Page 54 of Barbi and the Villain

“Nykander,” he interrupts me. “My name is Nykander.”

And to make me swoon even more, he materializes a jug of water in front of him and hands it to me.

“This should help.”

Oh, Nykander. If you only knew… You just got yourself a lifelong stalker.

“Thank you,” I murmur before I take big gulps until the hiccups calm down. Maybe I should slow down with the eating. The last thing I need is to get sick on this poor man and totally turn him off me.

“What world are you from?” he inquires after I’ve calmed down.

“Hmm. We call it Earth, though I’m not sure you would recognize the name.”

“Earth?” he muses. “Oh, I see. Anthropa. I should have known. You are human, after all.”

“Anthropa?”

“That is what your world is called by outsiders. I have been there a few times. Beautiful sights. Awful people.” He shakes his head.

“You’ve been to my world?” I blink.

He nods.

“It’s been a long time, though. I will assume things have changed,” he adds diplomatically.

“Not that much.” I shrug. “The people are still awful.”

His brows go up before a smile touches his lips that my own lips mirror.

“Was there anything in particular that Damien asked you about your world?”

“He wanted me to describe it to him. Although he seemed awfully fascinated by the population, which I don’t fault him. We have almost eight billion people, and the numbers keep climbing.”

He freezes, his eyes glinting dangerously.

“I see,” he murmurs softly, looking pensively in the distance.

“They were also surprised by our healthcare,” I add.

“Huh?”

“I mean, we do have state-of-the-art technology and we can cure almost every disease,” I continue rambling. “Considering that half the population of Akkaya has died from this plague, I can see why they’d be interested in it. Maybe they were curious if the healthcare in my world could help cure the plague.”

“This is the second time you mention a plague. What are you talking about?”

I stop, turning to look at him in shock.

“You don’t know?”

He shakes his head.

“But… Didn’t you just admit you have super senses? And you can teleport around? Surely you know about the state of things.”

He frowns.

“I am asking because I do not know what you’re talking about. During my time in that cell, I only used enough energy to keep myself alive. I did not hear anything about the outside world.”

“A plague swept through Akkaya a few years back. From what I heard, it was caused by the Dark One. Damian injured him and now he’s using the energy of the souls to heal.”

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