Page 48 of Magic & Secrets
I glanced at him over my shoulder and smirked. “I can’t promise you the same courtesy. You’re very large, and I will no doubt need to get very messy to end you.”
Roque’s face warmed with a smile. “Amuse me with your battle plans, young warrior. How exactly would you destroy me?”
My smile fell away. “I would remove your head. It’s the only way to ensure you can’t regenerate and kill me.”
“Ah, but who is to say I can’t simply regrow my head?”
Laughing at his teasing, I shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.”
“Would you keep my head as a trophy?”
My smile faded as I thought of our time together ending. “No, I’d keep it as a reminder of the beautiful creature I was forced to end.”
“I’m beautiful, huh? Is that why you think we’re mates? You’re impressed by my muscles,” he said and flexed his biceps while moving around the room like a peafowl displaying its feathers to impress a mate.
“You do have a lot of them.”
“And I never work out. It’s all scientifically engineered.”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered, rolling my eyes. “You were built in a lab like one of the Murade’s androids.”
“Something like that,” Roque said, wearing a slight smile. “Did you vex your instructors? I can’t imagine Tirso would approve of your inability to follow instructions.”
“You aren’t my master, Roque.”
“Ah, but you think I’m your mate. That should mean you’ll obey me.”
Knowing he was baiting me, I smiled softly. “If youweremy mate, Iwouldobey you. Since you’ve insisted wearen’tmates, I will do whatever I choose.”
Roque grunted. “You’ll get yourself killed.”
“Then, you’ll no longer be forced to endure my presence.”
His expression turned dour. “This day has dragged on for too long.”
Peering through the spyhole in the boarded window, I noticed the bodies of the dead Ghouls, Witch, and beast were missing.
“Bones and all,” I mumbled, thinking of the surviving Ghouls. “Do you think they’ll come back?”
“No. But if they do, I will be awake. Bane Shifters don’t need to slumber.”
“We can take shifts.”
“No.”
“I don’t need to slumber much. I simply enjoy it since I like dreaming.”
“Why?”
Shrugging, I couldn’t explain without disclosing my connection to Solme Divige. “We can take turns.”
“No.”
“You’ll go first, and I’ll go second,” I said, inspecting the downstairs doors and windows before taking the still-armed rifle and extra ammunition. “We’ll slumber for one hour each.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he said, trailing me upstairs.
“Fine, we’ll slumber for thirty minutes each.”
