Page 146 of Tales of a Deadly Devotion
‘Croinn, have you taken something?’ His frown deepened, as I felt the pinch of his magic with concern or anger.
‘The gobrite turned into a hound and William wants to keep it. He’s called it Orin.’ I shook my head and ran my hand over the strong line of his throat, up his jaw to trace his lips. ‘The Compendium of Souls was open. My mother opened it. The Greymark line mixed with all the Lord’s lines … so I can open the compendiums too.’
I showed him the cut on my palm, only he didn’t seem too pleased about that, so I hid it behind my back. ‘Anyway, in the book there was a map of the Verr temples, exactly where the fey ruins are now. I think the fey hid them.’
‘This house was built on desecrated fey ruins,’ he answered, but my gaze fell back to the golden band on his finger.
‘Why are you still wearing that?’ I ignored the thrill that went through me and how my stomach swooped. That desire only coiling tighter there, painfully so.
His lips twitched, his eyes suddenly molten despite his annoyance. ‘It won’t come off.’
‘It must like you,’ I smiled, only then I had to bite my lip. That incessant need brewing inside me refusing to be ignored. ‘You’ve caused a problem.’
He closed his eyes as if pained before he shrugged out ofhis jacket. My breath caught with wanton excitement, only to earn myself a sharp reprimanding look as he held it out to me. ‘Put it on, Kat.’
‘You don’t like it?’ I looked down at the slip William had found for me. It was revealing but it wasn’t hideous. Not as bad as some of the ideas Thean came up with.
‘You’re cold, Croinn,’ Emrys replied, his tone darker as he glanced over his shoulder, as if hearing something.
Then I noticed my skin was covered in gooseflesh. How had I forgotten I was cold?
‘Nobody can see me,’ I muttered but obediently put it on, glad to be covered even if it did brush my oversensitive skin. Being enveloped in Emrys’s scent wasn’t helping my focus.
Only then I noticed how still he was, how his head was tilted, listening. Only I knew it wasn’t to the ruckus of the brothel around is.
Darkness calls all dark things back.
‘Can you sense it?’ I whispered, worried instantly. Remembering the agony it had caused him last night. Hating that I’d brought him closer to something so old.
He nodded. ‘It’s here.’
He slipped his hand into my own. The barest touch did the strangest things to my body.
I pressed up onto my toes to whisper in his ear. ‘When we get home, you’ll need to bribe the house to leave us be for a long while.’
An amused – or frustrated – huff of breath slipped from his lips.
‘When you’re sober, my love, I’ll give you anything you want.’ He pressed a kiss behind my ear as if to seal the promise.
‘I could ask for a book,’ I challenged. Maybe to see what lay in those cellars beneath the house I still hadn’t been able to look though yet.
‘No book is as interesting as what I’m going to do to you, Kat.’ He kissed the heel of my palm, right over the healing cut before pulling me from the dark. As if knowing I needed the distraction of movement.
‘We should get Alma and Thean,’ I worried.
‘Gideon is on it,’ he answered, moving with predatory ease down the corridor.
‘I’m sure he’s thrilled with that responsibility,’ I muttered, suddenly very distracted by how his trousers hugged his backside. Had it always looked like that? And if so, how had I not noticed sooner?
‘Croinn,’ Emrys half-growled. Making me wonder if he could in fact read minds. The wishing stone gave a flutter against my skin in strange contentment.
Nobody looked at us as we made our way through the halls. They were all too busy doing … other things. I kept my gaze firmly on Emrys’s broad shoulders, where his shirt clung to the strong contours of him.
Thankful I was behind him. I didn’t need any further ideas. Emrys ducked into one of the passages, moving as if pulled by a soundless command – where we found an old arched wooden door hidden between two large cabinets.
It was locked. Emrys’s dark-tipped fingers curled around the padlock and with one sharp twist he snapped the metal. It hit the stone with a clang. Making me wonder just when he’d started being able to do that.
The door opened to narrow stone steps that curled around and around as they led downwards. Strings of dust webs rippling in the slight breeze.
