Page 33 of The Serpent's Bride
Raziel sat back on his heels, watching the girl beneath him.
Because I’m already dead.
He laughed.Oh, pretty thing.There were far more things to fear in this world than death. But even as he had been slowly robbing her of life, there was nothing in her eyes but sheercontempt.
The image of her atop him, naked in the moonlight, hairpin pressing into his throat, flashed into his mind. By the two moons, he had never been aroused so quickly and so intensely as he had been right then.
In her eyes in that moment, in that honest place between sleep and awake, he had seen that same contempt—but he had also seendesire.
“I snuck intoyourbed tonight to see if I could scare you.” Reaching down a hand, he stroked his knuckles along her cheek. To her credit, she didn’t pull away. Just watched him, wavering, angry, and uncertain.
“Why”—she stopped to cough—“do you want me to be afraid of you?”
He lowered himself down to her again, loving the smell of her. Not the shampoo and the soap, but the scent that went deeper than that—hersmell. Monica. She smelled like the sea, of salt spray, and something he couldn’t name. He placed a slow, gentle kiss against her cheek before climbing off the sofa and letting her up. “You should be. Because everyone else is.”
Fetching his cigarette from the floor near the railing, he leaned back against the stone balustrade. Would she stay? Or would she go back to her room and sulk? Monica crouched to pick up the glass that had once contained her drink. Kicking an ice cube off the balcony, she headed to the bar and made herself another. A double, by the looks of things.
“I’m not an idiot,” she snapped at him. “You can stop treating me like oneright now.”
Her anger was somehow a relief. “No. That much is becoming very clear.” He stretched, cracking his neck. “What sob story did Azazel give you? Who sold him into the flesh trade this time? Was it his aunt, his big brother, or his lover? I can never keep his lies straight.”
“Hm.” She leaned up against the railing, some two feet away from him. Not close, but still within arm’s reach. “He spared me the details.”
“Did you believe him?”
“I wanted to.” Pausing, she stared down into her drink. “And I suppose I did. This world is full of enough tragedies like that.” That was an honest answer from her. “Which means I’m not as smart as I claimed I was.”
Curious cowgirl. Curious, strange, fascinating,infuriatingcowgirl. Far more interesting than he could ever have expected. He watched her for a moment. “Aza is a manipulator. That’s what he does.”
“I guess you’re right.” She sipped her drink.
“Did he give you some ‘let’s be friends’ line?”
The flinch of pain that crossed her features was almost a visceral slap. It was as much of an answer as he needed.
“Word of advice, lost, pretty thing.” Facing her, he stepped in close. She held her ground and didn’t turn to meet him. Stroking a hand over her hair, he decided he liked the feel of it. It was so very soft. “You may be smart. You may be more capable witha blade than I had expected. But in this, you are a novice. The games we play…Trust no one in my family. Trust no one who works with us or for us.”
“Including you.”
“Especially me.” Leaning down, he kissed her temple. “Good night.”
“Not much left of it,” she grumbled under her breath.
Laughing, he headed for the stairs. “Don’t disturb your sleep, lest it make you cranky. Noted. Well, sleep in. One more day until the big day. Oh. Don’t worry about your throat for the dress fitting tomorrow. I know how to not leave a bruise.”
She kept from rolling her eyes at how cocky he sounded. “You never answered my question.”
One foot on the stairs, he paused. “Which one?”
“You’re going to kill me on the night of the wedding, aren’t you? How long until it’s my blood on your knuckles and staining your teeth?”
Studying his hand for a moment, he pondered her question. He hadn’t cut himself. His flinch had been simply for humor. He wondered if she’d noticed. “It depends entirely on how breakable you turn out to be.”
With that, he left her to her own devices.
He had enough to think about.
TEN
