Page 36 of Reckless
“Oh, that was nothing, Prince,” she hisses through gritted teeth. “Now, get thehellout of my ring.”
I laugh dryly, my face close to hers. “Oh, I’ll get the hell out of this Plague-forsaken city so long as you come with me. I’ll drag you back to Ilya if I must.”
“Over my dead body, Prince.”
“That would make things a hell of a lot easier, so trust me when I say I’m considering it.”
Her body tenses, and I feel the punch she’s about to throw before she even moves. My hands pin her wrists to the cage, pressing her hard against the wire. “Here’s what is going to happen,” I breathe close to her ear, eying the crowd enjoying this immensely. “We’re going to wrap this little show up, and you’re going to comequietly.”
Her eyes are ablaze. “You haven’t won yet.”
“Oh, I haven’t?” I trail a hand up to her face, tugging at the fabric there. “All I have to do is slip out a single strand of silver hair, and everyone in this room will be trying to kill you for that hefty price on your head. And I’m tempted to let them do just that. It would make my job far easier.”
Lies.
I have strict orders to return her to Ilyaalive, despite what the posters say. But she sure as hell doesn’t need to know that.
I smile enough for her to see it in my eyes. “So, yes, I won the second I stepped into this ring.”
She swallows, the only sign of worry she’ll allow me to see. “You’re awfully confident for someone who’s also hiding their identity.”
“Yes, well, there’s not a price on my head.”
“You’re the prince of Ilya. There will always be a price on your head.”
And with that, she rips the bandanna from my face.
CHAPTER 14Paedyn
His face is jarring in the way that déjà vu can be, like seeing a figment of your imagination materialize outside your mind.
I could barely see him atop the roof, draped in darkness. And that was dangerous. Dangerous to pretend that he was anything but the man who murdered my father. It was pathetic. It was a distraction. And I will never be so weak again.
But I see him now for what he is to me—dead.
Stubble shadows his sharp jaw, accompanied by the blood leaking from his lip, reminding me of how I’d bitten him. I shake the thought away, vowing to never think of it again.
His dark brows rise in shock, his gray eyes piercing mine. He has a sort of rugged look to him, like the face I grew annoyingly fond of in the forest.
He’s horrifyingly exactly how I remember him.
Every dark lash lining those silver eyes. Every twitch of his too-familiar lips. Every lock of ebony hair falling in waves atop a tanned brow. Every piece of him perfectly in place, exactly how I’d left him.The sight of him so preserved, so seemingly the boy I came to care for, feels like a taunt. Like a mockery of every moment that amounted to nothing.
I can barely make out the muffled voices in the crowd, barely focus on the many fingers pointing at the prince. I’d heard the rumors in the streets. Heard whispers of the Enforcer slinking through the city in search of the Silver Savior, though I wasn’t sure they were true until I laid my own eyes on him.
Flame.
The cocky bastard called himself Flame. The fire to my shadow.
Insufferable son of a bitch—
The knuckles he sinks into my cheek catch me by surprise. My head whips to the side as pain laces through my face and down my neck.
He’s definitely not holding back anymore.
Before I can repay the favor, his hand grips my chin, roughly turning my face back toward him. “That was a mistake, darling.”
Darling.
