All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [45]
The list was too long to begin, even if he had had any intention of sharing with the birdbrained witch.
“If I thought it was any of your business, I’d say something aloud,” he said flatly.
“I’m pretty sure it is my business when it starts making you wonder whether you want to win, especially since you’re likely to be watching my back,” Jay replied.
“How about you get out of my head and focus on the problem at hand?” Zachary snapped, grateful that no one who really mattered was around to hear the sharp response. He was exhausted, physically and mentally and emotionally. He desperately needed to sleep. More importantly, he needed a chance to relax, to drop all his guards and pretenses and rest.
He knew it wasn’t acceptable to need that. The self-control that took up much of his energy should have been real, not feigned, not something so heavy to carry around.
“The problem at hand …” Jay shrugged. “I have replayed the event in my mind a thousand times since everything went bad, and I can come to no other conclusion. Sarah was going to turn herself in. She was as surprised as we were when the others appeared. She didn’t come there with the intent to betray you.”
“Maybe your abilities are not as sharp as you think they are,” Zachary said, much more at ease now that the conversation had turned back to their current mission. Focusing on a hunt had often been what had gotten him through the worst times.
Jay smiled, an expression that was strangely sharp and warm and biting all at once. “My abilities are every bit as advanced as yours are, Zachary Vida. They would have to be before I could even begin to read one of your line. And Sarah had every intention of dying the day she approached us. She is desperate, she is scared, and I will say it if no one else will: I do not think she is, or ever will be, a monster. I think we are hunting innocent prey, and I do not like doing that.”
Zachary tensed. “Does that mean you would defy the Rights of Kin?”
“Of course not.” From most people, the instant words would have sounded insincere, but every word Jay said seemed to be measured and considered. “My first loyalty is to my kin. If Sarah was willing to sacrifice herself, then that shows she, too, is still loyal to that same idea. If we cannot survive without destroying that which shows us what we could be … well …” He shrugged. “It is an idea I find distasteful, but survival sometimes requires doing that which you would prefer not to.”
Finally, Zachary let himself say the words that had been on the tip of his tongue almost since Jay first walked into Dominique’s home and introduced himself.
“You creep me out, Jay.”
The Marinitch witch laughed. “I think I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said. “Who’s the woman?”
The question was so unexpected that Zachary exclaimed, “What?”
There was only one woman Jay could be asking about.
Jay tilted his head inquisitively. “I am not aware of any ancient Vida law that forbids her line from having relationships. So why do you hide it?”
“I don’t—” He broke off, because denials were effectively useless. He didn’t recall thinking about her, though he knew she came to mind intermittently, especially when he was this tired. “I don’t hide it. But I don’t discuss my personal life with people like Dominique or Adia, either. That just isn’t the relationship we have,” he said, settling for honesty, since he knew a lie wasn’t likely to get him far. “And frankly, it isn’t the relationship you and I have, either, so I would appreciate it if you dropped the subject.”
There was no law against a Vida having a relationship. It had in fact been hinted to him, strongly and frequently, that he was twenty-six years old and should get around to choosing a partner so he could pass on the Vida genes, like some kind of prize bull. But the only girl Zachary could possibly bring home—so to speak—was one who was capable of taking down a vampire using her bare hands. Anyone he might describe as comforting was no one Dominique would approve of or even want to know about.
He left before Jay had a chance to make any more