Page 87 of Obsidian Prince

“You let me bite you.” Satisfaction flooded her as she saw on his face the clear signs of her healing venom. The cut over his eye had been pulled together with butterfly tape, but the injury looked days old already.

He smiled, that subtle quirk of lips on the corners that she loved to see. “I did. And you didn’t order me to do anything, even when you could have.”

“You ordered me to kiss you. Even under the influence of venom, you are very bossy.”

He chuckled low. “Everyone I know would likely confirm that.”

“Can I bite you again when we get to my house?”

He stopped for a moment as they reached his car. He set her on her one fully functional foot, letting her lean against the big vehicle while he opened the door. His hands on her hips lifted her onto the high seat, bringing them face to face.

“I trust you,” he said. His voice was hoarse. That was not a statement he made very often, and he’d said it twice to her today.

Liliana kissed him very thoroughly. “Let’s go to my house and have a lot of sex.”

He chuckled and kissed her hand, that mischievous sparkle in his eyes that she adored. “I’m glad you live close by.”

It only took a few minutes to drive back across the base to the same gate she’d come in through.

As they went, Liliana considered that the killer she’d first foreseen changed soon after she’d warned Alexander. He had apparently decided to change his future path without telling her. That killer was probably even now at his house, wondering why the target didn’t come home. Liliana would make sure her prince did not go to his house tonight. By morning, that female killer would be somewhere else. But that was a problem for tomorrow.

The other big question was Rizki. Why was he here? Who hired him?

Alexander glanced at her face, scrunched into an unhappy frown. “What are you thinking?”

“I am wondering who hired Rizki. He makes his living as an assassin. He would not cross the ocean to kill you unless someone paid him. Clearly, that was someone who wanted Pete’s sword.”

“I don’t think it was Aurore.”

Liliana nodded her agreement. “But that means that more people know about Fraegarthach now than just Princess Aurore. Word of its location have gotten out. Every royal Sidhe in the world dreams of wielding that sword.”

“Doesn’t narrow down the suspect list much.”

As they pulled up to the gate, Liliana hunched over and let her hair fall over her face. So many cameras and scanners. Alexander gave his word that her earlier appearance on those cameras would be erased, but she doubted he could do that for her every time.

“You hate going through the gates, don’t you?”

She could only nod.

“How did you get on base that first time you visited me?”

“I came through but avoided the cameras and guards. That was better. It took longer, though. I couldn’t do that when I needed to get to you fast.”

Alexander grinned slightly. That light of mischief sparkled in his aura like purple fireworks. “Next time you want to come in, do that again. I’ll put you down as a security consultant. If anyone spots you coming in, they’re not to stop you, just note it in the log. If they spot you, that will reflect well on them. If not, I can dress them down for missing you coming in. That should put them on their toes.”

Liliana smiled. “I will not have to use the card and let myself be photographed by the cameras again. But I will be able to enter the base any time I wish without getting shot at if someone sees me.”

Alexander nodded. “Exactly.” He waved at a guard. They let him pass through. He was well known and the scrutiny of someone leaving the military base was far less than someone entering it.

It was a good solution. One that made Liliana’s shoulders droop in relief. It also gave Alexander an advantage of increased alertness in the base guards. Her prince rarely did anything for only one reason.

She remembered his rejection of William Eliot, how angry and hurt the wizard had looked. The wizard had a huge old house and land. He might be able to afford to pay an assassin’s price. “Do you think William Eliot hired Rizki?”

Alexander shook his head as he drove his big, camouflaged car the few blocks to her place. “If William sent him, he would have been less concerned with completing the mission and more focused on doing something cruel and spiteful.”

Liliana looked up at him suddenly. “You knew what kind of man Eliot was, yet you still had a relationship with him.”

“He was useful.” He shrugged.

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