Warmth heated my skin as he dragged his fingertips along my body.
"I think I should also pay for stealing your sword," he said playfully.
I nodded. "I think so too."
Hours later, after we'd worn ourselves out, while we lay there sated and replete, Liam's arms closed around me.
"Thank you for not choosing me," he whispered.
I nudged him. "Don’t worry; I'm a selfish bitch. I had no intention of sharing you with an entire realm."
His lips curved against my skin. "I'll consider myself warned.”
*
A week after the events in Noctessa, I drove toward my apartment in my fully restored car. While I'd been out to the world, Liam had it fixed. That's what he claimed anyway. A part of me didn't believe him.
No mechanic worth his salt would have recommended fixing a car where the frame had been that bent. Something told me Gwyneth had gone to a grave in the scrapyard and this was Gwyneth 2.0.
I figured as long as my suspicions weren't confirmed, I didn't have to protest the money he’d spent on me. We were both pretending, but that was alright.
I'd learned sometimes being stubborn wasn't worth it. I was willing to accept the car and not look too hard at everything else.
Besides, I was in much too good a mood to spoil with an argument I wouldn't win anyway.
Today, I was going home for the first time in almost two weeks. It was going to be glorious. There was going to be solitude and lazing around in my pajamas for the entire night. Maybe a couple Netflix marathons too.
For that reason, I’d sent Alches to check on Niall and his realm. Surprisingly, he’d gone.
I pulled onto my street, frowning as I caught smoke billowing into the air. Was one of my neighbors barbecuing?
That was unusual. Most of them didn't have backyards conducive to grilling.
Immediately after that thought, I caught a glimpse of my apartment, flames curling out the windows as smoke poured into the sky.
I screeched to a halt in the parking lot, staring at the sight in dismay. I sat frozen as I watched the fire destroy my place.
A thought galvanized me.
Inara and Lowen. They were due back from a visit with Niall and his realm today or tomorrow. It was possible they were still in there.
I shoved out of the car, racing toward my stairs, already screaming their names.
A sharp crack and then an explosive force hit me in the back. I crashed into the wall, my lungs suddenly not working right.
Blood smeared the brick as my legs went limp. I sat, struggling to breathe through the pressure in my chest as my gaze locked on the woman approaching me, her gun drawn.
It occurred to me now, when it was much too late, that Pelt had never been taken care of. That perhaps sending Alches away so I could have some alone time on my first night home was not my best idea ever.
Pelt lifted her gun so I could see. "Silver nitrate. The others told me it was much more effective against your kind than normal bullets.”
“Hun-ter,” I managed to studder.
Pelt’s expression was ice cold. “Thanks to you. I didn’t believe them when they first approached me. Then I met you and nearly got turned into a statute.”
Not my fault, I wanted to say. An impossibility since I could barely speak.
Already, I felt the poison of the silver spreading through my veins. It was killing me.
