Page 32 of Kill the Queens

Ace lifted a hand to her face. She was smiling. Which was odd because she was well aware that she shouldn't be. The Fae were cruel. The Fae could infect either of them with the Impelling and that wasactuallyterrifying.

"I'm just happy to have gotten my way." She kicked her shoes off and slipped under the thin blanket. A yawn worked its way up her throat.

"And I'm happy you're happy," he grumbled.

Cold air drifted under the blanket as Shelby lowered himself next to her. The chill it gave her was quickly fixed by the warmth of his body. She cracked an eye open.

"Are you?" She chuckled.

"Of course, I am." His tone was no more enthused than the last time he'd suggested he was happy for her.

"That sneer on your face begs to differ."

His sneer melted into a shy smile. "Shut up and go to bed."

"You mean we can share a bed and you aren't going to accuse me of trying to seduce you? Or…or what did you say?" She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Oh, yes, you thought I was going to be a cannibal and eat you." She bit her teeth at him for emphasis.

"All of that is possible. I'm just too tired to care." His eyes were already closed, the blanket tucked under his chin.“Fry me up and eat me. That way I won’t have to go to Tarshton.”

The fabric of the bedding was rough against Ace's cheek as she snuggled into the pillow. Her eyelids drifted shut.

"Are you worried that whoever left that letter is still out there?" she whispered into the dark. Shelby emitted a little snore in response. Speaking through her yawn, she spoke more to herself than to him. "I supposed you're too tired to care about that too."

***

Even though Ace had sworn they'd closed the curtain's last night before bed, sunlight was still streaked across her face and warming her cheeks. She could see it in the red glow behind her eyelids. Inhaling slowly, she felt the weight of something heavy across her chest and again over her legs.

Bindings? A trap?Her pulse spiked.

Blinking rapidly, her blurry vision slowly focused on the ceiling. She tipped her chin down to see what was holding her so tightly, weighing her down really, she realized. A long arm was draped over her upper half and a leg slung out across her thighs.

Not bindings…

The blanket was bunched up along Ace's stomach and all of the warmth was radiating off of Shelby…as he clung to her like some kind of weird spider monkey. The softest breath parted his lips and tickled Ace's shoulder. She didn't dare move, she hardly even breathed herself.

What if he woke up? What if it got awkward? What if he regretted wrapping her up like this? She kind of liked it, she admitted to herself. The weight was reassuring in some way she couldn't quite put her finger on. This was as close to a hug as she was going to get from him anytime soon and she wasn't about to end that by inhaling!

Then her thoughts drifted toward other what ifs…

What if he woke up and he liked it? What if he wanted to kiss her again? What if he did? And all of that was a new sort of scary. A much different sort of nervous than the fact that they would be leaving to meet with the Fae King. Just another way to put off killing Queen Farah.

She couldn't stay like this, Ace knew. In fact, she was certain Shelby would be entirely embarrassed to find that he'd even ever touched her at all. Carefully, she edged herself away from him. His fingertips slid across the peak of her breasts making her entire body tighten.

Oh, he would certainly be mortified by that! He'd probably blame it on her trying to seduce him again when really she was trying to get out from under him. Did that mean he was trying to seduce her in some fashion? She tucked that away as some sort of argument against him if he happened to wake up.

Her body tipped. Her weight toppling and his arm and leg slipping off her. She was falling, yes, that's what this was. Another fall from grace as she managed to sneak out of bed with a man she hadn't even done anything remotely sexual with.

The material of her shirt snagged and one of her legs was caught, stopping her fall before her body could do anything more than briefly touch the ground.

"What are you doing?" Shelby's morning voice was rough and extra gravelly. What had tightened in her earlier sunk lower in her stomach.

Dark strands of kind of wavy, kind of curly hair fell overher face as she looked up to where Shelby was keeping her from completely falling. She blew a strand off her mouth.

"Getting out of bed?"

Shelby looked at her then down at his own body, how he'd hooked his leg around hers and held her arm tightly in his grasp. His leg slipped off her and in the same moment he promptly let her arm go.

Ace met the cold wood floor with athunkand a grunt she was certain the people under them could hear. Dust floated into the air around her from where she'd disturbed it.

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