“I’ve already asked you about what you remember.”
“No, I mean, ask me our nightly question. You ask me a question, and I’ll ask you.”
“We don’t need to play our game tonight. You need to rest and—”
“No, we need to play our game.” I sit up abruptly, looking him in the eyes so he knows how serious I am. “We need to play.”
He looks stunned. His mouth has dropped, and he’s speechless.
“I’ll ask my question first, if that’s easier.”
He searches my eyes, trying to understand why I’m asking. Finally, he realizes why I’m insisting on playing. This is a game of trust. We need to regain some of the trust we once had as kids. It’s the only way we’ll survive.
He nods, telling me to go ahead.
“Why are you married to Phoenix?” I ask a tough question, one I need to know the answer to. If he answers, it will mean he wants to earn my trust the same way I do his.
“I can’t, huntress. I can’t tell you the whole truth.”
“Then, tell me part of the truth. Tell me what you can. Don’t lie to me. We need to relearn some trust if we are going to survive, if we are going to get out of here, together. We are on the same side for now.”
“Are we?”
I nod as I look down at our joined hands. Langston stares too.
“I’m married to Phoenix because I needed her.”
I frown as I stare up at him, not understanding. “You needed her as in you needed someone who cared about you? Someone you could be romantic with? Someone to love?”
“I’ve never experienced romantic love. Not like you and Waylon. I needed Phoenix’s help with an outside matter. She was the only person who could help me.”
“You mean you needed to marry a Dunn to go after the treasure?”
“That was an added bonus, but it wasn’t the reason I married her.”
I search his eyes for the rest of the truth, but I know this is as much as I’m going to get from him. He didn’t marry Phoenix because he loves her. He didn’t marry her so that he could go after the treasure. Why did he marry her? My brain is flooding with possibilities, but none of them make sense to me.
“Thank you for what you told me.” I smile weakly as I stare back at our hands, wishing that his words would have brought us closer together instead of the opposite.
“I’ve never loved anyone, Liesel. The only woman I could have ever loved hates me, and so I will never love.”
My heart aches at his words. He’s talking about me. I’m the woman he could have loved if things were different. I know because he is a man I could have loved if things were different.
I swallow down the pain. “What do you want to know?”
He thinks for a minute, and I think he’s going to ask me more about Waylon. “I know you wanted to hurt me. You know Siren is one of the most important people in my life outside of my children. But why? Why did you have to kill her?” His voice shakes as he speaks.
I know for a fact that he doesn’t know if Siren is alive or dead. He’s just guessing based on her condition and our luck.
His fingers start to pull away from my grasp. It’s like he chose this topic because he felt himself getting too close to me and needed a reason to hate me again.
I don’t let him pull away.
“Siren isn’t dead,” I say.
“What? How do you know that?”
I bite my lip, considering my answer.