Page 31 of A City of Flames

Kicking my leg up as I charge, he grasps my boot. I glare, lashing out my arm as he drops the leg. Not shocking at all as he grabs that too and the other after that. His eyes focus on my left palm... the scar.

“Ruthless,” he mutters, staring at it with a tantalizing smile.

Raging heat explodes in my chest, and I pluck my hands away. I take this time to use my foot behind his and sweep him off the floor. For the first time, I’m successful, but he takes me down with him. I land on top with my palms and the blade flat on the ground beside his head. My legs then come at either side, straddling.

“If you wanted to bed me, venator, you could have just asked politely.” He chuckles in satisfaction. I only yell my fury, pressing my knife to his throat.

He doesn’t flinch, his eyes dart to it with a sense of thrill.

A dragon.

A dreadful shifter.

The very beings I despise.

But like before, his reflexes are quick, grabbing my wrist and then my waist as he flips me over. The blade falls from my grip as he says, “Sadly, for you, I’d have declined that offer.” His amber gaze glimmers like the animal that he is toying with his prey. “I’m not one to sleep with venators.”

“Get off me,” I say through my teeth as his hand slides down the side of my leg.

“Gladly.” He’s up in a matter of seconds, snatching my blade before I can as I roll onto my front, scrambling to my feet. Turning, I reach for another dagger, but I feel no curve or sharp edge when I pat it. I dart my gaze down to my thigh, noticing they’re all gone. And as I glance back at the Golden Thief, he dangles two of them in his right hand.

He’d taken them.

A thief, a nuisance of a thief.

Panicked, I lunge for anything in sight, crystals, pendants, and hurl it at him. Each time with anger pumping through my body and mind.

But the Golden Thief snatches them all mid-air, placing each in his pocket. “Well, you’re just making my job easier here.”

“You repugnant—”

Noise, chatter, venators—come from outside. This is my chance.

I go to shout for aid, hoping they’ll hear me amongst their prattle. But in a flash, the Golden Thief swallows up the distance between us, pressing me against the wall, and pins both my wrists above my head with one hand before the other clasps over my mouth. His body shoves up against mine, too close that I can’t even kick him where I’d so badly love to.

My chest connects with his abdomen as I thrash against his grip. I get nowhere.

The Golden Thief waits for the venator’s voices to die down, shushing me further as I try to speak but fail to.

“I’d say a pleasure fighting you since I’ve clearly won, but I’m not so sure you’d agree.” A half-smile plays on his lips as he lowers them, so his mouth is level with my ear, and I can feel them graze against my skin. His whisper sounding like nothing but a perilous caress, “I’ll give you a word of advice, though... next time you want to fight a shifter, use something far better than those petty blades of yours.”

I muffle a curse word at him, wanting to bite down on his gloved hand, but the grip is so tight that leather is the only smell drifting over me.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he says. I lower my brows. “I have some stealing to do.”

I gasp for air as he lets go. I’m not going to let him steal. Not a chance. So, I try to take my hands off the wall. Except I can’t.

Why can’t I—looking up at my wrists, through the starlight coming through the skylights, I gape at the black ripples of shadow around them gleaming with specs of violet dust, like chains to the wall.

He’s used his Umbrati powers.

Oh, he did not just do that. I don’t care if he’d won or not. It’s cheating.

Walking backward, slow and with a pert smile, he dances around, grabbing different kinds of beads and jewels. He raises them to the side of his ear, showing me each one and shaking his head at the others he puts back down.

Now I want to kill him. I want his death to be slow and painful.

He comes over, pressing a necklace of lapis lazuli against the top part of my armor, pursing his lips like he’s mulling things over.

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