Page 16 of A Dusk Of Stars

Still, the audacity is rendering me speechless.

He seems to snap out of it. “What?” he demands, his eyes challenging me and his voice carrying a touch of aggression even as he leans back in his chair as if nothing’s happened. “You’re refusing to answer my question, smartass. What do you expect?”

I guessthisparticular bully I’ll have to try to intimidate. “How about basic manners?” I demand, staring him down as I lean back and splay my legs to mirror his own posture.

To that, he just blows a laugh, a little louder this time. But he does let me move the chair back, so I guess it’s a victory. Sort of. Still, it doesn’t make me any less sore.

“Yeah, I guess Iwasbeing naive,” I mumble through gritted teeth.

“Past tense? Really?” he demands.

“What’sthatsupposed to mean?”

He lets out a scoff. “A human working at an academy for Originals? It’s like coming to dinner as…” His eyes drag down my body, making my blood boil. “Well, steak.”

I throw him a flat glare. “In case you haven't noticed, I'm awoman. It's not just when I'm surrounded by Originals that I'm in danger.”

His eyebrows shoot up.

“And besides, eighteen forty-seven?” I continue, referring to the year of the Treaty between humans and Originals, “it was over a hundred and fifty years ago.”

He leans forward, once again pinning me with his stare. “Newsflash, little miss, the world is just as fucked up as it was before we signed a flimsy piece of paper and forever locked it out of our sight.”

“That’s rich, coming from someone like you.”

“You wound me,” he purrs, not breaking eye contact. “But when you’re ‘someone like me,’ you quickly learn something.People who are loudest in their anger with you? They’re usually just bitter they don’t have the guts tobeyou.”

I close my eyes. I think I’ve had it with this arrogant man. I take a deep breath. “Are you going to switch seats with me or not?” I demand as I open my eyes.

“No,” he says as he leans back in the chair, spreading his legs and stroking the armrest. “There’s this human girl getting her panties in a bunch over it. Must be a good chair.”

And I don’t know why I’m letting him keep dragging me into this, but before I know it, I’m gritting out, “The ‘human girl’ is the Grimm Academy Archivist. I suggest you treat her with the respect she deserves.”

Something flashes through his eyes. Surprise? “Archivist? I thought Jaeger was the Archivist.”

He really knows his shit.

“Not any longer.”

“Wow, how’d you manage to pullthatoff?”

It renders me speechless for a second, his reaction. Is he… It almost sounds like this asshole is taking me seriously.

I dismiss it. I lean a little forward, locking eyes with him. “You know, I’m starting to understand this all must be a joke to you. To some of us, it’s anything but.”

A smile tugs at the corner of his lips. “You keep doing that, Miss Archivist.”

“What?”

“Not answering my questions.”

“And you’re still in my seat, so I guess we’re even.”

“Yeah,” he drawls, “I have a feeling, even if I gave the chair up, I wouldn’t get any answers in return.” He pauses for a second, his eyes narrowing right before a chuckle escapes him. “Ah…”

“What?”

“You know,” he says with this insufferable smirk, “you all have a tendency to think you’re being unique, playing hard to getwith the handsome rich bachelor. When, in fact, you’ve all been watching the very same movies growing up.”

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