.” Her eyes flick to me. I know she can’t see anything but an outline of my body when she looks at me, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling like she can see everything I’m thinking.
“I tried my entire life to not fall for a man. I tried to keep love out of the equation. I tried…and failed.”
Tears water her eyes, but it’s nothing compared to how my heart aches. She drives me mad, and yet there is nothing in this world I want more than to hear she has feelings for me. To hear her admit she has feelings for another man is going to break me.
“I changed my mind. I don’t want to hear your answer,” I say, admitting my own weakness to her.
“I loved Waylon.” She plunges the knife into my heart.
She loved him, and I took him from her.
“You loved him even though he sold your body for money? Even though he made you suck other men’s cocks to set a trap for me? Even though he wasn’t strong enough to protect you, you loved him?”
“Yes, I loved him. I’ll always love him.”
“I didn’t think you were capable of love, huntress.”
“I didn’t think you were either, killer.”
“And yet, we both fell in love.”
“Do you love Phoenix?”
“Is that your question?”
“No,” she quickly replies.
I don’t answer her, but she already knows I don’t love Phoenix. I’ve never felt romantic love. I love my kids. I love Siren as my soulmate. I love Enzo, Kai, Zeke, and even Liesel as friends, but I’ve never been in love, never fallen for another human.
“How did you fall for him? What was it about him that made you surrender to your feelings?”
“It wasn’t a choice. It just happened. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t. It was everything—his charm, his kindness, his loyalty. The more I spent time with him, the more I fell. I didn’t even realize I was falling until it was too late. I never said the words to him. I never told him I loved him. I don’t think I realized how much I loved him until