Learning its dark and twisted ways. Even the most vile, the most evil, had one thing they cared about. Maybe not a someone in particular, but something. They could be cold, cruel, calculating killers, but even the most pathological had that one weakness, that one chink in their armor.
Robin wasn’t heartless or cold or cruel. She saw that in the way he treated his men. How he’d wasted a precious wish on making them forget her, to keep her safe—that wasn’t the work of someone with no heart.
“You think you don’t feel and maybe to you, you don’t. Maybe you’ve buried it so far down deep that you can’t recognize it for what it is. But I saw you back there with your men. I saw the way the fire blazed in your eyes when John had his hand wrapped around my throat. I think you can feel, Robin, I just think you don’t like feeling. And that, my friend, is a very huge difference.”
Snorting, suddenly his lips were twitching and the intense moodiness he’d worn like a veil lifted. Like a chameleon changing its colors…turning from darkness to light. “You intrigue me, woman.”
Robin seemed as shocked by his confession as she now felt.
Now she was a woman. Not a pet, not a genie. A woman. Interesting. He might not want to get too close to her, might not want to know her more, but whether he acknowledged it not, Robin was curious about her.
Just as she was curious about him.
Feeling bold, she wet her lips. His gaze snapped down to the movement like a hawk spotting prey. She shivered under the heavy weight of his stare.
“Tell me more about myself, then. Let’s see what you glean just from this outer shell.” Reaching into his pocket, he extracted two golden apples. Handing her one of them.
Taking it with a swipe, she bit down. The juicy apple flavor exploded in her mouth. She’d never bitten into anything so wonderful in her life. In fact, Nixie had never been much of a fan of apples, and yet, the intensity of its taste, the crispness of it on her tongue…she was coming to crave them almost as much as she craved Robin’s company.
She grinned. “Fine. I accept your challenge.”
He lifted a brow when she failed to say anything after a minute. “What, cat got your tongue?”
For answer, she took a giant bite of her delicious apple. Let him wait for it. In truth, it was dangerous to make snap judgments about people. A lot of times first impressions were completely wrong.
“Well…” She swallowed and pointed to his clothes. “You’d like others to believe you’re not wealthy. Your clothes are threadbare. Your shoes worn at the soles.”
“Obvious enough.”
She grinned. “But it’s a ruse. Because on your pinky finger you’re wearing a golden ring.”
He stared down at his right hand, toying with the ring now. “Go on.”
“It’s a horse’s head, its eyes are either ruby or garnet, can’t tell. But that’s a lot of gold. Enough to probably keep you and your men well stocked for sometime. Which tells me it’s not about the money to you. In fact, you could probably care less about riches. And though your clothes are old, they’re clean. As are you. You’re a man meticulous with your appearance, though you’d like to make others believe otherwise. Your accent is educated.”
He cleared his throat, shifting on his bottom. She smiled, realizing her gut was right.
“You might steal from the rich to give to the poor—”
Robin snorted. “Again, let’s not confuse fairytales with reality. If I steal, I steal for keeps. Besides, it’s all mine anyway.” A hard thread of anger laced those words.
Maybe realizing he’d said too much, he took a furious bite of out of his apple. “Go on, then.”
“Who’s Crispin?”
Tossing his half-eaten apple away, Robin glared at her.
Nixie swallowed hard. She’d never had a master more reluctant to share his plan with her than Robin. In fact, all her previous masters had mostly just grappled with what to wish for first.
His bristled jaw flexed before he said, “My brother, and the man I aim to kill.”
Chapter 9
Why had he told her that?
Robin couldn’t make sense of himself. Was it to simply shock her? Or was it to see if she’d still look at him as she had back in the woods? If her large, doe-shaped eyes would still make him feel the urge to be better than he actually was.
“You know I can’t kill anyone for you!” she hissed with vehemence. “And you know who I am, I walk a fine line, why would you even think—”
Snatching the apple out of her hand, he threw it over her shoulder. It sailed like a tiny missile into the darkness, rolling away. He didn’t know why he’d done it. In fact, he suspected it might have been flirtation gone awry. What the bloody hell was wrong with him tonight? He scratched the back of his neck at her gaping look.
“What…why?” She stared at her suddenly empty hand. “Ugh! What is wrong with you, Robin? Just when I think there’s something decent about you, you go and act like an ass—”