She lets out a faint little sobbing gasp, and I swear there’s desire in the sound. She could turn her face away, but she doesn’t. She keeps her lips parted, her mouth angled to match mine.
“You want me inside you,” I whisper. “You want mewithyou, and you’re terrified because it isn’t part of the plan and you don’t know what it means.”
“Keep dreaming, dumbass.”
“Fine.” I shove myself back from her and tear open my shirt, baring my chest. “You’ll have to kill me to keep me away from you, so go ahead and do it. If you don’t end it now, I swear I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your fucking life. I’m no mediocre thief, Devilry—I’m an exceptional one, and I will robyou of every peaceful moment until I finally manage to steal your heart. So do it. Stop me.”
“You’re insane.” Tears glitter in her eyes. “You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”
“This isn’t what I wanted,” she says. “Youaren’t what I wanted.”
“My mother told me the same thing.”
Shit, I meant for that to be a joke, but it comes out too raw, too pathetic. Devilry’s eyes widen, and her aggressive posture softens.
“No, don’t do that.” I shake my head fiercely, my voice breaking in spite of myself. “Don’t pity me. Just pick up the weapon and fire. I won’t stop you again.”
“My parents told me that, too,” she says quietly. “That I was an accident. Unwanted. Not part of the plan. I think it killed something inside me. My emotions haven’t worked right since then. I’ve never been chosen by anyone, Ravager. It scares me.”
“I know,” I say hoarsely. “Believe me, I know.”
With a sigh, she bends to collect the weapon. “I won’t kill you just yet. Like I said, if this cannon still works, we should probably save it for the beast.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she holds out the weapon to me.
There’s an openness in her eyes, a new understanding, a quiet trust that collapses my darker self, turning the monster into a mewling kitten that would prostrate itself at her feet and beg for a gentle touch.
“You take this,” she says. “I’ll lead the way, since I know where to go.”
Wordlessly I accept the weapon. I knew it was heavy, but I’m shocked by its actual weight and by her strength. Admirationblooms warmly around my heart as I follow her down the corridor.
After a few minutes, she looks over her shoulder and says, “There’s a shield on the vault door where Drosselmeyer’s things are. You can paint our way in through the wall with that explosive gel, right?”
“Maybe. I’m down to the dregs of what I brought with me. Might be just enough to create a crawlspace through the wall, but I’m not sure. You didn’t remove the shield while you were in the control room?”
“Of course not. I didn’t want you and your people getting access before me and mine.”
“You and yours? You’re alone, love. Or you were before you joined up with one roguishly handsome explosives expert.”
She doesn’t answer, but her hand drifts to that pocket again.
We’re building a tenuous trust between us, but I know she’s hiding something. I typically flow with the current and take what comes, but in this case that’s not enough for me. I need to know what’s in her pocket and where her team went.
But before I can ask her outright, a faint rippling sound reaches my ears. Devilry hears it too and pauses, listening.
It’s a fluttering, not a rippling. The flapping and rustling of many small wings.
That swarm of razor-winged creatures, unleashed from a room on the second floor—they’re definitely down here, in the subterranean level. And they’re not far ahead of us.
Devilry looks at me, dread in her eyes.
“I saw those creatures when we blew up the first floor,” she says. “They’re horrific.” She gives a full-body shudder, and I raise an eyebrow, surprised at her visceral reaction. Some people react to bats like others do to spiders. Maybe she’s one of them.
“You’re not a fan of bats, I take it?”
“I don’t like small flying things. Especially not ones with chittery mouthparts, like those creatures have. Did you see their teeth?”
