Bayou Moon (The Edge #2)(39)
Author: Ilona Andrews

In her head, Cerise walked over to him, put her arms around his neck, and kissed him, looking right into those wild eyes. And in her head it would have to stay. For now.

"Better?" she asked.

"Much." He sat there, blinking, crushed that his scheme had fallen apart. He looked . . . sad. One moment he was some sort of hellspawn with glowing eyes, the next he was a sack of gloom, and all of it looked and felt completely genuine.

She should’ve walked away, except that he knew the Hand, knew it better than anyone she could think of, probably better than anyone in the Mire, and she needed his knowledge desperately. Yes, that was it.

Stop, she told herself.

The path to becoming a flash fighter was paved with years of training, but it started with one simple rule: never lie to yourself. It meant accepting your true motivations, owning your emotions and desires without pretending they were noble or evil. It was easy to understand but hard to follow. Just like now.

She had to admit and accept the reality: William with his amber eyes and his wolfish laugh, crazy, lethal William, made her head spin. He was like a dangerous puzzle box full of razor blades – press the wrong switch and the blades would slice your fingers to ribbons. And she was the fool who couldn’t wait to press the switches and find out the right one.

Cerise exhaled. She wanted him, fine. No use denying it. But that alone wasn’t enough to let him into the house. Now that she admitted it, she had no trouble putting it aside.

"A man like you wouldn’t be out in the Mire looking for some trinket, William. You lied to me, and I almost took you to my house, where my family lives. I can’t afford to be lied to."

"Fair enough," he said.

"Still, you could’ve killed me when I slept. You didn’t. You helped me hide from the Hand, and you saved my cousin. Level with me, William. Why are you here? Are you working for somebody? Tell me."

Tell me because I don’t want to leave you in this swamp. Tell me so I know we have a chance.

"If you can’t, no hard feelings. We’ll go our separate ways from here. I’ll even draw you a map to get you back to town. If you can’t tell me why you’ve attached yourself to me, just say nothing. But don’t lie to me, or I swear, you’ll come to deeply regret it. I may work together with you, but I won’t let you use me or my family." Cerise raised her chin. "What will it be?"

HE had to lie.

Cerise was a granddaughter of Louisiana bluebloods. They killed his kind in Louisiana. To her, he was an abomination.

In his head, William had somehow managed to gloss over that fact. But now it stared back at him. He would have to be very careful, William decided. She was scared enough as is. He would have to hide who he was until she was used to him.

He didn’t mean to scare her, but damn, she would be fun to chase. He would give her a head start. And when he caught her, he would make sure she wouldn’t want to run away again.

But she didn’t run. She just stood there, waiting for his answer.

The Mirror would have to be kept out of it as well. The Hand was one rock, the Mirror was the other, and her family was caught in the middle as they clashed. Cerise would think he would use her – and he would – and she knew that in the greater scheme of things, a few Edgers mattered very little.

He had to lie.

That’s what spies did – they lied to get what they wanted. He had to be slick about it, because if he failed, she would wander off into the Mire, leaving him holding the severed end of their conversation, and he wouldn’t do a damn thing about it. It would be a low thing to hurt her. She was protecting her family. If he had one, he would do exactly what she was doing.

He had to convince her that he was working for himself, out on his own personal goal of revenge. And that he was human.

William looked at her. "The man who took your parents is called Spider. I’m here to kill him."

Cerise blinked. "Why?

She had to ask that. William looked away at the river, trying to keep the memories under control. "Four years ago he slaughtered some children. They were important to me."

"Were they your children?" she asked softly.

He exhaled slowly, as the wild in him howled. "No. I don’t have any family."

"I’m sorry," she said.

William almost snarled. He didn’t want her to feel sorry for him. He wanted her to see that he was strong and fast and he could take care of himself. "The first time I got to him, he broke my legs." William got up, shrugged off his jacket, and pulled up his T-shirt, showing her the long scar that snaked its way up his back. "This was the second time. He had something on his knife, some sort of poison."

She took a step closer. "And what did you do to him?"

William smiled, remembering. "I beat the shit out of him with a boat anchor. Would’ve done him in, but he knocked me into the water and then the damn boat blew up. I was bleeding a bit by that time from the cut and my throat had closed up from the poison, so there wasn’t much I could do about it."

"So you’re thinking the third time might be the charm?" she asked.

It better be. "I’ll kill him this time," he promised. Thinking about ripping Spider apart laced his voice with a happy lupine growl.

She took another step forward. Getting closer and closer. Another step and he would be in her striking range. She was sneaking up on him.

"How did you know Spider is in the Mire?"

He had to give her more information or she wouldn’t believe him. "The man in Sicktree. The taxidermist."

"Zeke?"

"He works for me."

Her eyes went wide as saucers. "How?"

"Zeke has contacts in the Weird." Technically that was true. "People know I’m looking for Spider and will pay for the information." Also true. "He let his people know that Spider is in the Edge, and they got in touch with me." True again. The trick to lying was to tell the truth.

"So when the two of you went to the back …"

"He was explaining to me all about you and the Sheeriles."

"Sonovabitch. And I stood there like an idiot, waiting for the two of you and thinking, ‘He sure is taking his time. Zeke must be milking him for every coin he has.’ You made me feel …"

He took a wide step and stood next to her. "Yes?"

She looked up at him. Want. Want the woman, want, want, want . . .

"You made me feel stupid." Her voice went soft. "Are you even a blueblood?"

"Technically."

"What does that mean?"

William smiled. "It means they call me Lord Sandine, but aside from that, I’ve got nothing. No power, no land, no status. I’ve got some money saved from the service, and most of it is on me right now." Well, that was an outright lie. The Mirror had supplied him with money.