“Even a scholar has to eat.”
She glanced back to where the children were smiling and playing. “How is it that in all the years we’ve been together I missed seeing this more tender side of you?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “People make their own realities. They paint the truth as they want it to be, regardless of fact. For those who want to believe, no proof is ever required. For those who refuse to believe, no proof is ever enough. And so you see me as nothing more than the monster you first met. I can never be anything else in your eyes. It’s a fact I’ve long accepted.”
He was a lot wiser than she’d ever given him credit for. And yet she shouldn’t be surprised. Not really. It took more than sheer strength to win the wars he’d fought. He had been cunning in the face of far greater numbers. His shrewdness had been remarked upon and admired by his enemies and allies every bit as much as his stamina and sword skills.
Nay, he’d never really been the mindless animal she’d accused him of being. However, this was a role that she’d never seen him in.
Doting and kind.
And it was one that did the strangest things to her breathing. Made her feel a peculiar kind of weepiness she’d never known before.
“How long have you been coming here?”
“Since Thorn freed us and Rafe told me it existed. His mother taught here. This orphanage and church were her pet charity.” He jerked his chin toward the door. “It’s why it’s named St. Rafael’s. His father built and donated it for his mother, and she named it for her son … with the church’s blessing.”
“And you volunteer time here?”
“He gives a lot more than that.” Father Jeffrey came forward with a small stack of papers for Du. “The children wanted me to make sure I handed you their thank-you letters, Captain. With what you and Captain Cross donated, we should have the girls’ dormitory finished by winter.”
“Glad to help.” He took the letters and inclined his head to Mara. “Father Jeffrey, may I present Lady Marcelina?”
“My lady, it’s an honor.”
“The honor’s mine, Father.”
With a quick bow, he cleared his throat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d best be seeing about that dinner. The wee ones get a mite frisky if they’re not fed on time.”
Du smirked. “Believe me, I understand. The big ones are much the same.”
Laughing, the father left them.
Mara scowled at Du. “Why do you always do that?”
“Do what?”
“Introduce me as a lady?”
“Would you rather I introduce you as a trollop?”
She rolled her eyes. “Nay, but you know I’m not a lady.”
“And you’re not exactly common, either.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she narrowed her gaze on him. “You’re avoiding the answer, Dón-Dueli.”
Devyl paused to let out a long, tired breath as he considered a complicated response. “What do you want me to say, Mara? I’m a bastard beast who plucked you from your forest and your species. I know full well what you really are, and therefore I refuse to see you treated as anything less.”
“And what am I?”
“A goddess.”
Mara’s jaw dropped as he walked nonchalantly past her after lobbing a cannonball at her.
Had that been a compliment?
From the evil Dón-Dueli?
Unable to believe it, she watched as he went to help Belle and Cameron gather their things to return to the ship.
“Are you the captain’s pretty lady?”
She turned at the high-pitched voice to see a beautiful blond-haired girl behind her. “Nay, child. I’m just a friend to him.”
“Oh. But he seems to like you a great deal.”
“You think so?”
“Aye.” The girl smiled as she rocked back and forth on her feet. “You’re very beautiful, my lady.”
“Thank you, child.”
The girl twisted her finger in her hair as she glanced over to the others. “Might I ask a favor of you?”
“Of course.”
“I lost my poppet in the woods outside. Would you please help me find her?”
“Sure.”
Smiling, the girl led her toward the door.
*???*???*
A peculiar chill went down Devyl’s spine as he stopped to look about the room for Mara. She was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Mara?”
Belle paused to glance around the church. “She was just here.”
His gaze went to Cameron as a streak of white appeared in her chestnut hair. Even though Thorn had yet to return her medallion, her blood was reacting to the same thing he felt in his bones. There was something here that didn’t belong in this realm.
A douen.
Shite …
“Fan out and find her. Belle, keep an eye on our Miss Jack.”
“Aye, Captain.”
While William, Kalder, and Belle began to search, he took a moment to warn the priest to secure the children within the confines of the church. If it was a douen, they were bad to go after the souls of the innocent, and children in particular. No doubt that was what had brought the demon here originally. They would normally find any child they could and lead him or her off so that they could either possess them or kill them.
Wary, he made his way into the underbrush to search. He knew better than to call out for Mara, as that would strengthen the demon’s power over her. Damn them. They were crafty beasts. Some of the most dangerous. They preyed on people’s kindness. Preyed on their sympathy.
And Mara held far too much of both, in spite of her Deruvian blood.
Little wonder the douen had found her. On this island, compassion was in short supply. Hers would have stood out like a beacon to draw the demon straight to her kind heart.
“Come on, you bugger.” He was thirsty and in need of nourishment. It’d been a long time since he made a meal off something as powerful as a douen. It’d do his own powers good to feast on this bastard’s heart.
Provided it didn’t kill Mara first and end him in the process.
Where would it have taken her? Not like it could kill her in the open. Or maybe it could. These bastards were more brazen than most. It was what made them so dangerous.
Devyl went deeper into the thicket, where the overgrowth was so dense it was hard to see much. Even daylight.
Suddenly, he heard a rustle near him.
Turning, he summoned philosopher’s fire into his fist. And moved in for the attack.
“Halt!”
He barely caught the release before he unleashed the flames over the newcomers. “Dammit, Alabama! Rafe! You almost lost your heads! What are you doing here?”
“Kalder said our lady had been taken. We’re here to help you hunt.” Alabama was one of Devyl’s gunners. A large, beefy member of their crew, he’d belonged to the Choctaw nation before his death and recruitment to the Hellchasers by Thorn. Like Rosie, he wore feathers braided into his long, black hair, and a bone and beaded choker. “I take it you haven’t found her?”
“Nay. Can you track them?”
Alabama shook his head.
Devyl cursed. Out of the three of them, someone should have been able to pick up something. For them to have nothing at all …