Page 71 of Fate's Sweetest Curse
“You know I love to exasperate you.”
“It’s a true talent of yours.”
He took a single step closer, unable to resist. “My point is, when I started reading about alchemy, I found that it was actually…interesting.”
Hattie laughed. “No shit,” she said, shoving his arm.
And for a brief moment, they were sixteen again, a playful ease between them.
Then the unexpected contact morphed into painfulawareness, time stopping for an entirely different reason. Her fingers lingered on his bicep; his muscle tensed reflexively under her touch. Sometimes, Noble hated having sight magic; it meant that he could seeeverything. The thudding in the pulse-point of her throat, the slow drag of her eyes over where her fingers grazed his shirtsleeve, the flush creeping up the side of her neck.
Her hand fell. “How isyourresearch going?”
“Frustrating.” Noble glanced in the direction of his workshop, finding his vision obscured by foliage. This far into the jungle of Phina’s lab, hefelt like they were in another world entirely. “I thought I was the only one here.”
“I was engrossed in reading, as usual.” Her voice was breathy.
“That happens,” Noble said.
Hattie shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped. The movement caused one of her ribbon-sleeves to sag off her left shoulder, drawing his attention to—
Noble reached out, gripping Hattie’s upper arm, stilling her. An angry purple bruise streaked across the cap of her shoulder. This was not the pale discoloration of an accidental fall or collision—this was the mark of a strike. Whomever had landed this blow had been wielding a blunt, uniformly shaped object. Hard wood or metal.
The thought of someone striking Hattie had rage searing through Noble’s chest like molten metal. Whatever careful amiability they’d been cultivating out here in the gardens burned away to ash, replaced by a sudden, overprotective, white-hot fury.
He clenched his teeth, nostrils flaring. “Who?” he ground out.
26
Satiation
Hattie
Oh,please,” I said, wrenching myself free of his grip. As much as his clenched jaw, bunched muscles, and growly tone felt like a wet finger sliding across my lower belly, I didn’t want to encourage that kind of behavior.
Who knew where it would lead?
“It was an accident,” I enunciated, pretending to be annoyed.
“Thatwas no accident,” Noble said, practically vibrating with rage. “That is the mark of a blunt weapon intended for you.”
“If youmustknow, I’ve been practicing sword training.”
“With whom?”
“I’m not sure I should say.”
“I beg you do,” Noble rasped, those green eyes cataloguing every part of my expression.
Feeling utterly exposed, I turned my back to him. “No.”
“Hattie,” Noble said softly, approaching me from behind. His fingers hooked under the fallen strap of my dress and slid the silky fabric onto my shoulder again, grazing the bruise in the process. “Please tell me.”
Goosebumps scattered across my skin like sparks, lighting up at Noble’s gentle touch. Three fingertips. That was our only point of contact, but I could feel him looming behind me, feel the heat of his breath on the back of my neck, feel himnoticingthose goosebumps. It took everything in me not to lean back against his strong chest and tug his arms around my middle.
This isn’t fair, I’d told him under the archway at Inver—but the blame wasn’t entirely his.
Icouldwalk away.
