But that was then and this was now.
She tried to look at him with her new eyes, her new information, but he seemed the same to her. He wasn’t acting any differently. He didn’t look any different.
But he was.
“Will you be okay?” She tried to sound as normal as possible.
“I’ll be fine. I think.” He was quiet for a moment, but then frowned. “You know, you’re acting very strangely right now.”
“Am I?”
He came into the kitchenette. She took a quick step back from him.
His frown deepened. “Yes, you are. What’s the problem?”
“Oh, there are a lot of problems. And Leena left. She… decided she didn’t want to stay here anymore.”
“Can’t say I’m sorry to hear that.” He grinned and took another step toward her, then braced a hand against the refrigerator. “So it’s just the two of us now?”
She staggered back from him, hitting the stove behind her and bit her bottom lip, refusing to meet his eyes. “So… how do you plan to convince Selina to break your curse if the moment she senses you, she dampens you? Doesn’t exactly seem like she’s all that open to discussion on the topic.”
Eden originally believed that Darrak meant to reason with the witch to get her to agree to help. But now she knew Darrak had probably planned to kill her to get what he wanted.
“You’re shivering,” Darrak said, his brows drawing together. “Eden, what the hell is going on? Something bad happened last night. What was it?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all. Everything’s super. Fabulous, r eally.”
“You’re lying. Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Don’t come any closer.” Her hand curled around the crystal of salt in her pocket.
He didn’t listen to her and came within two feet before he stopped in his tracks. His forehead creased. Then he swore under his breath. “Who gave you that?”
“Who gave me what?” she asked innocently.
“The big-ass piece of salt you have there.”
“You mean this?” She pulled it out of her pocket and thrust it at him.
Darrak stumbled back a foot, his eyes narrowing. “That would be the big-ass piece of salt I was referring to, yes.”
Eden watched him carefully. “No foaming at your mouth.”
“The day is young. Also, I’m not sucking on it, so that makes the situation much less foamy.” His eyes narrowed further. “What’s going on, Eden?”
“Just trying to protect myself. You know, with a big piece of salt.”
He pointed at his chest. “Protect yourself from me?”
“No, from the ice monster who moved in next door.”
“Okay, so let me take a wild guess here. You were lying before about what happened with Selina.”
“Me, lying?” She let out a short humorless laugh at that. “Interesting. I guess it takes a liar to know a liar, doesn’t it?”
He sighed. “Are we going to play word games, or are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
“I’m okay with word games. Scrabble, crosswords, Boggle. You name it.”
“Did Selina give you that?” He nodded at the salt.
“No. Malcolm did.”
“What?” His jaw clenched. “Did he try to hurt you again?”
Not the reaction she’d expected. “No, just the opposite actually. The drifter you threatened to tear apart yesterday jumped into another body and tried to kill me. Malcolm saved me.”
“Kill you?” he repeated harshly. His brow was lowered over his blue eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m standing here in one piece, aren’t I?”
“Something’s different, though. Very different.” He studied her face with a growing distress in his expression. “Please. Tell me what happened last night. What did that evil bitch say about me?”
She was breathing so fast now that she felt ready to hyper-ventilate. “Actually, she said that you’re an evil, powerful, ex-incubus archdemon and to break the curse you need to kill her and tear out her heart and that everything you’ve told me has been lies so you could get me to do what you want. In a nutshell.”
He stared at her stonily. “What else did she say?”
“That she tried to destroy you out of self-defense and also to redeem herself. But she failed.”
“Oh, she failed, all right.”
She searched his face, which looked more upset than pissed off at her fast-forward recount of last night’s events. “Tell me she’s the one who’s lying.”
He let out a long exhale. “Is that all it would take? Would you believe me again then?” His jaw clenched. “I knew you shouldn’t have gotten too close to her.”
“You’re not denying anything.”
“No, I’m not, am I?”
Her chest hitched. “You said you were a good demon dispatched to get the bad things that escaped the Netherworld. That you protected humans. That was a lie?”
He swallowed hard, then shook his head. “Busted.”
“What?”
“I lied to you,” he said softly. “Selina told you the truth. I am an archdemon. Or, at least, I was.”