When Skylar was finally finished with her rant, Elliot turned his gaze back to her. It was softer than previously, and there was even a slight smile curling the corner of his lips. Very slight, but it was there. The fact that the topic of his peculiar penchant for violence was dropped in favour of this other, more important topic (according to Skylar) was a relief. He finally laid his clean hands on Skylar’s shoulders and looked her dead in the eye.
”I can promise you that I will pass on the news of any death or fatal injury in regards to yourself to Roderic, without incident, depending entirely on the circumstances,” he said; the genuine honesty of his words could not be denied. He meant it. No, he did not trust Roderic. He loathed the faction that Roderic belonged to. He loathed Roderic’s sire—Phoenix was his sire, wasn’t she? All of these things stacked up against the guy and he would have to work to gain Elliot’s favour. Given Elliot’s attitude the last time the two of them had met, he doubted that Roderic had any such desire to prove himself to Skylar’s sire. This was one of those things that Elliot didn’t have any control over, and nor did he really wish to. It was one of those things that had him all knotted up inside because he didn’t know what to do or what to think.
He had been a free man, once. Without worried or responsibilities or obligations. Respect was not a thing he would demand from any man, was it? He shook his head.
”In regards to our previous conversation, though – if he knocked you up with one of those monsters and did not take responsibility for it, if you disappeared and didn’t tell him and he failed to try to find you, I would kill him. I would tear him apart like I did that fadebeast,” he said, gesturing to the mess over Skylar’s shoulder. ”I can tell you that in a situation where he is the cause of your death, inadvertent or not, I would try to hear his side of the story,” he said. ‘Try’ being the important word, there, as Elliot was uncertain that his temper would allow him to.
”Happy?”