Page 111 of Vicious Princess
All the space I can put between us.
I slide off him and roll away as fast as I can manage. Once I’m out of the bed, I walk over to the window that overlooks the gardens.
“Tell me what happened,” he demands.
How dare he demand anything from me?
Without turning to face him, I say, “Nightingale reported us to the administration. The General and Taaslord know. But they won’t act on the knowledge, because she didn’t have the time togive the official testimony for the investigation, so they’ll write this off as rumors this time around. Of course, you probably already know about it, considering that Kata is fucking missing.”
Finally, I turn to face him again. I want to see the reaction my words have on him.
Daegel watches me, his face guarded.
“Tell me it wasn’t you,” I whisper. “Tell me it wasn’tyouwho made Kata disappear. That it’s only a damn coincidence she went missing the night we had a fight.”
His silence is answer enough.
My heart tumbles down from my chest to my stomach.
I can’t believe this.
Still, he refuses to be honest with me.
“Dodging my questions, telling me you’ll take care of the situation, taking me to a gambling parlor that’s dangerous to everyone but you, an ex-girlfriend who’s a Caligos?—”
Tell your father I say hi and that he can summon me anytime.Leti’s words ring in my mind.
I shake my head. “I didn’t know what she meant that night, so I dismissed it, but now it makes perfect sense. You’re a fucking Caligos.”
Daegel is out of the bed in the blink of an eye.
His naked chest blocks my view. He takes a step forwards, reaching for me. I recoil, my hips bumping into the windowsill.
The devastation that crosses his beautiful face squeezes my heart painfully. His hand drops back to his side, limp. “Phoenix, please. Let me expla?—”
“What is there to explain?” I raise my voice. “That is why you keep so many secrets, why there are so many ‘complicated’ things in your life.” I scoff, spreading my arms. “All this time you’ve been lying to me about your identity! All the while you made me fall for you, trust you, and think that I know who you are as a person. Do others know?”
I shut my mouth. Of course they do.
It’s a public secret.
I’m the only one who was blind to it.A stupid human. Was this the secret Roman wanted to tell me when he spoke about Daegel?
“I don’t get it. How are you a Caligos if you don’t have the tattoos?” I brace my hands on my hips.
Daegel closes the distance between us. I’m backed up against the window, unable to keep him away. Bracing my palms on his naked, hot chest, I try to put as much distance between us as possible.
I don’t want my stupid attraction to him mess with my mind. I need the truth. All of it.
“I’m not a Caligos. Technically,” he says calmly.
I glare at him. “Do not fucking lie to my face, not right now.”
He spreads his arms. “That’s why I only carry my Ezkai tattoos.”
My eyes scan his beautifully sculpted flesh. I shake my head, confusion clouding my judgment. “I— You say you’re not a Caligos ‘technically.’ What doestechnicallymean?”
“I’m an Ezkai by legacy and blood. Talbots are among the oldest Ezkai families, with many Decarios serving a number of generals over many centuries,” he says. He pauses, as if the next words are hard to say. “But…I’m also a Caligos by legacy and blood.”
