What did that say about her? Not many creatures would take such pleasure out of discussing why they might or might not be a monster. Maybe she really had been spending too much time by herself.
“I’m entertained, not offended,” she elaborated.
Suspicion entered his narrowed eyes. His lips flattened into a thin line. “Who are you?”
“Kali.”
“What are you really doing here, Kali?”
“It’s my duty.”
“Right. To serve the harpy.”
Kalindra bit the inside of her cheek as the smile she tried to hold back shook the corners of her mouth. She glanced at the ceiling to hold back the chuckles.
“I don’t believe I said I serve the harpy,” she said after a moment.
She dared a glance at him when he didn’t reply. His whole body had tightened as his focus honed in on her. Such intensity. She sucked in a breath in appreciation. No denying the man was attractive. More so when he glowered at her.
“Yes. You did.”
“No, I said I serve her. I never mentioned the harpy. That was all you.”
It was mean to tease him. But so much fun!
“Who else is here?” he demanded.
She spread her arms out. “Just us.”
“Then who…” He broke off, his eyes narrowing on her. “What do you mean, just us?”
Kalindra merely smiled at him. Answer enough.
“The harpy?”
She raised her eyebrows in answer.
She had to admit, it clicked sooner than she’d have thought. Most others, humans at least, tended to reason away things they didn’t understand. But she saw comprehension before his eyes tracked over her form in a new evaluation, the heat reflected in their depths born of anger instead of attraction.
“You said your name was Kali,” he accused.
“Even monsters need names. If you must know, Kali is short for Kalindra, the name my mother gave me. And before you ask, yes, monsters have mothers, too.”
Now, he would try and backtrack. Tell her that of course he didn’t think her a monster. Try to explain his earlier words. Try to dislodge that foot shoved up his mouth.
“Who is this she you serve?”
Her smile widened. This human kept surprising her. Never quite what she expected. Smart and quick on the uptake. But even handcuffed and beaten, he’d never begged.
When she thought of humans, words like weak, gullible, and simpering came to mind. But Cameron… None of those words fit him. Her eyes roamed over his form, her lips twitching at what she found. Maybe she had the wrong impression of humans. Or maybe Cameron was an exceptional one. Just the fact that he was going head to head with her made her give him a measure of respect.
“The gateway. The one you and your friends crossed through. Somehow…” Her smile slipped a little bit. That mystery still bugged her. How had they gotten past the defenses? And why had she not been summoned the moment they crossed?
No matter. He would explain it to her, and she’d make sure it never happened again.
“You call the gate a she? You said it was a friend.” More accusations.
Put that way, it sounded sad and pathetic. How could she explain the gate to someone who’d never felt anything like the connection between gatekeeper and portal? They were linked in ways only her three fellow guardians could ever understand.
Yes, the gateway was sentient, in a way. It didn’t speak to her, per se, but she felt its emotions. Felt them deep in the pit of her stomach, and knew they were real.
Friend might have been too strong a word, but in a way it was more truthful than any other description she could think of. For so long, the portal was all she had. All she would ever have. They were connected in a way no human could understand.
“I call it a she, though I suppose it doesn’t really have a gender. But it isn’t just an empty portal, either. If you could feel it like I could, you’d understand. It would be foolish not to think of her as sentient.”
“You’re joking.”
“Not at all. She has a mind. Choices. She chose me to serve her. To be her companion in this world. Keep her safe.” Kalindra turned contemplative, as she often did when pondering her role in the world. “For so long, we’ve been together. Us against the world. I will be her companion until the very moment I die. And when I do, she will choose another, and the two of them will share the bond.”
* * * *
Anger drained away as quickly as it had come. How could he stay upset when he saw the desolation on her face? Or heard the bleakness in her voice? He doubted she even knew it was so evident.
Her loneliness infused every word she spoke. It called to him on a primal level. Demanded he help. Even after learning who, and what, she was, he still felt compelled to erase the sadness in her eyes.
Ridiculous. She didn’t need his sympathy. Certainly not his protection. He was her prisoner, for heaven’s sake. He should be feeling bad for himself, not her.
But her words wouldn’t get out of his head. I will be her companion until the very moment I die. And when I do, she will choose another.
No one should feel so replaceable. Especially not someone who dedicated her life to keeping the world safe. Someone who spent her life protecting his worthless behind while he’d been doing what he could to undermine her. Using the gift he’d been given to sneak others into Outremer in a get-rich-quick scheme that had almost cost him his life. One that had cost others theirs.
Shame filled him. He’d called her a monster. To her face. And she’d been…entertained? But who was more monster? Her or him? After all, if not for him, those men he’d brought through the gateway tonight would still be alive. Still be safe in their beds, secure in the certainty that monsters were nothing more than children’s stories.
He was a joke of a keeper. For the first time, he wished his grandfather had chosen someone else. Someone worthy of protecting the shard. But who? His grandfather had raised him after his parents’ death. It had just been the two of them for as long as he could remember. There was no one else.
His appetite deserted him. Cameron put down the knife, and cleared his throat. Piercing gray eyes stared at him as he looked up. The sadness in their depths had been replaced by curiosity. He froze. It seemed as if she could see directly into his soul. He’d heard of creatures that could. Valkyries could supposedly see auras surrounding beings that told of the purity of the soul. Never before had he wondered what his soul looked like, but he suddenly wished he knew. Was his beyond redemption?
“What?” he asked when the silence became too much.
“You feel bad. About what?”
Surprise had Cameron clenching his jaw. Maybe she couldn’t see his soul, but what other powers did she have?
“You can see my emotions?”
Damn her, she laughed. At him. It wasn’t as if he knew anything about her. Okay, so he knew more than most humans. That didn’t make him an expert.
He inhaled, ready to rail at her, especially since she hadn’t stopped laughing. But then he stopped. The smile she threw his way drew him in until he felt included in the laughter. She wasn’t laughing at him. Well, okay, she was. But she was laughing at his ignorance, not his stupidity. And that knowledge alone allowed him to loosen up and smile in the face of her amusement.
“I