Page 28 of A Blade of Blood and Shadow
“It wasn’t an accusation. Nor a criticism. In fact . . .” His lip curled as he looked me over. “You seem like you could use a little peace in your life.”
I bristled at his assessment, narrowing my eyes as I tried to ignore the airy, detached feeling in my head. “That isn’t mine. None of it is. This isn’t my apartment.”
Kaden’s brows knitted together, and a muscle in his jaw tightened. “But your scent is all over the place.”
“It belongs to a friend. I was just crashing and —” I broke off with a hiss, the pain in my side exploding.
I had no reason to trust Kaden, and I’d already said too much. What the fuck was he evendoinghere?
“Well, that explains it,” he said, running a hand through his raven locks and looking around with renewed interest.
“Explains what?”
“Why it’s so . . .cheeryin here.”
I just glared at him, though I instantly regretted straining my facial muscles as pain shot through the back of my skull. Then Kaden vanished, and an instant later, he was standing on the other side of the low wall that divided the kitchen and living room.
I blinked. Had he just teleported, or was he really that fast?
At the moment, I was too exhausted to care, and Imogen’s couch was so comfortable. I wasn’t planning on falling asleep —not with Kaden in the next room — but as my body sank into the cushions, my exhaustion began to overtake me. A strange herb-and-sulfur scent wafted from the kitchen, tickling my nose, and I allowed my eyes to flutter closed.
But just before the darkness crept in, I felt the hum of Kaden’s magic again. Slowly, laboriously, I peeled my eyes open and found the male staring down at me with something like concern.
I gave myself a little shake. It was bad enough that Kaden was here when I was so weak, but to allow him to get this close . . .
Wordlessly, he pressed a cool glass into my hand and braced my back so I could sit up. The warmth of his touch soaked through my leathers, and I greedily gulped down the water.
The instant it touched my tongue, I suddenly realized how thirsty I was. I thought it might have been the best thing I’d ever tasted.
“You’d better let me heal that gash along your side. It’s still bleeding, which means it must be deep.”
I stopped drinking and glared at him from over the top of the glass. “Why are you helping me?” I asked.
Kaden lifted an eyebrow. “Would you rather I didn’t?”
“No, I —” I broke off, pressing my lips together and trying to breathe through the blinding pain.
I knew the wound in my side was deep and that I’d already lost too much blood. If Kaden was offering to heal me with his faerie magic, I wasn’t in a position to refuse.
His mouth twisted into a scowl. “That’s what I thought.”
Without giving me another chance to object, Kaden reached for the button at my throat and tugged my jacketopen. I shivered as his fingers brushed my collarbones and slid the zipper down my middle. I hissed as he started shucking it off, and warmth flooded the side of my body as hot blood seeped from the wound.
Kaden sucked in a breath between his teeth, turning me gently onto my uninjured side. I didn’t protest as his fingers found the hem of my tank top and tugged it up just beneath my breasts.
Cold air raced over my clammy skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake, and I glanced down. The wound was at least three inches long and deep enough that I could see the stark white of bone. Bile rose in my throat, but I swallowed it down and squeezed my eyes shut.
Seeing it somehow intensified the pain, and I was so preoccupied that I didn’t immediately notice Kaden’s fingers drifting up my exposed side to the scars along my back. “What the —”
My eyes flew open as one warm fingertip brushed the edge of the most prominent scar that marred the flesh of my back. He started to turn me for a better look, but I jerked away from his touch.
“It’s nothing,” I rasped, reaching for my tank top to tug it back down. “Just a scar. Not uncommon in my line of work.”
“It’s not just a scar,” Kaden retorted, his voice low and deadly.
His grip was firm but gentle as he unclenched my fist, lifting my shirt once again to expose the lower half of my back. I winced as cool air prickled over the scarred skin, and Kaden went unnaturally still.
“What the fuck is this?” His voice was little more than a growl as he took in my scarred back, and I felt a pulse ofthat terrible power ripple over my skin. “Who did this to you?”
