"What if we got the location out of her without her breaking her vow?" I suggest.

His brows draw together.

"Continue." He nods at me.

"If she visits the hiding place of the vial, and we follow behind, wouldn't that work as keeping her vow? She's not directly revealing the location to us. She's not speaking of it."

"That would be a good idea if she were amenable to it," Ze notes as he returns his attention to the priestess. "It is how Helen and Elias worked around their own vow."

"But it could work, no? She does not have to die."

"You would have her live after she behaved so appallingly to you?" His eyes flash.

"She was only doing her job, Ze." I sigh. "Yeah, she's not the most likable person I've ever met, but she was only trying to do her duty. I think we should give her a fair chance."

"You have too soft a heart, human."

"And you have no heart, Ze." I shake my head at him. "The least you could do is let me balance you out with my soft heart," I fire at him, fighting a smile. "It would certainly make you more...nice," I add, knowing those magic words would get a reaction out of him.

"Nice?" He repeats the word with slow, deliberate strokes of his tongue. His eyes sparkle, the murderous aura surrounding him all but gone.

"Yes, that would make you very nice. You want to be nice, don't you?" I ask, fluttering my lashes.

He fully turns toward me, letting the priestess drop to the floor with a thud.

"If you say that would make me nice..." he starts, a little unsure but eager nonetheless.

"It would." I nod as I walk to the priestess, dropping to my haunches to be on eye level with her. She strikes a pitiful picture. If a few moments ago I'd been terrified of her, now I only feel bad for how the fates have turned. Her paint is smeared over her face, mixed with the blood she spilled. Her features are tighter, more strained, as if she's aged a hundred years in the span of a second.

"You have one chance to avoid a painful death, and trust me, if you refuse this, there will be nothing I can do to help you anymore," I whisper. "You know him. You've heard of him. You are well aware he is more than capable of delivering his threats."

She seethes quietly as she glares at me.

"What are you?" She hisses between her teeth. "You are no more human than I am."

"But the truth is that I am." I sigh. "Whether you believe it or not."