He barked out something like a laugh.“Those things are sexy?”
“Seven hells, yeah!”He looked so adorably perplexed that she had to keep going, just to see if she could make him squirm.“Sharp claws, grazing your skin, because a little pain makes the pleasure even more exquisite.Tails, because it’s an extra appendage, and if it’s prehensile, just imagine the orifices it could stimulate when everything else is occupied.”
“And wings?”He asked the question with a slight burr to his voice, his blue blue eyes on her, glimmering with interest.
“Wings…” She shrugged cheerfully.“Just flat sexy.I can’t tell you why.Incontrovertible fact.”
“Interesting to know.”He’d gone back to neutral, gazing out at the road ahead.
“Maybe because he’d, like, wrap you up in them, just the two of you in this sensual cocoon of naked fun.”
“I thought you said you’d couldn’t tell me why.”
Yeah, it was perverse of her to enjoy the burr of irritation in his voice.Even more so that she was encouraged by it.“Maybe it’s the feathers,” she mused.“They’re the perfect combination of soft and prickly, flexible and rigid, ideal for playing games of erotic torment.”
“They might not be feathered wings, you know,” he bit out.“Some fae have leathery wings.”
“Ooh.”She produced a shiver, making her bosom jiggle, quite effective as she hadn’t returned her jacket zipper to its usual position yet.“Even better.So gothic.”
“That Obsidian fae guard that caught your eye didn’t have wings,” he pointed out.If Azul hadn’t been so clear about his lack of interest in her, she’d have called him jealous.
“I’ve heard they can hide them,” she confided, giving him a wink.“Glamour, magic, whatever.They only come out atspecialtimes.”
“I suspect that what you’ve ‘heard’ is a load of dramatic fiction liberally embroidered with titillating nonsense.”
Definitely jealous.“A girl can dream.What about you—ever bedded a fae?”
~23~
A Jaunt Through the Countryside
Azul’s head whippedaround so fast that Cha thought for a second that something bad had happened.“Why would you ask that?”he demanded, eyes blazing.With the wind of their passage tossing his dark blue curls, he looked wilder, that sharp edge of danger peeking out from under the broodiness that she suspected more and more was a mask for his true self.
His truefaeself, hidden by glamour, perhaps.That crown had gone somewhere.What else might he have hidden away from human eyes?She widened her eyes in innocence.“Just making conversation…but now I’m curious.You have, haven’t you?And lived to tell the tale.What was he or she like—claws?A tail!Don’t tell me they had leathery wings because I’ll—”
“You’ll suffer not knowing, is what you’ll do,” he interrupted firmly.“I’m not discussing this.”
Allowing a few beats of silence, Cha surveyed the traffic.A few carriages had caught up with them, though most stayed behind, drafting her or Big Betty, who loomed solidly in the rear-view mirror.A cheetah carriage had blazed past them early on, followed by a few thoroughbred horses, showing off, windows blacked, and not bothering to offer thanks.Probably with noble or even fae riders.The rest of them were playing it safe and abiding by the speed set by the sweet Obsidian-black ley line, which was plenty fast for most purposes.
This side of the border, the embedded pixie dust shone with such purity the black seemed to glow.The fae naturally kept the best stuff for themselves, exporting diluted or even contaminated dust to the human lands.Thus, inside Obsidian, the ley line zipped along like black lightning, fast, smooth, and without glitches.It was exciting enough to go to the unwary human’s head, which was why the fae law-hounds patrolled this section of the Black Thirteen—the name for the Obsidian side of the main road—with exceptional fervor.
She and Dy had figured this timing into their plan, knowing they couldn’t afford to be pulled over, ticketed, and outrageously fined.(The incentives for the Obsidian fae law-hounds to levy sky-high fines were so egregious that bribes didn’t work most of the time.) And it was critical to circumvent the Obsidian depot at night, under cover of full dark.Besides which, Moonstone—according to rumor—was obnoxiously bright to human eyes in daylight.Better to get in and out during the dark phase.This was all part of the plan.
Still, both Cha and Katu simmered with impatience, even at the increased speed.Neither of them did well with being law-abiding.It was so dull.Especially since Azul hadn’t caved to the pressure of silence and was apparently not only not discussing whether he’d dipped his wick in fae juice—he totally had or his answer would’ve been an easy and emphatic ‘no’—but had subsided into not talking, full stop.
Cha could almost wish for something to happen, but that was always a bad—
The marcasite channel blared so suddenly they both jumped.“Bandit, I’ve got a tail.”
“And a fine one, too,” Cha replied.“Can you describe?”
“Could be a hound in hiding.Not clear, but I’ve got a tingle and it’s stuck like a burr.I’m concerned.”
“But we’re being angels.What did you do to draw attention?”
“I didn’t, thank you for being a bitch.I’m wondering about that unusual border closure.”
“Hmm.Yeah.Okay, keep on keeping on.I’ll investigate and circle back for the depot.”
