Page 83 of Reckless
“Please,” she manages from between bared teeth. I reward her politeness with a smile and a piece of apple lifted to her lips. Her teeth snatch it from my palm, narrowly biting me in the process. Which she’s tried. Several times.
She glares at me from where she sits atop the roof. Early morning light dapples her face and the strands of silver hair peeking out from beneath her scarf. “Is this really necessary?”
She’s talking about the rope I’ve bound her wrists with, of course. “Oh, you know exactly why it’s necessary.”
After a long day of walking to the quieter outskirts of the city, we managed to climb onto the roof of a run-down building where she had the nerve to pull a knife on me in my sleep. I woke up to the sound of her picking at the lock around her ankle before she held the blade to my throat. I’m slightly concerned that she managed to get ahold of a weapon without my knowledge. But the tiring scuffleended with both hands bound behind her back with a strip of old tarp I’d found. Only then was I able to get some rest.
“Am I not supposed to try to escape my captor?” she asks, exasperated. “I’m not exactly the type to go quietly.”
“Obviously not,” I sigh, offering her another slice of apple. She takes it begrudgingly, hating that I’m feeding her.
“How long is this going to last?” She wiggles her fingers at me from behind her back.
“Until the urge to kill me dies down.”
She huffs out a laugh. “So it seems I’ll forever be tied up.”
“What a shame that would be,” I say distractedly, using the knife she found to cut slivers of apple for myself.
I catch the quick roll of her eyes. “Slice.”
This is becoming rather unenjoyable for the both of us. I cut another piece for her before reaching over to lift it to her lips. “We’re about halfway through Dor. If we make good time today, and don’t run into any trouble, we might make—”
“Slice.”
I shut my eyes, breathing deeply for a moment before I feed her another piece. “As I was saying,” I breathe, sounding calmer than I feel, “we might make it to the Sanctuary of Souls in a couple of days.”
“Perfect.” Her smile is deceptively sweet. “One landmark closer to my death.”
I look away to the street below us, not wanting to think about the possible truth in her words. I hate that I don’t know what Kitt plans for her. Or worse, what he plans for me to do to her.
“Well, it’s best not to keep the king waiting, hmm?” She struggles to her feet, looking down at me as she adds, “Especially since we’re taking the long way back to Ilya. We wouldn’t want him to think something happened to you.”
Her tone is mocking, attempting to mask what she’s truly feeling. I know better than most what that is like. So I say nothing as I stand to my feet, studying her face and the emotions she refuses to let me see. But it’s the hand she waves at me from around her back that steals my attention.
“I need my arms to climb down.”
I smile slightly. “I could just catch you at the bottom.”
“This chain would pull me off the roof before you even got there.”
“Fine,” I say simply. “Then you’ll beat me to the bottom.”
A sound of annoyance climbs from her throat. I laugh lightly before closing the distance between us, watching her eyes flick between mine. She stills when I reach behind her back, brushing her sides before I grab her bound hands.
It’s only when she opens her mouth to tell me off that I cut the tarp with my knife, holding her gaze all the while. Her hands break free with a snap, the sound stretching a soft smile across her lips. “So you don’t want me to fall to my death?”
She’s close, smelling faintly of the inn’s cheap soap. I shrug. “Not if you’re going to pull me down with you.”
“Well, that’s the only way I’d allow myself to die.”
I’m smiling before I even get the chance to stop myself. Then I’m reaching up to tuck loose silver strands of hair into her scarf, my fingers brushing her temples. The feel of her skin has my mind wandering back to the alley where my mouth was on her neck, feeling her pulse race beneath my lips.
It’s troubling, how tempting she is.
She tasted like a privilege, felt like a dream.
It was an effort of sheer will to step away, to pry myself from her.
