Page 12 of Daughter of the Dark

Ususi.

Solana tried to run, but her feet were rooted to the spot. She tried to scream, but her voice was sucked away by the wind. She could only watch as the figure disappeared, nothing but tendrils of smoke and ash left behind.

When she woke, her dream dissipating like muki in the light, she was no longer lying on her back chained to the table. Thank the sun. But her arms felt heavy still, and when she tried to lift one to push the hair out of her eyes, she found herself unable to move. In fact, both of her arms and legs were restrained, tied to a chair in the corner of the same room she had been in for gods knew how long.

And Reyes sat across from her, his long legs stretched out in front of him as if to highlight his freedom and her lack of.

“Ah, you’re awake,” he said, shifting so that his elbows were on his thighs, his hands clasped lightly between them. “I was beginning to wonder if I’d gone too far.”

Solana gave him a baleful smile. “I doubt you’ve ever wondered that a day in your life.”

Reyes’s eyes tightened. It was the only sign of emotion she’d seen him give. “A few more questions, and then we can be done. Will you cooperate?”

There was no blade in his hands, no weapon that she could see. He looked relaxed, and because she was a foolish woman, she relaxed, too. “I’ve been cooperating this entire time.”

“That’s debatable. You haven’t told me the truth about the blade, your father, those demons—sorry, muki—you killed.”

He was trying to connect with her, using the term they used for their returned dead in the callejon. Too bad she still had no idea what he wanted her to say. “I killed them. What more is there to say? Do you want to know exactly how I did it? Play-by-play? It all started when—”

“Oh, I saw it all happen. I was watching your every move, which is how I saw you give a command, and the muki obeyed.”

Solana blinked at him. “Do you think,” she said between deep breaths, “that if I could command demons, I would be living the life that I live?”

“See, that’s what I don’t understand.” Reyes leaned closer, the gray of his eyes glinting like the blade he had held against her skin in the low, warm light. “You’re the Queen of the Callejon, the famed Demon Slayer of Supay, and yet you slink through the shadows. Your fee is embarrassing, your sword work is sloppy, even if it is efficient, and you have an ancient dagger with himaya of a color that no one has seen before. So, who do you work for? Who has you on a leash?”

“Nobody,” she said through gritted teeth. “My only motivation is money. That’s why I kill demons. I answer to no one but myself.”

Reyes leaned back, disappointment limning his eyes as they darted between hers, searching and weighing. Whatever he found left him wanting. “Then you’re even more of a coward than I thought.”

Solana batted her lashes at him. “Aw, you think about me?”

He gave no reaction to that. “You said the dagger belonged to your father. Where did he get it from?”

“I don’t know,” Solana answered truthfully. “My mother only told me it was his and gave it to me right before she died.”

“Convenient.”

“Yes, having dead parents is very convenient. There is no one to question all your life choices.”

“Hence, the demon hunting.” Reyes crossed one leg over the other and then his arms over his chest and leaned back, entirely at ease. “Surely, there are more desirable professions to choose from.”

Solana scoffed. “It was either hunter or courtesan, and at least with hunting, I don’t have to deal with incompetent or egotistical men.” She gave him a pointed look. “Usually.”

There was a time when she had truly considered approaching one specific pleasure house. Sex had always been easy for her, a way to dissociate from life and grief and allow herself to feel good. It was emotionless, transactional. Though it seemed like it might be, demon dispatching was not. But she wanted the easy things in her life to stay that way. Even if she had eventually ruined that as well, just as she seemed to everything else.

Reyes ignored her barb and unfolded from his seat. Solana’s stomach immediately tightened, but he simply bent over, scooped up a water canteen from underneath his chair, and unlatched the top. Then he stood and dropped to one knee in front of her and held the canteen to her lips. Solana eyed him warily for all of two heartbeats before her survival instincts screamed at her to receive whatever he was willing to give.

The gentleness with which he poured water into her mouth was eclipsed by the way she greedily chugged it down, and the whimper that left her when he pulled it away.

“The man with you. Who is he?” Reyes asked, his voice back to the soothing, forgiving facade he had started with.

Panic bubbled in Solana’s chest. The rest of the water went down like a rock, sharp and cutting, but she kept her expression as neutral as possible. “He’s no one,” she lied. It was harder to do knowing what had transpired after the last of her lies. For good measure, she added, “Someone infatuated enough to follow me around like a puppy.”

Reyes’s head tilted, eyes narrowing in disbelief. “An infatuation he was willing to die for?”

Though she looked a mess and smelled terribly, she cocked an eyebrow and gave him her best smirk. “Can you blame him?”

With a laugh, Reyes stood, towering over her, his black shirt pulling taut over his chest and shoulders, and rolled his head. “You have plenty of nerve, I’ll give you that. For your sake, I hope it’s enough.”