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He blew out a breath, his head wagging. “This is not the time, Kat.”

“Yes, it is.” My voice rose, desperate to get my answers. “I need to know the full truth. I think you owe it to me.”

“No!” He turned to me, rage flaming behind his eyes, his body almost pressing into mine. “When I tell you it’s not the time…” He leaned in close, his nose almost touching mine. “I mean it. I’m hanging by a thread here. Don’t push me.”

“And what if I do?” I defied him, pretending I didn’t feel the rush of fear and fury. Wanting to push him past the point of cracking, needing to crack the unbreakable Silver-Tongue Devil. Somehow I knew in my gut he needed it more than anything. “What are you going to do to me?” I inched forward, getting a hair’s breadth from his face, his nose flaring at my nearness, his eyes dropping to my mouth, then darting back up again. “Kill me?”

“Kat,” he warned me, only fanning the flames of my own anger. He made me forget my grief, my father, because being near him short-circuited my brain. He was the reason I had no family. I had nothing but memories of struggle and pain, of being beaten at the boarding school, of fighting to stay alive in the streets not intended for girls. Even though I was an excellent fighter, when I was up against a gang of boys, there was no way of winning. At night I went to sleep curled into a ball, wearing his coat, beaten, bloody, and starving, wishing for death to take me by morning.

However, morning always came, and, needing to face another day, I got back up. I practiced and trained even harder, determined to make every one of those boys who hurt me pay.

Including Croygen.

He was the only one left to pay his debt.

“Come on, Croygen.” I challenged him as thunder rumbled, the storm skirting across the sky. “So far you seem to be all talk. Has the devil lost his touch?”

“Katrina.” His teeth gnashed together, his tendons straining at his neck. “I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I.” I slipped up to him, my fingers wrapping around the handle of his sword at his waist. The sound of the blade leaving its sheath sizzled through me, revving me up like only fighting and sex could do. “Come on, Croygen. Show me what the illustrious pirate can do.” I tossed his sword back to him, the devil catching it with one hand. Emotion thumped off him, the desire to combat the world. I could feel his need to fight, to taste the blood of his victim, to dance close to the edge.

It spurred my own emotions, needing to give him what he desired. What we both craved. I yanked my sword out from my sheath. Even in the modern world, he and I were still old-school pirates. We had guns for protection, but our swords were for battle.

Gripping the handle, I stepped back, watching his gaze roll over me as the storm brewing inside him rumbled as loud as the one rolling over our heads. His eyes latched onto mine, filled with hunger.

Hunger for a fight.

Moving back, we began circling each other.

“You sure you want this, Kitty-Kat?”

“Oh, yeah.”

He shuffled forward, his blade chinking against mine. A crack of lightning boomed overhead, almost as if the storm felt our energy. Pushing his blade to the side, he retreated, our feet moving quicker.

I could easily take on the best of the best. However, Croygen was unsurpassed, even beating Master Yukimura when they trained. He went from my role model to my nemesis.

“This how you killed my father?”Clank. Clank. Our swords sparked off each other. “Oh right, you stabbed him in the heart with his own dagger.”

Lunging, he tried to nick my side, but I spun out of the way.

“How fast did Killian run to you? Couldn’t wait to tell you, could he?” he mocked. “And I bet you believed him without question. Your boy was so in love with you, he would have told you the sky was red if you wanted him to.”

Clank. Clank. Clank.

“Are you saying he’s lying?”

“I’m saying not every story is black and white.” He regripped his sword, circling.

“I didn’t know killing my father, your own right-hand man, was considered a gray area.”

“You ask for a truth you are not ready to know.”

“Yes or no. Did you kill my father?”

“Yes.” He slanted his head. “And no.”

Rage pumped momentum into my muscles, a grunt coming from me as I lunged for him. Our swords crashed together, thunder responding as rain started pouring down, the skies opening up, dumping their tears on us.