A warrior, then, or someone who was clumsy with knives, something I’d never believe of a person who exuded this much lethal grace.
What had he done with the water? I’d never heard of magic like his, though I hadn’t been around magic long myself. If I’d grown up in faerie, as was my birthright, I’d be as skilled as everyone else around me. Instead, I floundered,struggling to do more than zap something with my tiny bolts of lightning.
“Yes, I’m with him.” While I might be saved or damned, I took his hand.
A burning sensation seared its way around my wrist, and I gaped down at the mating mark appearing on my skin.
2
REYLA
My lungs shuttered, and I gulped, struggling to suck in air as shock blasted through me. I studied his wrist, finding no matching mark to the one that had just appeared on my flesh.
A glance back showed the guards scurrying away, nearly halfway down the pier already. No one else was close enough to see . . .
He wasnotmy fated mate. It was a mistake. Did the fates do things like that?
A flick of his finger sent my bag soaring up off the pier and onto the deck, where it landed with a thud.
“Are you coming with me, my lady?” the man asked. “Or are you going to stand on the pier while we sail out of the harbor?” So sardonic. So conceited. Too sexy.
No, not sexy. I wasn’t attracted to this man. I’d never be attracted to anyone like him. Why, then, did I continue to holdhis hand and stare up at him like a maiden with new love fluttering inside her chest?
I swallowed back that wretched thought. “Yes, I’m . . . I was trying to get on board the ship.”
“Then do so. Stop dallying, and we can get underway.” His lips thinned, and the sharp humor in his eyes made me want to kick him. “You can admire me later.”
Ireallywanted to kick him.
Huffing, I wrenched away from him, struggling to latch onto some semblance of composure. “There’s nothing to admire.”
He took the gangway to the top deck of the ship, and I followed like a well-behaved pup, joining him on the smooth wooden surface, stopping near my bag.
“Time to leave,” he barked out to the crew.
Sailors swarmed the deck, some pulling the gangplank on board, others rushing along the pier, releasing huge ropes pinning the boat in place. They leaped, landing squarely on the deck. Still others tugged the ropes onto the ship and coiled them around big metal bars bolted to the oiled decking.
I stood beside him, the sword I’d pulled back in the market still clutched in my sweaty hand.
With a scowl, he pried it from my fingers. “Do you believe you’re capable of doing more than pricking someone with this?” He held it up between us, the tip piercing the sky. His intense gaze narrowed on my face.
Ass.
“As the High Lady of Lydel’s Enforcer, I’m more than capable of wielding blades.” I plucked at my snug leather tunic. “Did you think I wore this because it’s the latest fashion?”
A blink of his eyes, and my sword disappeared. Magicked to somewhere. I’d track it down and steal it back.
“You wouldn’t be the first to give an impression you don’t deserve,” he said.
Deserve, huh? Where did he get off—
Pivoting, he strode away from me, aiming for the center of the enormous ship.
“I’m also the Beast’s sister,” I called out. “And I want my sword back now.”
The eyes of a sailor tying off the final rope widened, his jaw unhinging. The rope dropped from his hands, thudding on the oiled wooden decking.
The cloaked man stopped, though he didn’t turn to face me. “For a lady, you have an interesting reputation.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Is there anything else I need to know about you?”
