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away with that, he will become bolder and more harmful. Trust me, I know. Unless it is immediately quelled, malice only grows.”
    “I didn’t feel his malice.”
    “Then you are a fool.”
    She stiffened at his insult. “So you keep telling me. Fine then, I shall take my foolish self back to my room where it cannot offend you any further.” She started away from him.
    “I thought you were hungry.”
    “I have lost my appetite.”
    She continued down the hallway, without looking back. As she neared the bend that would return her to her room, Kerrigan appeared before her. “You need to eat.”
    She stamped down the fear she felt at his unholy powers. It would do her no good to break off into a fit of terror. Her mother had raised her to be strong in the face of any challenge—though to be honest, she doubted if her mother had ever conceived of a challenge such as this. “If I refuse, will you beat me, too?”
    He looked confounded by her. “Why are you so angry over how I treated a grayling? He would just as soon eat your heart as look at you. The only thing they respect is someone more powerful and more sinister than they.”
    “Might should never make right.”
    He looked even more baffled. “What?”
    “’Tis something a bard said about the king of Camelot. The purpose of this castle was to be a protection against evil. The goal of the knights of the Round Table was to protect those who couldn’t protect—”
    “There are no knights here, Seren. Only demons.”
    His words gave her pause. “Does that include you?”
    “Aye, it does.”
    “Then I am sorry for you, my lord. Everyone should know kindness and compassion.”
    Her words seemed to anger him again. “Bah, go, return to your room. I couldn’t care less whether or not you starve.” He stepped around her and headed away.
    “My lord?”
    He paused to look back at her.
    “Have you a name, sir?”
    He glanced away before he answered. “Nay, I do not. I am only known by the fey title that they give to all who command demons. You may call me Kerrigan.”
    Kerrigan. It was a strong name and seemed somehow suited to the role it was chosen for. However, it wasn’t the name she wanted. “But the name you had before you came here? What was it?”
    His eyes blazed red fire at her. “They called me boy, bastard, or maggot. I now only answer to those with the blade of my sword.”
    Her heart clenched at his words. How horrible for him to not even have something so simple as aname to call his own. “I am sorry for that, my lord. No man should be without a name.”
    He cocked his head as he studied her curiously. “You’re not afraid of me, are you, little mouse?”
    “Should I be?”
    “Everyone else is.” His tone was cold and matter-of-fact.
    “But should I be afraid of you?”
    Kerrigan reached out to brush his hand through the softness of her hair. Aye, she should be terrified of him. He held no regard for anyone or anything. Life, whether his own or someone else’s, held no meaning or value whatsoever where he was concerned.
    Yet he didn’t want this tiny woman to fear him.
    “Nay, Seren. You have nothing to fear from me.” He brought the lock of hair to his lips so that he could feel it against his lips, smell the faint, sweet rose scent of her.
    Seren trembled at the sight of a man so dark, so fierce, being so tender. It was incongruous and puzzling.
    He released her hair, then smoothed it down. “Come and eat, girl. You need to keep up your strength.”
    She started to remind him what he had just said about not caring, but decided to hold her tongue. She was, in fact, starving.
    He held his arm out to her. Seren took it, then withdrew with a hiss. His black armor was so cold that it burned her skin. “Forgive me,” he said, moving away from her. “I forgot about that.”
    “Why are you so cold?”
    “’Tis the nature of my existence. My armor only knows heat when it’s beneath the human sun, otherwise it’s the same