I almost choked. “You stole this?”
“Thief, remember? I stoleyouonce before too.” A smile shone in his eyes as he finished the last of the bread and then wadded up the cloth, shoving it back into his pouch. “At least it’s not a demonic apple.”
“Thank goodness for that,” I mumbled. “How does shadow travel work? Is there a limit to how much you can do it in one day?”
“Still full of questions, I see.” Rowan reclined in the seat. His tunic fell open in the front, revealing a peek of his bronzed chest and collarbone. A natural complexion, not one given to him by too many days under the sun. “All magic has limits, so yes. Once my mana is depleted, I have to wait for it to replenish. Fortunately, using shadows for travel doesn’t drain much at all.”
“Any limit on distance?” I washed down the food with a sip from my water flask. “Can you go anywhere in the world? Do you have to picture the place in your mind before zapping there? Oh! And does it have to be a place you’ve been to before?”
“What benefit is there for me to answer all these long-winded questions?”
“Um. My undying gratitude and happiness?”
“Your happiness is supposed to sway me?” Rowan snorted. “You mistake me for one of the men who worship the ground you walk on.”
“Stumble on. The ground is a lot like you and enjoys my suffering.”
A genuine smile teased his lips. “Only because you’re adorable when you whine. And when you stomp your little foot.”
“First of all, my foot is not little. It’s average size. Secondly, adorable things can still be deadly, so you better—”
The carriage hit a big bump in the road and launched me forward.
Right into Rowan.
He went rigid as I crashed against his chest. It reminded me of how Lake had been in the beginning: tentative about physical touch. Maybe even scared of it, unlesshewas the one initiating.
“Sorry!” I started to scramble off his lap.
Rowan’s arms came around my waist and held me in place. That close, I felt the heavy beating of his heart against mine. “Adorable but deadly. That’s one thing we can agree on.” He shakily exhaled. “You’re the most dangerous person I’ve ever met, little treasure.”
Sparks. One rolling into another, building stronger until my blood electrified. “I have a confession. I’m not lethal at all. I could never actually hurt someone. In fact, even though I’m terrified of bugs, I can’t squash them. Not even flies. It makes me cry.”
“That’s what makes you so damn dangerous.”
“How?” I asked.
He lifted a hand to my cheek but didn’t fully touch me. “My whole life, I’ve looked into people’s faces and saw their hatred of me. Their disgust. When starving on the streets as a kid, wearing nothing but a ratty shirt and no shoes, wealthy nobles with pockets overflowing with coin walked past without so much as a glance my way. The world is such a cruel place sometimes. Yet you, Evan?” He touched the corner of my brow. “I look into these pretty emerald eyes and see how much you care. I see your gentle heart. Gentle but also fierce when it comes to those you love. And gods, how I wish to be one of those things. Someone you look at with that same tenderness. Like I’m someone who’s worth a damn.”
My throat constricted. “You said you only wanted my body, not my heart.”
Rowan chuckled. It was raspier than usual. Rougher. “Yeah, well, I never said I was an honest man, now did I?”
“How do I know you’re not lying to me right now?”
“I suppose you’ll have to use that pretty head of yours and think of what I’d gain from lying about it.”
“Is this just a game to you?” I asked. “Something to hold your attention until you get bored and move on?”
If Rowan was anything like Briar, Maddox, and Lake, I knew falling for him wouldn’t be a slow and steady process. I’d fall hard and fast with no hope of ever climbing back up.
Pressed close to him in that carriage and surrounded by his sweet and peppery scent, his heart thumping hard against mine and his breaths tickling my lips, I suspected I was already on the edge of that cliff, holding on to a low-hanging tree branch. All it’d take was me letting go of the branch to free fall.
“A game? It could be.” Rowan trailed his fingertips along my cheekbone. “Perhaps a game of poker. It’s too early to know if I have a winning hand, but I’ll bet some chips anyway. Will you?”
As his fingers glided along my skin, moving down the side of my neck, the tiny Evans running my body were screaming for me to go “all in.” To put everything on the table and have faith. Faith in Rowan. Faith in fate’s plan for me. Lupin had prophesized five men loving me. A prophesy that had two routes.
One of the men was destined to either love me… or kill me.
