Page 38 of A Promise of Peridot
“We got a map to the blade,” Kane said to him, stepping into pace beside us.
Kane wiped his brow against the temperate night air. His shirt was coming unbuttoned and revealed a glistening, broad chest, and his sleeves had been rolled up to allow for seamless violence. His raven hair, so befitting of his namesake, curled at his neck from the humidity. A petrifying nightmare and bewitching dream all at once.
“And,” he continued, with that tilted, murderous curve of his lips, “I killed Crawford.”
Words lodged in my throat.Was he gloating?
Fedrik looked bewildered.
“Told you,” Griffin huffed to Fedrik.
We weaved through a couple of disheveled fishermen making their way home from a tavern after what—given the rich odor of rum that permeated the air as we neared them—must have been a raucous night of heavy drinking.
Jealousy swamped me. I wouldn’t have minded another glass of that orange wine myself.
“For men who could be tried for murder, you both seem quite glib.” Prince Fedrik’s words were coy but his tone was cutting. I stepped closer to him, and Kane studied the movement as if it were a personal insult.
“For someone who just lost a gambling buddy,” Kane said, “you don’t seem all that bereft.”
“He wasn’t mybuddy. He was my parents’ friend.”
“I didn’t know there was a difference,” Kane hissed, and then, before Fedrik could defend himself, “You weren’t aware he traded stolen goods?”
“You think petty thieves deserve to be murdered? You really are as ruthless as they say.”
“The trafficking of young Mer girls isn’tpetty thievery.”
I shut out the unfathomable images that flooded my mind. Fedrik, too, said nothing, rendered silent by disgust.
Kane only nodded, his eyes cold on the prince. “Some ruler of the kingdom you are. Commander Griffin can escort you back to the castle. I require my healer’s assistance.” Kane lifted his hand to us, knuckles bloody.
Fedrik turned in my direction. “Do you need me to stay?”
“She’sfine,” Kane thundered.
But Fedrik’s eyes stayed on mine, and an incomprehensible giggle nearly burst from me. Maybe at the raw fury Kane would unleash if I said yes. Or maybe at the naive idea that if Kane wanted to hurt me, there was anything at all Fedrik could do to stop him.
“He’s right,” I finally said. “I’m fine, thank you.”
Fedrik lifted my hand to his mouth, pressed a single kiss there, and retreated to the palace without so much as a look to Kane. Griffin watched him go but made no move to follow.
“Pathetic,” Kane spat.
Under flaming turquoise streetlamps, the city was bathed in uneven tones of blue and black and gold that painted him like angry brushstrokes.
I folded my arms against the wind as it sailed through the city streets. “What is? Leaving when I asked? Respecting someone’s wishes? Can you even fathom such a thing?”
“No,” he snarled. “Not when it comes to your safety.”
“Clearly the only thing I need to be kept safe from is you.” I gestured to the café and the dead body that was still cooling within its walls.
Kane sighed, drawing a hand over his forehead. “He had to die.”
“Funny, I’ve heard you say that before.”
“Probably because it was true.”
“Or because you get off on it. Because you’re sick.”
