Page 9 of Dance of Ruin

“Saw me…what?” he pushes.

I shake my head, then close my eyes, taking a shaky breath.

“I saw you push him,” I half-whisper. “That man.”

Silence. I feel my skin pebble from the chill as I slowly open my eyes.

Jesus.

I almost flinch at the intense way he’s looking at me, his blue eyes flaying me open like a science experiment.

“Good girl.”

I make an immediate choice not to acknowledge the tightening sensation I feel in my core when he says that.

“Now, was that so hard?” Nico smirks.

I feel my pulse skip again as I shake my head.

“And now, my little ballerina friend, I’d like to know what youheard.”

My chest constricts. I should have known this would be the next question.

“Nothing,” I lie.

He chuckles, low and dark. “You’re funny.”

“And you’re terrifying,” I whisper back.

Nico grins. And scariest part about it is that it’stotally and completely genuine.

Now, with his hand around my throat, pinning me to the ledge, and with the neon abyss behind me.

He’sgrinning.

I tense as his gaze drops. I follow it, looking down at my elbow. There's a thin line of blood from where I scraped it on the stone when I slipped.

Before I can react, he reaches down and swipes his thumb over the cut, collecting a small smear of blood on his fingertip. Then he lifts his hand slowly, bringing it up between us, his eyes locked on mine as his tongue flicks out and drags across his finger in one slow, deliberate motion.

My breath stutters and a shiver moves through me, something foreign and indescribable twisting in my stomach.

Then, without another word, his hand drops from my throat. His eyes level one more piercing stab into mine before he suddenly turns and starts to walk away through the shadows, back toward the door to the stairs.

“Wait…” It tumbles out before I can stop myself.

He half-turns, the lights of the city casting strange shadows across his face.

“How do I know you’re not going to kill me?” My voice barely makes it out of my throat. “I mean…later.”

Nico chuckles softly, shaking his head. “You don’t.”

And then he turns completely, walks over, and steps back into the light of the stairwell, letting the door click shut behind him.

3

THE RAVEN

I’ve spentmost of my life being told I’m smart. Often, that’s been preceded by the word “too” and followed by with the words “for your own good”.

---