Rogue Descendant (Nikki Glass) - By Jenna Black Page 0,42

it,” Anderson said. “Giving me the benefit of the doubt, believing that I’m not a shallow, selfish person acting on a whim.”

Anderson wasn’t human, and he never had been. At times, I was painfully aware that his thought processes weren’t always the same as ours. How could a man who’d never been mortal, had never had to face the possibility of his own death, think like everyone else, or understand the specter we all have to live with? Even the Liberi could die, no matter how hard it was to kill them, but Anderson couldn’t, and there was an inherent otherness that came with his true immortality. But despite that otherness, he did have feelings, and I realized for the first time that my insistence on knowing his reasoning had hurt them.

When you read mythology, you see examples aplenty of gods acting shallow and selfish. I mean for Pete’s sake, the Trojan War started when a couple of goddesses got offended that a mortal said another goddess was prettier than they were. But I’d seen no sign that Anderson was like that, and I had yet to see him act on a whim. So the question became: did I believe Anderson had a good reason for keeping his secret?

I hadn’t known Anderson all that long, admittedly, but I knew him well enough to feel certain the answer was yes. I was dying of curiosity, having been unable to form even a reasonable guess as to why keeping the secret was so important, but did I really want to draw this line in the sand over curiosity? Anderson was willing to tell me why he wouldn’t reveal his identity, but I realized that if I pressed for it, it would change something between us. He would always feel that when it came right down to it, I didn’t trust him. Once upon a time, that had been nothing but the truth. It still was, if you threw Emma into the mix. But this particular secret had nothing to do with her.

I swallowed hard, forcing my curiosity back down. I believed Anderson had a good reason, and it wasn’t going to kill me not to know what it was.

Maybe Anderson was manipulating me. It was something he was very good at, though I liked to think I was aware whenever he tried to do it. Maybe his feelings weren’t really hurt by my lack of faith, and he was just laying the guilt trip on me because he knew it was an effective tactic. But considering the things that had happened with Emma over the last few weeks, I figured Anderson was in enough pain already. No reason for me to add to it.

“All right,” I said. “I’ll trust you, even though I’m not very good at it. You’ve earned that.”

He smiled at me, the tension easing out of his shoulders. “I appreciate it. More than you know.”

If I didn’t know better, I could swear he was a little choked up under that smile. I thought about giving him a hug, but decided it would feel awkward, for both of us.

“I’ll call Cyrus and see if I can set up a meeting,” he said. “I don’t have high hopes we can reach a resolution, but we should at least try.”

“Thank you.” Going in there with such a defeatist attitude wasn’t going to help our cause, and I worried that Anderson’s refusal to suspect Emma would hamper any negotiations that occurred. But I’d gotten as much out of him as I was going to get.

Anderson stepped aside so I had a clear path to the door, the gesture something between a release and a dismissal.

“Um, sorry I got so pissy,” I said, because I couldn’t walk out without another word.

“Me, too,” he replied, and the twinkle in his eye told me he’d deliberately left it up to interpretation as to whether he was apologizing to me or teasing me.

I shook my head as I reluctantly smiled back. I stepped up to the door and opened the dead bolt.

“If word of my existence reaches the wrong ears,” Anderson said softly, “it could mean the death of every man, woman, and child on this earth.”

I turned back to him, and I’m sure my expression was one of naked shock.

“When I say I have a good reason, I mean it.”

What could I possibly say to that? My cheeks felt cold and bloodless, and my mouth gaped open. My mind could barely encompass what he’d just told