“What? I find it amusing that slaughter lands in thenicecategory. I couldn’t agree more,” he explains with a playful grin.
I roll my eyes but can’t deny the small smile that plays across my mouth. I look back to Tarek and find his ice-blue stare is now fixed on my lips.
“I’m glad Eacon trusted me with something so important. I learned a lot today,” I go on, and Tarek’s gaze once again meets mine.
“Eacon got him then?” he asks.
“He died faster than she wanted, but it’s done.”
“Anyone give you trouble?” Tarek presses.
I huff. “Just you,” I retort, a little stunned by how saucy and almost playful I sound.
Tarek smiles and I hear two deep chuckles sound off behind him. He lifts his hand, and I freeze, unsure of what he’s going to do. He brushes a thumb across my lower lip, and I feel as though I can’t breathe while simultaneously fighting the need to pant incessantly at his touch. I search Tarek’s eyes as his stare traces the trajectory of his soft stroke.
“Good,” he declares, the word more rumble than speech, and then out of nowhere, he grabs me and throws me over his shoulder.
Before I can register what in the realms just happened, I’m being marched out of my room and down the corridor. I start to put up a fight but quickly realize that entirely too much of my skin feels the air right now. I stifle a frustrated groan. If this were the ludere, my nakedness wouldn’t even faze me, but the way I’m starting to react to these three means I can’t afford to be so cavalier. The towel I’ve wrapped around me is starting to feel precariously loose as it climbs up my legs until my ass is on the verge of hanging out. I growl my frustration at not grabbing clothesbeforeI decided to clean up earlier.
“What the fuck?” I demand, punching Tarek hard in the back, but he doesn’t even flinch at the contact.
Knowing the brute, I bet he probably likes it. I press against his muscles, pushing up until I can see the two Scorpions trailing after us. I shoot both of them a threatening glare, but myI will end youstare must be broken, because all I get in return is an amused snicker from Riall and a cocky grin from Curio.
“Put me down!” I snarl as Tarek strides through a doorway and into what looks to be a study.
There are dark shelves lining most of the walls packed full of books and different artifacts. A large desk sits off to the side made of some dark wood I can’t identify. Fire crackles almost in greeting in a large hearth that’s surrounded by a long settee and two armchairs. And the back wall houses a collection of bottles and vials with a large mystery door nestled in the center of it all. The space is warm and masculine, boasting of rich dark wood and deep green textiles. It’s clean and organized and smells of worn leather, elven steel, and magic. Tarek’s scent and presence is stamped all over this place.
“If you don’t put me down right now, I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” Tarek challenges as he pulls me from his shoulder and sets me on my feet by the fire.
I flounder as he glares at me, the look in his eyes contesting my interrupted threat. I wasn’t actually expecting him to give in to my demand yet, and I suddenly question what exactly my threat would have been. Would I promise to fight him? Draw blood? Admit that a small part of me liked the manhandling? I shake away those thoughts and ignore Tarek’s defiant stare, embracing my own outrage instead.
Whether it’s him or myself I’m more outraged with right now, I can’t say.
“You have no right!” I sputter, my rage blinking out momentarily when Tarek steps even closer, his hard chest skimming mine in a way that feels entirely too promising to me at the moment. “Who do you think you are?” I exclaim as I wrap my indignation in a stranglehold, refusing to acknowledge the fluttering Tarek’s proximity is causing deep in my body.
“Who do you thinkyouare?” he parrots back, only he doesn’t sound nearly as unsettled as I do. He’s once again calm, cool, and collected, and I don’t know if I need that right now or if I want to do something that shatters it. “You could have been hurt or worse today, and I speak for all of us when I say that is unacceptable.”
Is he serious?
Riall and Curio arrogantly saunter over and plop down into an armchair and on one end of the settee. They silently lend their support to Tarek’s ridiculous statement, Curio offering me a raised brow and Riall nodding once in agreement as he makes himself comfortable. My glower grows darker, and Riall holds up his hands in a gesture that saysthere’s nothing I can do here, while Curio dawns that annoyingly attractive half smirk that he does when he’s trying to be antagonistic.
I scoff and turn back to Tarek. “Do you not remember where we met?” I ask acerbically. “What was safe about any of that? You didn’t care then, why care now?” I counter, unsure if I’m talking about the first time I saw them in Dorsin’s office or later in the ludere.
“Because I do—we do,” Tarek corrects, his gaze searching my face for something.
I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head at the Scorpion. “I’m a trained killer, Tarek, with or without weapons. I’m immune to every major poison on the market, and if all else fails, I havethurato back me up.”
“Not all poisons, Auset, and you’vebarelytapped into your abilities,” Tarek argues.
My ire peaks and I clench and unclench my fists as I try not to lose control. “Whose fault is that?” I accuse, pressing even closer and fighting the urge to shove him. “You want to complain about what could’ve happened on that hunt with Eacon, but you’re not even doing everything you can to prepare me for what’s out there!” I snap, gesturing all around me.
Riall fidgets in his chair, and Tarek scowls at me, but I can see in his hard eyes that he knows exactly what I’m talking about.
“I know nothing about thura or that fae abilities are even called that. I had no idea how hard it would be to navigate a crowd or how overloaded I could feel from simply being out there in the world. The three of you said you would help me if I stayed, but I need more than food and sparring, and you know it! Don’t you dare lecture me about safety when you aren’t doing everything you said you’d do to keep me that way.”
The room grows quiet, and I prepare myself for the volley of excuses and temper I’m sure are about to be flung my way. Tarek’s eyes stay on mine, each second that passes making the face-off feel more and more uncomfortable. Aggravation swirls through me, but I’m also all too aware of how close we are. I can feel his even breaths against my chest, see the dark blue ring around his irises, that same color striating thinly through the crystalline blue making his eyes look even brighter and ethereal. If I lifted up on my tiptoes, our lips would meet. I should be glaring daggers and focusing on all the ways Tarek’s wronged me, but all I can seem to do right now is wonder what it would be like to kiss him.
