Valkip’s jaw tensed, shoulders lifting just slightly with the movement. Four hells, there were so many muscles underneath that shirt.
Body, definitely body.
She frowned. “Don’t tell me you’re as uptight as those men seem to believe. I know at least part of you had fun with that interaction back there.”
Valkip shook his head, a smile breaking. “You sound just like my friend.”
“He’s a smart friend, then,” she replied. “Unlike those hunter friends of yours I overheard.”
“They are far from friends… or hunters.” He eyed her curiously. “So,Maeve, I find it hard to believe you’re as observant as you think you are.”
Brela leaned back in her seat. “Oh? And why is that,Cason?”
He gestured around the room and the distance the other patrons kept from them. “You seem to have missed the announcement to stay clear of me.”
“Oh, I heard it, but I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge,” Brela replied. She let her eyes trace him slowly as she spoke. “Do you really believe your sun magic istaintedby moon magic, or is it the other way around?”
Valkip seemed interested in her emphasis on the wordtainted, or maybe at her unladylike gesture of squishing her nose in disgust as she spoke it. He tapped his chest. “I think most of them are more afraid of the specific sun-blessed magic I possess.”
So that’s where the ink hid. Brela ran her tongue over her lip as she leaned closer to whisper. “I’m not afraid to play with fire.”
Gray-blue eyes flashed to her lips, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. He inhaled through his nose, jaw tensing just slightly. Her eyes drifted to his twitching hand. He was hesitating.
Gods, she just wanted him to break.Neededhim to break.
A growl escaped the back of his throat, and she was certain she had him.
And then he leaned back, his face stoic once again as another presence grew behind her.
“Careful there, miss,” a deep voice hummed near her ear. The same voice she had heard at the markets, from the man she had already played. “He wouldn’t know what to do with a pretty thing like you.”
He sat in the chair behind her, as did one other soldier that she couldn’t quite distinguish, but her eyes never left Valkip. While he still watched her, she could see that his attention was really on the men behind her. Gods, she could almostseethe heat rising off of him.
A bead of sweat dripped down her chest.
Oh, it was actually getting hot. Valkip was an uncontrollable blaze, and his uptight demeanor? That was his protection, and she had just broken the façade he had around these men.
She despised herself for feeling a shred of pity for this man. He was her enemy. He washunting herbecause she was an assassin. He woulddestroyher if he learned anything more, and he had indicated as much by his reactions toward her people.
But for a small moment, she saw herself in his eyes. Hated, feared, ridiculed for his power. Misunderstood.
Despite ignoring him, the man behind her leaned closer. “If you want real strength, not that tainted kind, I could make your night.”
Brela was well aware of every blade hidden on her, including Emerie’s dagger just on the other side of the counter. Aware of every move she could make to eliminate the soldiers behind her. It would be so easy, but for the first time, killing would be less fun and would end in her own burning death.
Instead, she used the dragon sitting in front of her.
Brela stood and blocked Valkip’s surprised face with her shoulder as she leaned toward his ear. “Put your hand on my waist.”
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Finally spoke. “I’m not that kind of—“
“Do it now,” she ordered. Surprisingly, he obeyed, but it was still too light—not convincing. She leaned closer, fingers tracing down the arm he still had barely resting on her and forced it tighter—visible to the men behind her. As her left hand rested on his chest, she fought the ache that rippled through the Veil shard in her chest. Her mouth hovered over his ear, hand gripping his warm shirt with demand. “Shut them up and kiss me like youarethat kind of man.”
She had barely pulled her head back when Valkip’s other hand weaved around her neck and he crushed his lips against hers. Heat wrapped around her body—his fire still flaring underneath his skin.
It should have burned. Those flames should be ripping through her muscles and blackening her heart.
All she felt was buzzing in her chest. Wherever his touch roamed—her neck, her waist… gods,even hislips. Soft, confident, heated air mingling above mouths only for a breath before they collided again. Expert in every move he made with her body.
