Page 22 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

I blink, momentarily shocked.

He? He will keep me safe?

I can’t even laugh because I am too astonished by his words—though this is quite a laughable situation.

I pull my hand and push him away from me.

“I will excuse your blindness due to the darkness since you humans have rather feeble eyesight,” I start in a haughty voice. “But I will have you know I am the scariest thing you will encounter here tonight. So move along before I am forced to hurt you.”

There. That’s it.

I’m quite proud of myself for getting the words out so coherently and without any outburst of energy that might send him flying. Although by the Source would I love to see him flying, preferably far, far away from me.

Except my words don’t move him. If anything, they seem to amuse him further.

“Tiny and scary, ain’t that right?”

“Stop commenting about my height,” I snap.

“It’s rather obvious.” He chuckles.

I narrow my eyes at him.

“It’s dark,” I point out drily.

He shrugs.

“I can hear you speak from down below,” he drawls, amusement dripping from his words.

“You…”

My anger gets the best of me and I fail to stop myself from punching him. Although I should pat myself on the back later on fornotstabbing him with my ice dagger. Ah, the little things.

Even though I am more powerful than him—yes, even with my tiny body—he manages to parry my blow.

I frown.

How?

He can’t see in this darkness. That much is certain. Even I lack full visibility. Yet as I attempt to throw another punch, I am surprised to see him dodge that too.

How can he know where I’m aiming? Can he see through the darkness? Was my initial assessment wrong and he isnothuman?

But that’s impossible. I cannot detect any supernatural signature coming from him.

Going by his amused grin and laid-back attitude, he’s not even making too much of an effort to parry my blows. He’s simply swaying from side to side, using my strength against me.

Just as I try to hit him again, he catches my fist and pulls me close.

“Careful, darling. That’s quite dangerous.”

Yes! Iamdangerous. He should fear me! He should. He’s only unscathed because I cannot afford to use the full extent of my powers on him. But if he were a demon or another deity… I would have already had him on his back, groaning in pain. Preferably with his insides spilling out.

“Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself,” he murmurs softly.

“I’m not hurting myself. I’m hurtingyou,” I say through gritted teeth. He’s holding me tightly against his chest, and his breath fans over my cheek. It reeks of cigarettes.

Disgusting!

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