Page 14 of A City of Emeralds and Envy
I place my fingertips against the chestplate, right where the guard’s heart should be, if he has one. “You never take off the armor? I wonder if you’re cursed. Maybe that’s why the Witch couldn’t enthrall you. Certain types of magic don’t mix.”
A ragged inhale from inside the helmet. “Always so clever, kitten.”
Kitten.
Kitten.
Kitten.
The nickname echoes in my mind as a horrible thrill rolls through my chest. Goosebumps explode over my skin, and every nerve in my body tightens, shrill and taut, a fraction of a second from snapping.
Only one person in all the realms calls me that.
I can’t breathe.
The armored man remains motionless as I recoil from him, staring, stunned.
“Say that again.” My voice is razor edges and tears tinged with blood.
“Kitten.” His voice is muffled, but I’d know it anywhere. “Why have you come to this wretched place? Still no sense of self-preservation, I see.”
“No.” I back away. “No, no—this isn’t how it’s supposed to happen. You’re nothim.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“I will not. I—”
But he reaches out, pressing metal fingers against my back, and hustles me around the corner of the building. “You must not reveal who I am, do you understand? These Fae are unusually volatile. Make a wrong move, and you’ll be the scarecrow they hang tomorrow, to amuse the crows while your friend finds safe passage to the forest. Who is she, this sorceress who brought you here? There’s something about her…”
“No!” I nearly shout it this time, shoving both palms against his metal-covered chest. “You willnotfall for her. I’m the only hapless human girl you get to seduce, understand?”
I don’t even know what I’m saying—tears are blurring my view of him—but it’s not him, is it? It can’t be him locked inside this case of metal. Desperate, I pound on it harder.
“No use, kitten. I’ve tried. It’s unbreakable.”
“You’re not Riordan,” I grit out. “Maybe you’re some kind of Fae mind-reader, pretending to be him. Faking his voice.”
“To what purpose?” he says quietly. “Besides, would any other Fae know how you taste?”
He’s covered in bulky metal and the heavy blue cloak, so how,howdoes he make my skin heat and my clit tingle, simply by tilting his head?
“Tell me what I taste like,” I whisper.
His answer is a low murmur from within the helmet. “Like rose petals and sweet surrender. With a faint tang of lemons and a hint of vanilla.”
I have no way of knowing if he’s right—ifthat’show I tasted to him when he licked me to climax over and over all those months ago.
I want to look into his crimson eyes and be sure it’s him. I want to lift off that helmet and punch him straight in the mouth, and then kiss the lips I bruised. But instead I snarl, “How the fuck did you get yourself into this mess?”
“I went after Caer, like you told me to,” he retorts. “I found out he’d come here to make a wish to the Green Wizard. By the time I arrived at the Emerald City, he had already doomed himself.”
The earth seems to drop out from under me. After the shock of hearing Riordan’s voice saying, “kitten”—to have him tell me that Caerdoomed himself—that he is—is—
It’s too much. I can’t bear it.
“So he’s gone,” I whisper. I sink to the ground, my head ringing, stars dancing before my eyes. The world is whirling away into a black and endless void.
“No, love, no,” Riordan says hastily, crouching beside me with a creak of metal joints. “He’s alive. But his wish changed him.”
