Redamancy | Elena Gilbert

Chapter 57

It would have ticked her off more if he started asking questions about Elena, or about her backstory. She'd have snapped at him to get him to stop (and what a fatal mistake that would have been; he'd never ever leave her alone). But the tongue clicking and singing, she could tolerate just enough. She was more focused on driving carefully. Kai's hands were too restricted to cause an accident, but she could never be too sure he wouldn't find some way to make them crash just for his own entertainment.

They didn't arrive in Nova Scotia until four in the morning. Ruby helped Bonnie to the hotel they were staying at. Rosalind forced Kai to sit still while she unloaded the bags, then dragged him to the room she was going to share with him, granting Ruby and Bonnie some peace. She'd duck-taped him to the bed, which granted was probably unnecessary because whether he admitted it or not, he was exhausted, and she was a light enough sleeper to sense if he ever tried to sneak out. She went through with the extra precaution anyway. She sort of liked tormenting him.

"Rise and shine," said Rosalind, pushing the curtains open at eleven o'clock. Kai groaned, trying to roll over and cover his eyes, but finding he couldn't. "I'm removing the zip ties and the tape so you can shower. I'm going to teach Ruby to make some breakfast foods. We'll be in the kitchen. I suggest you go down when you're ready and socialize nicely, or we'll abandon you while we go to the cave." She changed her voice to sound like she was talking to a small boy. "You want to go to the cave, sweetie? Be a good boy."

"You are a bitch," said Kai, holding out his hands. She removed the zip tie with her bare hands, burning his skin just a tad and making him hiss.

Rosalind shrugged. "Call me whatever you want. There, you're free. Go take a shower."

Kai didn't move. "Why do you call her Ruby?"

"It feels wrong to call her 'Mom.' The feeling was mutual, we'd just rather call each other by our first names. Why do you care?"

"She cried when she thought I killed you."

"She didn't remember that I can't die that way. Again, why do you care? She won't fall for it a second time, in case you were thinking of killing me."

Kai just narrowed his eyes. "She cried for you before. When I met her and she told me about you, she cried, thinking she'd never see you. That she made a mistake not going back as soon as she was able to control her hunger."

Rosalind shook her head. "It doesn't matter to me, Kai. We're on good terms, her and I. We'll probably go our separate ways when we leave this prison world. I don't know what you think you're accomplishing by telling me this, but it's really just a waste of my time. Whatever she told me is what I'll believe. No offense, but I don't really trust anything you tell me."

Kai continued to stare at her. She suspected he was starting to test out all the ways he could get her to lose her temper with him.

"We slept together," he mentioned before she could leave the room. "Several times."

"Okay, and?"

"I slept with your mom."

"I slept with yours. You just didn't know it because you were in this hellhole."

His jaw tightened. "My bitch of a mother died two years before I got put in here."

"For the record," said Rosalind, "I am sorry that you had to deal with negligent and abusive parents all because you were born with abilities you didn't ask for. Doesn't excuse the fact you went on to kill your siblings, but... I get where you were coming from."

"You killed way more people than me. And yet, nobody seems to think of you as a bad person."

"Everyone knows I'm a bad person," said Rosalind. "I don't claim to be a saint. I'm one of the worst people a person could interact with. The difference is that I at least try to hold life sacred. Yes, I lose my temper and I lash out, yes I did godawful things when my humanity was off. I can't change that about myself and I really don't care to. I just keep certain rules in my own mind. Rule number one, no hurting young children. I never hurt a child even with my humanity off. The only minor I ever killed was Toby, and since then I haven't ever hurt an underage person. Rule number two, no hurting someone who is completely innocent. If they've done nothing to me or to anybody else, I don't hurt them. Now, if they've done anything wrong to someone I love, the story changes."