"I don't need anyone to help me."
He paused at her words. "No? How do you get around on your own?"
"I just do. I can't stand for anyone to treat me like I'm helpless. I happen to be just as capable as anyone else."
"Bully for you, princess." But he felt the swell of another wave of respect for her. In the world he'd grown up in, women like her never did anything for themselves. They'd bought people like him to serve their every whim.
"Why do you call me 'princess' all the time?"
"It's what you are, aren't you? Your parents' shining darling."
She frowned. "How do you know that?"
"I can smell it on you. You're one of those people who has never had a moment's worry in your life. Everything you've ever wanted, you've gotten."
"Not everything."
"No? What have you ever lacked?"
"My eyesight."
Zarek fell silent as her words rang in his ears. "Yeah, being blind sucks."
"How would you know?"
"Been there, done that."
"You were blind?" Astrid asked.
Zarek didn't answer. He couldn't believe he'd allowed that to slip out. It was something he'd never spoken of, not even to Jess.
Only Acheron knew and Acheron had thankfully kept the secret.
Unwilling to visit his past again tonight and the pain that waited there, Zarek left the den and returned to his room where he locked the door so that he could wait out the storm in peace.
At least alone he didn't have to worry about betraying himself or hurting anyone.
But as he sat in his chair, it wasn't images of the past that haunted him.
It was the scent of roses and wood, the clear pale eyes of a woman.
The remembered feel of her soft, cold cheek underneath his fingertips. Her damp tousled hair that framed features which were feminine and inviting.
A woman who didn't flinch from him or cringe.
She was astounding and surprising. If he were someone else, he might even go back to the den where she sat with her wolf and make her laugh. But he didn't know how to make people laugh. He could recognize humor, most especially irony, but he wasn't the kind of man to make jokes or nurture smiles from other people. Especially not a woman.
That fact hadn't bothered him before.
Tonight it did.
"Is he guilty?"
Astrid started at Artemis's voice in her head. Every night since Zarek had been brought into her house, Artemis had bugged her with that one question-over and over again, until she felt like Joan of Arc being tormented by voices.
"Not yet, Artemis. He just woke up."
"Well, what's taking so long? As long as he's living, Acheron is on edge and I positively hate it when he's agitated. Judge him rogue already."