Counting Shadows (Duplicity)

right he is. Knowing he
knows
how right he is. It was words that killed Ashe, just a few whispers in the ear of Father. And, somehow, this man is tied to that.
    I glare at him, doing my best to look intimidating, despite the shivers crawling over my skin. “What’s your name?”
    He bows deeply, the motion even more sarcastic than his words. “My name is Lor. At your service, sweetheart.” He looks up and winks. “Any service.”
    “I’m not here to play games with you,” I growl.
    “Too bad.”
    “I want to know
right now
. What part are you playing in this? How do you know my Guardian’s killer? What did you have to gain from his death?” I gasp in air, suddenly out of breath.
    Lor tilts his head and stares at me for a long moment, his eyebrows raised in amusement. “You know,” he says, his voice softening to a tone that’s darkly patronizing. “Where I come from, it’s considered rather rude to come barging into someone’s prison cell and accuse them of murder. That’s usually done
before
the whole incarceration thing.”
    “Stop messing with me,” I snarl. “You know my Guardian’s murderer!”
    “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
    I clench my fist and take a trembling step toward him. “You look
exactly
like him. How could you not know who he is?”
    Lor’s face darkens, but he quickly replaces the expression with boredom. “You say he looks exactly like me?”
    “Yes.”
    Lor lets out a long sigh and nods curtly. “Well. Then that settles it.”
    My stomach does a leap. “What does it settle?”
    “You’re definitely looking for one of half-a-million people. Congratulations. Let me know when you find him.”
    “
What?
” I press a hand to my forehead and squeeze my eyes shut. “What do you mean? I know exactly what he looks like. He looks like…” I wave a hand at Lor. “How can half-a-million people look the same?”
    Lor shrugs, a smirk working its way onto his lips. “We’re Angels. We all look the same.”
    “That’s not true! I knew an Angel, and he looked nothing like you.”
    That dark expression flashes on his face, but this time, I barely see it before Lor replaces it. Then he laughs. “Sweetheart, I’m the only Angel on this continent, and I’m about to be put to death. Whoever you knew wasn’t an Angel. Maybe some type of demon. But not an Angel.”
    “He had wings. Just like y—” I trail off as I squint into the darkness. “You don’t have wings?”
    “I used to. But that’s another story.” He grins a crooked smile, one lip lifted slightly higher than the other, like this is somehow funny. “And there are plenty of other types of demons with wings. If he was an Angel, he’d have looked just like me.”
    I bite my lip and look away. I want to glare at him, put him in his place, but I can’t let him see my tears. He’s destroying my perfect, familiar image of Ashe. Destroying part of me.
    Lor tilts his head to the other side. “So, are you going to get me out of this hell-hole? Or are you going to leave?”
    “I’ll leave when I want.”
    He scoffs. “Then I’ll assume you’re not here to rescue me.”
    I shake my head. “No.” Lor would be worthless to me; he’d just be a look-alike reminder of Ashe’s killer.
    And I already live with enough painful reminders.
    Neither of us say anything for a long moment, until I let out a sigh. “I’ll be leaving now.”
    Lor smirks, the expression dark and angry. “Good luck finding your one-in-a-million man.”
    “I’ll find him.” I don’t know why I’m telling Lor this—someone who’s worthless, someone who’s about to die—but it feels necessary. “I
will
. And soon.”
    Lor chuckles and shakes his head. In a low voice I can barely hear, he says, “Then I guess I won’t be the only one to die.”

Five
    I walk down the staircase to the second floor of the prison, trying not to bound down the steps three at a time. I need to escape this hell-hole. I need to get away from here, away from Lor.
    I absently register Hirard at my side. He asks what the other ten questions on the test are.
    I ignore him.
    All I can hear in my head is Lor’s words shattering my familiar picture of Ashe. He wasn’t my flawless Angel; he wasn’t an Angel at all. Just some type of demon.
    Did he have family out there somewhere? I’d always assumed that it would be impossible to find his family. They’d be on the far-away continent the Angels were banished to.
    But what if his family had