Blake grinned. “Do I get one of those kisses out of it?”
I shrugged, trying not to betray how his words sent a shiver down my spine. “Sure, when you come back.”
“I’ll oblige you, Princess.” Blake’s face betrayed no emotion beyond his smug cat-ate-the-canary grin, as normal. I thought I caught a little tremor in his hand when he leaned against the balustrade. “Do you still have any of that sleeping draught left over from your little adventure the other night?”
Flynn tapped his chin. “I think there’s some down in the kitchen unless you drank it when you ate everything else.”
“Did it taste delicious?”
“No.”
“Then I definitely haven’t drunk it already,” Blake sauntered back down the stairs. “That Rowan may be odd, but he knows his way around a cooking fire.”
Flynn went down to the kitchen to pour the draught while the rest of us returned to the library.
I sat down on the end of the couch, expecting Blake to sit beside me. Instead, he leaned over me, a powerful arm on eitherside of my hips. His face was an inch from mine, giving me a clear view of his perfect porcelain skin, his crystalline eyes laced with heat, and his pouting lips that looked delicious enough to eat.
I swallowed hard.
“I’ll take my kiss now, Princess.” The evil glint in Blake’s eye turned my stomach in knots. “I prefer payment in advance.”
Before I could reply, the heat in my veins pulled my body forward, pressing my lips against Blake’s.
Sparks flew inside my head – Fourth of July fireworks exploding through my grey matter. The room swirled and disappeared, and I lost all sense of time and place and urgency. The only thing that existed was Blake’s lips parting mine with confidence, his tongue devouring me. I’d never been drunk before, but I imagined this was kind of what it felt like.
Whoa.
Is it kissing another spirit user that makes me feel like this, or was it just that Blake is really, really, really good at sex?
I drew back, heart hammering.
Blake stared at me, his eyes dancing. His lips curled back into his signature evil grin.
“Anytime you want, Princess,” he whispered, his words both an invitation and a warning.
Behind Blake’s head, Arthur leaned against the bookshelf, glowering. I smiled at him, trying to show him that just because I kissed Blake, it didn’t mean that I didn’t adore him, too. But he looked away.
Flynn returned with the glass and sat it on the table. Blake leaned against Corbin’s desk and picked up the draught, frowning at the tiny portion.
I frantically tried to think of what I should do as a leader to make this safer for Blake. “Before you drink it, let’s talk strategy. How are you planning to find the answers we need?”
He shrugged. “I don’t plan, Princess. How do you think I ended up here? I made a split-second decision to jump into the void after you. It was either going to send me here or rip me into a million infinitesimal pieces and scatter my soul across the galaxy. I got lucky.”
“You have to have some kind ofplan. You can’t just walk up to Daigh and ask him how he intends to raise the Slaugh.”
“Damn, there goes plan A.”
I whacked Blake on the shoulder.
He smirked. “Save your concern, Princess. There is someone I’ll try to contact who might know the details of the plan, but Daigh may well have got rid of them.” A strange, faraway look passed through Blake’s eyes. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was worried. The look was gone in a moment, and that familiar smirk was back. “If not, I’ll use fae methods for gathering information. They’ve always worked well in the past.”
“What are these fae methods?”
“It’s better you don’t know. Please note I’m doing this on one condition,” Blake stared at the glass. “When I get back, there better be a hot curry sitting on this table.”
“Corbin texted to say he and Rowan won’t be back for dinner, so I’ll order us some takeaways.” Flynn searched through his phone for the number. “What curry do you want? Butter Chicken? Lamb Rogan Josh? Chicken Tikka Masala?”
“Yes.”
