He asked about what kind of houses she liked, since he had many and could change them to suit her with a snap of his fingers. Her answer was, of course, another mystery. “I’ve never lived in a house, so I’m not sure. This one seems really nice, though. I like being in the woods. I don’t think I could live somewhere like this full-time, but it’s definitely nice.”
It took a monumental movement of will to keep himself from digging.Never lived in a house?Those blank years before her initiation into the Temple mocked him once again.
But Petra seemed so at ease as she sat across from him, the too-wide collar of his t-shirt sagging over one shoulder and her blonde hair pulled up into a messy bun. His mate had never looked less like a priestess. While he loved the glamorous side of her, he found this new woman infinitely more captivating.
No one, as far as he was aware, had ever been completely at ease with him before. And yet everything in Petra’s body language spoke of a trust he didn’t feel he’d earned.
He was loath to break the spell that the morning had cast over them, but there was so much they had to talk about and increasingly little time in which to do it. She needed to know what it meant to be a demon’s mate before his rut really hit, andhe needed to begin sifting through the absurd mass of data he’d stolen from Vanderpoel to determineexactlywho he needed to kill to keep her safe.
Normally that would have titillated him, but now… Now all he wanted to do was watch her butter her toast with that incongruously focused expression and try to breathe around the thing that expanded in his chest whenever she glanced up at him with a small smile.
But eventually, she finished her toast. Their mugs were drained of coffee. Afternoon crept in, and so did the summer heat.
Petra drew her legs up until her feet balanced on the edge of her seat. Looking deceptively calm, she said, “So… I killed someone.”
It was no use debating the point, though he felt like there was some wiggle room there. Shebelievedshe’d killed someone and to an outsider, all evidence would suggest that she had. Like any criminal, Silas knew the truth was a relative, malleable thing.
“Wekilled him,” he answered, watching her closely.
She played with a short lock of hair by her ear, her eyes lowered to stare at the remains of their breakfast. “Did you get anything from Antonin’s suite?”
He snorted. “Yes.”
She seemed to be trying to get her thoughts in order rather than working through all the information, so he wasn’t surprised when she just nodded. “Did you try to lock me in the closet?”
Silas leaned back in his chair. The old wood, sawed and lathed and assembled by his great-granddad at least two hundred and fifty years prior, groaned under his weight.Damn Tal.Silas hadn’t been in the headspace to ask why he failed to secure Petra like he’d promised, but now that he thought about it, it explained why the wraith had so happily kept his distance.
He wasn’t just respecting Silas’s privacy. He was avoiding an ass-whooping.
“Are you going to be mad at me if I say yes?”
Petra narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to lie to me ifIsay yes?”
“No,” he answered. After a moment of hesitation, he amended,“Probablynot.”
“Then answer the question.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to ask who else would have used shadows to seal her into a closet, but Silas took one look at the glint in her eyes and backed down. He liked fighting with her, but he didn’t want her to beangrywith him — a distinction he’d never made in his life but one which now seemed essential to maintaining his equilibrium.
“I didn’t want you to meet with Vanderpoel. You were supposed to stay in the closet until I’d handled him for you.” The experience of explaining himself was deeply unnatural, but he pushed through it because it was Petra, and she was his, which meant she was basically an extension of himself. “I planned to get your information, kill him, and then leave with you through the secret door.”
“That’s why you packed my things.”
“Yes. I figured things would be hot for a while and you were set to leave for your sabbatical, so…” He shrugged. The fact that he would have needed to abscond with her anyway for his rut was another compelling reason, but that wasn’t why she asked, so he left that bit out.
Petra breathed deeply through her nose before she replied, “You were trying to keep me safe.”
“Yes?” Silas wasn’t certain why that came out like a question.
She said nothing. Uncurling from her seat, Petra padded around the kitchen table, her socked feet tapping out a pleasant beat, until she stood over him. Silas turned automatically. Hewas like a tiny astronomical body pulled into her orbit. Where she went, he did, too. Silas wondered if he’d spend the rest of his life circling her. He hoped so.
Soft hands curled around the base of his horns. She used her grip to gently tilt his head back. His cock stirred at her nearness, the way she held him, the lush scent of her. The thought of her taking control of him, using his horns to guide him between her thighs, was extremely compelling.
Fuck. I can’t wait to own her — mind, magic, and perfect cunt.
Petra looked down her nose at him. Speaking in a deceptively gentle voice, she said, “Thank you for trying to keep me safe, demon. That was a good impulse. However…” She leaned in close. “If you ever try that shit again, I’ll poison you.”
If he hadn’t been hard before, he was afterthat.
