The hag was stunned. And I was floored.
How did she figure all of this out? How could Kairi know all these secrets, all by herself?
Valeria fought instantly to reclaim control, masking her shock with dismissive arrogance. She took a deep, steadying breath, trying to look down at Kairi.
"Well well well... what does this little fourteen-year-old girl know about me at all?" Valeria asked, her voice calm, though I saw the almost imperceptible tremor in the hand gripping her staff.
Kairi's eyes, cold and assessing, didn't waver. She responded with a cryptic, almost musical cadence:
"One little n*gg*r left all alone; He went and hanged himself and then there were none."
I blinked, thoroughly lost.
N*gg*r? What in the Abyss was that supposed to mean? Did she just quote a madman?
I didn't know that was how you answered a death threat—you didn't just quote some esoteric poem!
But Kairi's strange, witty reply hardly confused Valeria.
