Page 166 of Mud

“Oh, I’m much worse than that,” Taland said, bringing his hand up to my chin, raising my head so he could see me. So he could see the tears sliding down my cheeks. Wipe them away. “You belong to me, and nobody touches what’s mine.” He caught all my tears with his thumbs. “At least not for long without dying.”

I slapped him.

It was instinct—and that smile on his face. That cocky fucking smile that said he’dwon,that I could never beat him. That he was ahead of me, ahead of everything and everyone, and he truly believed the words he said—that I was his and nobody else in the world could have me. It wasn’tmychoice—it was his. He’d claimed me and there was nothing I could do about it.

But I could slap him, and the sound of it, the stinging of my palm, the way his head flew to the side, felt mighty good.

Until he turned to me again, rubbing his cheek,still smiling.“My feisty little Rose…”

Goddess-damn him.

“Take it off me,” I spit. “Whatever you did to me—take it off,now!”

He’d done some sort of a forbidden spell, I was sure. Nothing I’d learned about in school, or while I was an agent. I’d never heard of something like that being done to another person, and I didn’t care where he found that fucking spell or how he managed it—I just wanted it off me.

“No,” said Taland, so calm you’d think he wasn’t the same person as a minute ago.

“Taland, I’m not joking,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Neither am I.” He still rubbed his cheek and watched me, now the darkness of his eyes transformed into something else.

Something likelust.

My stomach twisted. “You can’t do this, damn it.” He couldn’t justclaimme and brand me with his magic—he couldn’t!

He calmly said, “I can, and I did.” He absolutely had. “Come now, sweetness. I think you need some rest.”

This time I was the one laughing like a maniac. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”

And, yes, I realized where we were, and that the sky was dark and no cloud was in sight, and that I could not get the key of this challenge without magic, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going anywhere with this obnoxious prick who, apparently,ownedme for real.

“Yes, you are,” said Taland.

“I’mnot.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest. If he thought he was a stubborn guy, he was about to be introduced to a whole new level.

“You really,reallyare, sweetness,” he said, and his smilejust stretched wider and wider, like he enjoyed this. Like he was genuinely loving every second.

“I’m really not, asshole. I don’t need you.” And so what that that was a lie?

“I think we both know that you do,” Taland said. “Come on, I have a place you can rest. I’ve been searching for bodies and I’m very close to finding one buried not too long ago. You can lie down while you wait.”

He said all of this with a straight face.

“Fuck. You!” I shouted because he was that frustrating.

“You sure about that?” he said with a mischievous little grin.

Impossible. He was fucking impossible—and I was already tired.

“Just go away, Taland. Forget the deal we made. Leave me alone,” I said, and I was actually going to turn around and walk away, back to the buildings at the edge of the field, back to Erfes to trade more of my weapons, and to Refiq to see what the hell was taking so long—but Taland had other plans.

One step back, I took. Just one step back and he was in front of me, and then I was upside down, hanging over his shoulder.

For a second there, no voice left me, no thoughts made any sense. My mind was made of white noise because what just happened was way too absurd to believe.

The fucker had grabbed me and put me over his shoulder, and now he was walking away with me.

“Taland!” I said in a breathless, shaky voice. “Put me down!”

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