With a muttered curse, he used his powers to unlock the cell door and stepped inside. “I should let you starve,” he grumbled.
She wrapped her arms around her waist, shivering as the cool surge of his power filled the air. Shiver in fear, she grimly assured herself. Not excitement.
“When can I speak with the Anasso?”
He frowned at her abrupt question, placing the tray on the narrow bed that was her only furniture.
“Why?”
“Obviously to plead my case.”
Straightening, Roke regarded her with an unreadable expression. “You’ll remain here so long as he believes you might be a threat.”
A threat? All she wanted was to disappear into a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. How could that be a threat to anyone?
“I’m assuming that means you haven’t captured Gaius.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you know where he’s gone?”
“Why would I know?”
“You were his accomplice.”
“Hardly,” she denied, her voice harsh as she recalled her short alliance with Gaius. “I was forced to help him search for the prophet. I barely knew the arrogant ass, and what I did know I didn’t like.”
Roke dismissed her explanation with a wave of his slender hand. “Did you travel with him to any other lairs?”
“No,” she hissed between gritted teeth. “And before you ask, he never spoke of any. Our relationship wasn’t based on trust.”
He snorted. “Then what was it built on?”
“Mutual need and fear.”
His jaw tightened, as if he didn’t want to think she might not be the evil, unrepentant bitch he wanted to paint her.
“Eat.”
Forcing herself to cross the cell, she perched on the edge of the bed and picked up one of the cheeseburgers. She was a multitasker—could eat and glare at the bastard at the same time.
“Are you always so bossy?” she demanded between bites.
“Yes.”
She rolled her eyes. “Give your mate my deepest sympathies.”
“My mate is none of your concern,” he snapped.
Thank the goddess, she told herself. Being stuck with this surly beast would be nothing short of hell.
Of course, a night or two exploring that chiseled body . . .
No. She was obviously delusional from hunger.
Working her way through the hamburger and the plate of fries, she did her best to ignore the grim-faced predator watching her every move with a brooding intensity. At last reaching for a Buffalo wing, she pointed it toward her silent companion. “Are you going to just stand there watching me?”
“Yes.”
“Why? Do you think I can use a French fry to escape?” she asked in sickly sweet tones. “Or maybe the cook hid a file in my apple pie?”
“Styx believes you could help us locate Gaius.”
She returned her attention to her plate, hiding her expression as she dipped her wing into the blue cheese dressing. “I’ve told you everything I know.”
“You said Gaius was different when he returned to his lair. What did you mean?”
She shrugged. “I had a few errands to run and when I came back Gaius was just standing in the hallway like a zombie. For a minute I thought his carcass had been stuffed and left there as some kind of sick joke. But when I actually stepped into the hallway he reacted like a feral animal. It was creepy as hell.”
Roke frowned. “Was his intent to kill you?”
“I wasn’t stupid enough to remain around long enough to find out if he wanted me dead or just injured.”
“And you claim he didn’t recognize you?”
She ate her wing and reached for another. “He acted like he didn’t. I suppose he could have been pretending, but I don’t see the point.”
“And you suspect he had someone with him?”
“Someone or something he was protecting.”
“Why?”
She doggedly kept her head down, replenishing her energy as he put her through the Inquisition. The only thing missing were the whips and chains.
“Why what?” she said with a full mouth.
He shifted with impatience. “Why do you suspect that he was protecting something?”
She trembled at the memory of the malevolent energy that had surrounded the house, repulsing her spell and contaminating the very air with evil.
Not that she was going to confess her true reason for suspecting that Gaius had a new and very powerful ally.
Not when she would have to confess she’d used dark magic against a fellow vampire of Roke’s.
She was in enough trouble as it was, thank you very much.
“He was behaving like a wild dog guarding his favorite bone,” she at last hedged.
She felt his gaze boring into the top of her head like a laser.
“You’re lying.”
With an effort she tilted back her head to meet his fierce glare. “I am not.”
There was enough truth in her words to make him hesitate. “At the very least you’re not revealing everything you know,” he at last accused her.
“You’re a mind reader?”
“One way or another I’ll discover the truth, little witch,” he growled, turning on his heel to head out of the cell.