Page 19 of Descent

“Grumpy, grumpy. Take a fucking nap. We’ve got another eight hours to go.”

Ero glares at me, the dark circles under his eyes accented by the shadow of his dark eyebrows, his jet-black eyes. If I were less experienced, less brave…

Fuck it, he still scares the shit out of me sometimes.

“Milan, huh?” He switches gears after a few moments, blowing out a long breath.

“Yeah. It’s the safest place to meet with…” I cock my head to the side, hesitating.

“With your mysterious master. Spare me the theatrics.” Something vaguely resembling a smile flickers across his face. “I won’t even address the fact that you go by Circe.”

“It’s my name.”

“Bullshit. It’s your moniker. Code name, maybe.”

“How do you know your name isn’t an identity?”

“I—” Ero starts off harsh, stuttering and catching himself. “Fuck. I don’t know. I feel like it’s right. Like it’s mine.”

“Then you know how I feel about my name too.”

“Don’t act like we’re the same. Like you’re missing pieces of yourself.”

“Don’t act like you know the first thing about me,” I clap back.

“I definitely don’t. Other than…” His gaze wavers, the smallest flinch of pain twitching in his cheek.

“Other than what? Our wedding? Our?—”

“Our past. Yeah. If that was even real. If you weren’t just using me for cover on a hit.”

“What makes you think so? What do you remember, Ero?”

Because I really do want to know what he sees when his eyes go distant. I want to compare notes, to know if he has information that I don’t.

“Not memories. Just facts. You’re a chimera, a fucking changeling. Every time I see you, you’re someone else, ‘Circe.’” He makes air quotes as he says it, the word and his tone cuttingme deeper than it should for some reason. “You change your persona as easily as you change your shirt. Everything about you is a mask, a lie.”

Wow. Okay.

Hackles up.

It’s a sheer effort of will to keep from kicking him right in the shin across the space between us. Or opening the train window and tossing him headfirst into the Austrian countryside.

Taking a breath, I sit up, leaning my elbows on my knees.

“I guess you have a point. Suppose I am named after a myth. I brought you back from the dead more than once. Maybe Iama sorceress, a goddess.”

“A demon, more like. Or an angel sent to punish me.”

“What would that makeyou? If I remember correctly, Ero was basically…Cupid?” A snort of laughter flaps my lips. “With his three cherubic brothers. Spelling mortals to fall in love with them.”

Ero’s eyes narrow, that way I’ve seen him look when he catches me slipping in what little I know of his past. Like the fact that he really did have three brothers.

I shouldn’t be so flippant with details.

Too risky. And dangerous. At least to my mission, my orders.Shewants him this way, clueless. A blank slate.

For a split second, I almost feel bad.

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