Page 86 of Waves
“Interesting,” Raj lifted his arm to study it, but I stepped forward and batted the limb down because he was blocking my view of his ribs. Of the bursting red organs mashed side by side, beating in sync.
My knees softened and threatened to buckle as I acknowledged that there was proof, in the flesh, that I was facing my greatest enemy.
“Sard,” I whispered beneath my breath.
“What the hell is that?” Raj realized what I was looking at. His fingers dug at his own chest for a moment before his head whipped up, eyes flashing. “What did you do to me?”
“Nothing that can’t be undone,” I gritted out coldly.
Ignoring him, I turned to Lizza. "How quickly can we move it to someone else?"
She shook her head. "I'll have to look at my spell books and think about it a bit. We can't just transfer your heart willy-nill?—"
"Your heart?" Raj stood up and Ugo immediately reacted, the spear point flashing as it settled against the djinn's neck.He didn't seem to notice because all of his glaring attention was focused on me. "It's your heart in there?"
Briefly, I wished there had been enough x-ray fish to make his entire face transparent so that I didn't have to look at it. His expressions were far too dramatic, and I watched revelation after revelation pummel him until he came to a conclusion far quicker than I ever had—inhaling and then exhaling, all his muscles relaxing. Almost as if he was pleased with whatever conclusion he’d drawn, which only made me all the more concerned. All the more sure that we needed to grab a spade and dig my heart out of that body as quickly as possible.
Turning away from his question, I went to follow Lizza as she strode back to her bag. A hand on my shoulder stopped me. And then chaos broke out.
"Don't you touch her!" Felipe snarled as Mateo slid into my side and wrapped an arm around my waist, shuffling me forward and out of the djinn's grip.
"I'm not attacking her, dimwit," Raj snarled in return.
"I'm going to peel the skin from your fingers," Felipe threatened.
"Then I'll carve the skin from your balls," Raj shot back. "You think threats are new to me?" His laugh was low and dark. "I've heard more threats than you've taken breaths, boy."
Ugo was bodily forcing the two apart when I turned around.
"Raj, I wish you'd sit back down and refrain from fighting or attacking any of my future husbands ever again." I followed up my command with a dark smile, more than a little pleased with the way Raj's expression turned to stone as I used his little gift against him and twisted his ring. That pleasure flared hotter, into a flame near my thighs, and I failed to veil my physical reaction, because the unending king gave me a slow, wicked smile.
He could definitely feel what I felt.
The absurd, irrational, nonsensical delight that buzzed across my skin at putting him in his place. The thrill of danger that crept up my spine at the idea that he might retaliate. The sick and twisted hope that he would and then I could hurt him. Raj's pupils enlarged and his breathing slowed, eyes growing hooded. Suddenly, the room seemed far too small.
"Of course, Avia. Whatever you wish." He gave me a wink before turning back to Felipe. "Terribly sorry. You can keep your little cherry pits. Or is strawberry seed more accurate?"
Felipe looked confused, but Mateo released my arm and whipped around, fist cocked.
"Enough!" I ordered, because as much as I would have loved to see Mateo and Felipe put the djinn in his place, I needed to work out details with Lizza. I wanted my heart out first thing, and then I had a million questions for Raj, questions I was more than happy to allow my former guard to extract answers to, even if it meant he had to strip them from the sultan's flesh bit by bit.
How do we get my heart out?" I asked Lizza.
"How about we keep it in?" Raj asked before the undead woman even answered.
My head whipped over to stare at him and my eyes narrowed. I spoke carefully, measuring each word. "Why in the world would you want to keep my heart?"
He smiled. "Would you believe me if I said I liked it?"
"No." My response was quick and cold and that made him chuckle.
Unfortunately, the sound both pissed me off and turned me on—which only enraged me twice as much because Raj felt all of it. I knew he did because his eyes began to twinkle with mirth.
“This is fun. Why would you want to stop this?” He gestured back and forth between us, chuckling when I growled.
That just spurred me to say, “I wish you’d kneel. Make it a little easier for Felipe to grab that sword on the wall and cut offyour head.” I gestured widely at some decorative swords hung near a fireplace.
“Might take a bit of hacking, but I could do it,” Felipe smirked as Raj glowered, sinking unwillingly to his knees.
