Page 14 of Dance of Ruin

But it stays there, hanging in the air between us before I look away.

The Stag clears his throat, his voice a low, gravel rumble. “For now, I say we all double down on security until we figure out if this is Kir or someone else.”

The Hound nods. “Agreed.”

The Wolf cracks his knuckles, something unhinged sparking in his eyes. “Next time we’re exploring possible leaks, I call dibs on having some fun.”

I grin. The Wolf would eat someonealiveif we let him.

The meeting moves on, shifting to other business, but my mind drifts.

Not to the dead man from last night, or the looming threat of whoever’s hunting for us.

To her.

Naomi fucking Kim.

I frown, rubbing my thumb along the rim of my glass.

It’s nothing.She’snothing.

She saw something she shouldn’t have, but she's too smart to talk.

And if shewasthinking about saying something? I’ll make sure she thinks twice. Fear is a powerful motivator.

Still… I close my eyes, exhaling through my nose.

The memory of her tastes like smoke and blood and something else I can't put a name to.

I don’t fucking like it.

4

NAOMI

“You’re funny.”

“And you’re terrifying,”

The words creep into my subconscious as I emerge from Washington Square subway station and start walking down Waverly Place.

Maybe that’s the wrong way to put it. Saying they “creep into” my head suggests that they weren’t already there, which is a lie. That’sexactlywhere they’ve been for the last two days: firmly stuck in both my subconsciousandmy very conscious thoughts.

All I can think about is the dark rooftop. The city below me. The man’s scream as he fell. The way Nico’s fingers locked around my wrist, keeping me from the same fate.

He pushed a man to his death, and then he saved me.

I keep circling back to that: he killed one person and saved anotherin the span of thirty seconds.

My pulse flutters when I think about the way he looked at me. Not just that, but the way itfeltto have him looking at me like that—his gaze dark, unreadable.

Dangerous.

Alluring.

Alluring enough to make me keep thinking about him and his piercing eyes, not that I witnessed him kill a man immediately before.

Which might be a strong indication that something isseriouslywrong with me.

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