Page 62 of V for Vindictive

The Dark Fae self-consciously rubbed his face and fixed his clothes as if he worried I could see it all right there on his face and outfit, his age. Luckyfor him, he still looked like a twenty-something boyband idol rather than the several-century-old supernatural creature he truly was.

But I’d never tell him so.

Phillip strolled a bit closer to me before wrapping an arm around my shoulders and leaning his much-too-gorgeous face in close. “Everyone is old compared to you, lass.”

“Shut the fuck up before I give you the knee, grandpa,” I threatened, the side of my mouth lifting.

Cassius took a moment to revel in Phillip’s blatant chastisement, and when the Dark Fae covered his face, laughing and turning his head away, Phillip brazenly stole a kiss and nearly sent me face-planting into the dirt floor in shock.

I stumbled, catching the wink the saucy Austrian sent me before he put space between us and fingered through his hair like he hadn’t done a goddamn thing. Even our flirting pissed me off, but it’d be a lie to say I wasn’t having fun with it. Grumbling, I looked down to hide the smile on my lips.

Ugh, why am I so in love with this bastard?!

The hitch in the other Hunter’s step suggested that Phillip was having the most fun right now, and I quietly plotted my revenge while tapping my face again and prying harder at the Dark Fae. “Come on. Cough it up. How many?”

Cash sighed, defeated. “Maybe fifty…”

My partner cleared his throat, throwing the Fae a look. “Do you seriously believe I’d stand here while you boldly lie to my partner, Cash?”

The Dark Fae hesitated as I stared expectantly at him. “Maybe two hundred?”

“As in two hundred completely innocent people? Wow, you’re a fucking piece of work,” I remarked, not caring that it didn’t exactly sell the compassionate side of me.

Cassius was quick to retort. “I’m not making excuses, Hunter, but I didn’t really have a choice in a lot of those deaths. He used enchanted items I made with my magic, and so I was cursed by proxy.”

A convenient excuse, but just who is this ‘he’ person?

It was interesting to think they’d be marked as a substitute if it was their magic. That hadn’t been mentioned previously, and it intrigued me.

Phillip grunted, clearly not in agreement. “We all make choices, and you knew exactly who and what Eros was.”

Eros?

My partner stared at Cash, emphasizing his next comment. “Two hundred times over.”

Mad burn, Mr. Smith.

It never occurred to me that Cash might’ve worked with Eros. Though, his present predicament made more sense if that was the case—crossing paths with Phillip, becoming his informant, and being the first person the Austrian interrogated in regards to Eros’s return—it was all starting to make sense now. The reason Phillip didn’t believe Cash when he said he didn’t know Eros returned was because, likely, the purple-eyed Fae still worked for that serial killer bastard, acting like a sort of spy for Phillip.

What a clever asshole my partner was.

I was a little curious what the Dark Fae could tell me about the dude who’d nearly killed me and the people I cared about, but I saw an opportunity to cozy up to the cowardly Fae and decided to take it.

Act sweet. Act compassionate. Don’t laugh.

“Wait a second…so you didn’t even kill half the people you’re marked for? Then those are more Eros’s marks than yours. Dude, that’s pretty fucked,” I said, softening my tone.

My genius Hunter partner seemed to pick up on the direction I’d taken and sneered openly, falling perfectly into his usual character as an asshole who didn’t give anyone a pass. As emotionally deficient as the man had been over the course of our relationship, it always came as a surprise when the Austrian cleverly reacted exactly how I needed him to on a mission.

Of course, he’d never needed to be smart in love relationships—seeing how Giselle was his first and last until me—so I conveniently blamed that and gave the gorgeous bastard a pass.

Cassius’s lips twitched and his ethereal eyes jerked over to me, almost as if he couldn’t believe I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. “You might not believe it, but I’ve tried many times to get out from under Eros’s thumb. There’s a way to remove these marks, but I can’t do it until after I’m free of him. Unfortunately, he’s a very powerful man and I value my life, Hunter.”

A way to remove the marks?

“Clearly,” I countered. “But I get it. We all do what we can to survive. I’m sure I’ve done things for the Organization that puts me in that category, too.”

Phillip cut in gruffly, “You’re nothing like him. He chose to keep aiding and abetting that psychopath. He’s only here because he’s afraid of what I’ll do to him, maus.”

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