Page 10 of Snake Eyes & Bad Luck

“Right,” she muttered, ducking her head.

“I know yer smarter than that, darlin,” he chuckled. “Ain’t nothin’ out there but endless swamp. And even if ya make it out, yer a wanted wretch like me, remember? Workin’ for me’s the smart choice. Ya know this.”

She hated that he was right. Stopped in front of the doorway, she repeated to herself how much she loathed him. That stupid, knowing smirk, that purr of a voice, the threat of his violence and yet allure, all of it was reprehensible. Pivoting on her heel, she glared up at him. “You don’t know a thing about me.”

Cottonmouth arched a brow; arms crossed over his uncovered chest. Leaning against the doorframe, he caged her back into the other half of the frame. “I know everythin’ there is to know about you.”

“Prove it!” She snapped, fists rattling by her side. Fury filled her veins with a violent buzzing, a thousand wasps stinging up her insides. What am I doing? She was embarrassing herself and for what? What point would she prove? Other than Cottonmouth could or couldn’t read her like a book after only knowing her for a few hours? Avelina wasn’t the furious sort. Usually, she was the kind, soft voice. The sting of having abandoned Tala back in Eshorion, unable to even tell her best friend everything was fine? It made the culmination of fearing the cruel man in front of her worse. Because it made her acknowledge something she’d always known but never said out loud about herself. Coward. Without Tala, she was a cowering, crybaby. Show him! “Tell me five things about myself, if you know everything about me.”

“Is that a challenge I hear?” he teased, lips curling up higher on his cocky face. His tail rattled a little behind him. “We don’t issue challenges without a prize here, Darlin. Ya willin’ to put somethin’ on that?”

“I’d love to, but I currently don’t have any coin,” she sneered. Avelina patted herself as if to accentuate the fact she had nothing on her person but her skin and bad attitude.

“Aye, and only a fool bets his own coin. How about that pretty rock of yers, huh? I wager I can state five true facts about you, and if I can’t, I’ll give it back to ya.”

Her face paled, eyes widening. Tala. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to be some complex, femme fatale in a noir detective novel where she left the protagonist guessing till the very last second. Avelina cursed herself for being so easy to read, because the way his shoulders jostled, it was clear he knew what she really cared about. He could have offered her a free ride out of there, could have offered her a clean slate, anything…and the carrot he dangled in front of her face was Tala. Damnit. She gritted her teeth. “And what do you want if you win?”

Cottonmouth tapped a finger against his chin. Thump, thump, thump, a faux ponder etched into his features. Then he lunged forward and she gasped, jolting in her skin as he planted a hand against the wood over her head. It groaned under his weight as he loomed terribly close to her face. “A kiss.”

Avelina deflated with a scoff. “Really?”

“Really. I want a real smooch. And yer not allowed to bite me for it either,” he huffed, eyeing her sharply. Inch by inch, he retreated, studying her face. She opened her mouth before he cut her off quickly again. “On the lips, darlin.”

She huffed, throwing her arms out to the side. “Fine!”

A kiss? That’s it? Did he think she was allergic to lips? Or was this more manipulation? Was this the entry way to the—nope! No, not thinking about cocks or pockets or Cottonmouth as anything other than a rotten bastard.

“Excellent. Fact number one. Yer daddy’s a Paladin. I’d even wager to say, he’s an important one. Like the Knight Commander?”

Her heart sank into her belly, and she sank an inch against the frame, her knees threatening to give. No. No, shit, no. Lip quivering, she tried to form words, but her mind was on the newspapers in Parandor. Her face splashed over all of them. Murderer! Patricide! She whimpered, “How did you know that?”

“Wasn’t hard to figure, little viper. Look at ya. Complicated relationship with the Paladins, guilt over all those deaths, and yet not a teardrop for yer daddy? Also, not a surprise, is yer momma wasn’t. Nah, ye’ve got a spirit in ya—sweet, desperate for approval, afraid of violence. Bet yer momma was a real nice lady. Probably had a family home in Eshorion, where the two of ya hid from him for most of yer life. But then he shows up and yoinks ya out of that life…meaning, that fun second fact is that she’s dead. Ain’t she.”

Avelina pushed off the frame, jabbing a finger at him. “Fine, I guess you got two. But it’s not a hard leap, try for something more impressive or else this doesn’t count.”

His eyes hardened. Those slits, like a paper cut through sheets of gold, made his gaze harsher as he slithered closer. Cottonmouth met her in the middle of that doorframe and growled darkly, “Want better, huh? How about the fact that yer not even sad about yer dead momma, huh? Guarantee ya didn’t even cry over her. Wonder why that is?”

“That’s not a fact,” Avelina huffed.

“Probably cause ya only care about that Tala girl. Bet if she’d been the sick one and not yer momma, you’d never have left the city. Ye’d die of a broken heart first.” He spoke a dagger right into her chest. Avelina stumbled back a step; hands clutched to her collarbone. Oh. Oh fuck. No, that’s not—it’s different. Tala is different. She’s…more important. Her lower lip trembled. Cottonmouth lowered his head to whisper in her ear. “That’s three, darlin’.”

“The deal was five,” she blurted out as a way to stave off the horror creeping up her spine. I didn’t grieve Dalgna, not like she deserved from her only daughter. Avelina gave her mother a whole ceremony, letting people come in and give their condolences, all while Tala stood at her side. At the time, she thought she’d been taking it fine because she accepted it. Her mother had been ill for a long time, everyone knew she was on borrowed time. The only person who seemed shocked by it was her father when he came to bury her at the temple.

Then she realized, while her mother had been dear to her, the reason she moved on was Tala. She didn’t lose the person who mattered to her. Ooof, that stung.

“Fine, then number four is that despite yer current warlock skill, you couldn’t cast a lick before signing yer soul away.”

Avelina sputtered, gaze darting up from the floor where it fell to his face. “And how’d you know that, huh? How could you have possibly known that?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, arms out at his sides. The tone was back to being playful with a slightly raspy laugh as he continued, “Most spellslingers don’t look shocked when their spells work. Cause they know they’ll work. Cause they’ve practiced magic before, unlike someone who looked like she might fall apart at the seams.”

“Oh, har-har, okay, you got me! I wasn’t a mage, alright? But if that’s all you got, I’d like my property back now.” Avelina rolled her eyes, one hand on her hip and one palm out to him. She didn’t want to hear what he could scrape up for a fifth fact. If Avelina never heard another thing about herself, it’d be too soon. She was apparently an open book and it was so terrifying to be perceived.

Cottonmouth watched her, smugly. It made her swallow hard as he studied her intently. His shoulders swayed slightly with delight, and she knew something was brewing. Oh, what now. She grimaced as he finally exhaled. “Now, it’s only fair I get my shot at all five…”

He trailed off, leaving her on a knife’s edge. Cottonmouth raked his gaze down her body, making her skin crawl. She unconsciously crossed her arms over her chest to cover up like it mattered at all. There was only thin cotton between his claws and her flesh. Her thighs clenched pre-emptively as he hummed. “Despite the fact that yer a fan of romance books. I even wager, ye’ve got quite the collection, or had before yer daddy snatched you up.”

Avelina rolled her eyes, licking her lips and starting to tell him off about his wild shot at her about romance when he cut her off.