“I thought you were right behind me,” he said. “We cut off the bottom of your dress so you could keep up.” His gaze dropped to my hem, where he finally noticed my bare feet. “What happened to your shoes?”
“Ballet flats aren’t made for running,” I said, wiggling my toes to relieve the cramping muscles.
Radven was looking more shamefaced by the second, though I could tell that he was fighting it. “You should have said something.”
“When?” I countered, secretly enjoying his guilt. “When you were half a mile ahead of me and we were trying to be sneaky? Or after I blew up a chunk of field and we had to move quickly?”
He gestured wildly, uncharacteristically flustered. “Just…you should havetoldme. I’m trying tohelpyou, you know.”
I hid a smile, enjoying my new-found ability to agitate him. “Be careful, it’s starting to sound like you care about my wellbeing.”
That comment seemed to startle him, too, and in a second he’d closed the distance between us, looming over me as I stood with my back against the tree.
“And thatbothersyou?” he demanded. Then added, “When have I given you the impression that Idon’tcare about your wellbeing?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” My heart was beating too fast again, but I managed to keep my voice casual. “Maybe back at your mansion, when you were threatening to torture me.”
“That wasn’t torture I was talking about,” he said, his rich voice going deep and velvety. “And judging by the earlier events of this night, I have a feeling you’d have enjoyed what I had in mind.”
I was starting to get dizzy again, my breath speeding back up.
“Besides, what about all those times I’ve saved you?” he demanded. “From the Tendrils, from Laitha, from the boarlath… How many times does it take before you trust that I’m trying to help you?”
“I don’t doubt that it’s in your best interest to keep me safe,” I said. “Or that you feel indebted to me. But I’m surprised that you, of all people, are asking me to trust you. It seems a little…off-brand.”
“Perhaps.” He’d apparently gotten over his initial embarrassment and offense, because now he was looking positively devilish again, like he’d caught on to the game and had every intention of enjoying it. “Or perhaps you don’t know me as well as you think.”
The witty retort I had in mind died on my lips, and instead I found myself studying him, curious. “So tell me the truth.”
He didn’t hesitate. “That’ll cost you.”
“Cost me what? More secrets? Or something else?”
His smile curled higher. “That depends on you. Make me an offer.”
I bet he’d give me a lot for my virginity, I thought, then blushed furiously. I wasnotgoing to make that offer, even if my body had other ideas.
Radven could evidently see my inner turmoil, even in the dim moonlight filtering down through the leaves. He leaned closer, putting his lips right at my ear.
“Think about it,” he said in that syrupy voice. “Everything is on the table for the right price, butterfly. And I meaneverything.”
25
Loveless
Wetraveledthroughthenight. I was exhausted, but also buzzed on adrenaline, so while I wasn’t operating at full capacity I was still mostly functioning. Which was pretty impressive, I thought, given how many times I’d almost died in the past few days.
Radven managed to steal me a pair of boots at the next village we passed—leaving a bit of money in their place, at my insistence—and while they were a touch too small and had a funky smell, they were better than waltzing around the woods in bare feet. Especially since, even though we weren’t sprinting anymore, Radven kept a vicious pace.
I distracted myself from the blisters forming on my toes by thinking about the offer he’d made.
Everything is on the table for the right price, butterfly.
It was tempting. So, so tempting. And the more time I spent with Radven, the more I was starting to realize what he wanted from me—intimacies, whether of the mind or the flesh.
I’d never considered myself a secretive person, but I hadn’t realized until Radven how much I truly kept to myself, how little of me I really shared with the rest of the world—physically, mentally, emotionally, all of it. And here was someone who actuallywantedto know those things, to draw out pieces of me I’d never even acknowledged in myself.
And if I was being honest, the biggest reason I found his offer so tempting was because I was curious abouthim. He seemed dangerous and yet…notevil.He seemed to be the very definition of the rogue, the bad boy, and I didn’t trust his intentions…and yet here I was, trusting him with mylife, over and over again. A part of me knew I should keep my emotional distance from this man, guard myself against him, and another part of me was drawn to him, like a moth to a flame. Or to the silken strands of a spider’s web, shining like silver threads in the moonlight.
