I have chiseled the stone wall to make shelves. “My sister would’ve loved this.”
“You have a sister?”
“And a brother.”
“You must miss them,” I reply softly, taking advantage of his opening up to me.
“I do, every day.”
“Well, if you tell me how you passed the veil, I’ll let you go home to them.”
He looks down at me. “They’re dead. And I still don’t know.” He breaks his attention from me again and turns around to look at what’s behind him.
Never turn your back on your enemy.
It automatically echoes in my head. Tobias lives by that rule, so I’m surprised when Dagen does it. But it gives me the opportunity to study him further without him knowing that I’m gaping at him like that smitten girl I was talking about earlier.
His dark hair is pulled back in a bun, hiding the length that used to cascade down his shoulder blades that bulge through his shirt. The brown fabric displays a flat torso, which I’ve already seen, slimming down to his waist and thick thighs in olive pants.
“Then how did your father know about this place?” I inquire as he brushes the wall with his fingertips.
“Honestly, I’m not sure,” he voices. “I thought this was just a normal place to locate. He told me that the lands were rich in soil for farming, but it’s just covered in sand and tall grass. You don’t really question my father.”
“You know that makes zero sense to me, right?”
He turns around to look at me and then nods. “I know. I wouldn’t believe me either, Blood.”
“Then how would you find out if someone was telling the truth?” I cross my arms along my chest, genuinely curious.
He perks a brow then slowly walks toward me. “You really want to know?”
“I do.”
“I’d torture them until they spoke.”
“And if a woman trespassed?”
His lips quirk. “Would that woman be you?” I bow my head. “You don’t want to know the answer to that question.”
“I asked, didn’t I?”
He releases a mirthless laugh. “You’re a woman, that’s different.”
“I’m stronger than you,” I retort with furrowed brows.
He rounds me and leans down a bit. “But your emotions aren’t.”
“I’m not one of your females in your village,” I grumble then twirl on my heels to face him. “We’re more fierce together.”
“I’ve noticed that,” he deadpans.
“So what would you do if one of my people trespasses? How would you get them to spill the truth?”
“If it were one of your sisters, I would’ve killed them or given them to my men to play with.”
“Play with?”
“If it were you,” he continues gradually, like he’s thinking about it. “I’d seduce you.”
“You’re not my type,” I blurt because I have nothing to say besides that.
I don’t even know if I have one. Besides Tobias, no other man has been interesting to me until the new man standing in front of me. And even then I think it’s more curiosity than anything.
“I’m a man, Blood,” he asserts. “I am your type.” With his back still to me, it takes everything in my power to not shove him forward.
“That’s where you’re mistaken.”
He turns on his heels and looks at me with a raised brow. “Oh? And how’s that?”
“You know nothing about me.”
“Because you’re spoken for?”
“I’m not spoken for. No one will own me.”
“Then you might want to tell your pirate friend that,” he advises with a twist of his lips.
“Don’t worry about him,” I carp. “You’d have to come up with another plan to get me to speak.”
“The same goes for you. You letting me roam free on your island isn’t doing anything except upsetting your sisters and now your father. Now what?”
I shrug. “You have your week. After that, you’re out of my hands.”
“Then you better use me to any advantage you have in your little head because I’m going to die.”
I don’t know why, but the truth in his voice pierces my chest. I don’t like him, but I respect him. I don’t believe him, but he’s loyal to whatever cause he’s serving, and I’m trying not to fault him for that. I might have even been a little more forgiving if it wasn’t for him scouting my land and getting past my veil.
“Then pray to your gods,” I reply calmly. “And you can leave now.”
He simpers with amusement in his features and makes his way toward the entrance of the cove but not before leaning a little closer to me.
“You’d be mine, Blood,” he mutters in a deep octave, his breath tickling my shoulder. “Underneath me, over