Elders kill me.Viri wanted the ground to swallow her whole—a feeling that only worsened when Muriel winked in Reeve’s general direction, her unfocused gaze fixed slightly past his ear as she said, “Good seeing you, Soren, dear. Nice to know you’re looking after our girl.”
Reeve made a choking sound, which turned into a muffled oath when Viri stomped on his foot, hard.
“What was that?” Muriel asked, cupping her ear.
“He said he definitely is,” Viri answered for him. The old woman’s sight might be failing her, but she was too familiar with Soren’s voice not to recognize it. The moment Reeve spoke, their ruse would be up.
“Good man,” Muriel said approvingly, then waved the papers in her age-spotted hand. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it and come back later to deal with these. Best finish up soon—the next person who catches you might not be so sympathetic to your lustful yearnings.”
Chuckling to herself, Muriel turned and hobbled away, theclack-clunk…clack-clunkof her limp fading as slowly as it had arrived, every uneven step making Viri’s heart rate speed up all over again as mortification set in.
Only when the sound of the closing door echoed around the room did she finally summon the courage to look at Reeve. His hair was still mussed from her wandering fingers, but his dazed expression was gone, replaced by guarded features, crossed arms, and eyebrows raised in question.
“Judge Muriel,” Viri said quickly, clearing her throat when her voice came out embarrassingly husky. “She was meant to retire a decade ago but keeps refusing to, claiming she’s still as smart as a fox, even if she can barely see more than two feet in front of her these days.”
Reeve’s features cleared with understanding. “That’s why she thought I was Archer.”
“She can see colors and shapes—my red cloak was enough for her to identify me, and your black clothes can easily be mistaken for a Nox uniform, which was all she needed to make an educated guess.”
“Educated, perhaps…but there was also her implication that she’s caught you in here with him before.”
It was a leading statement, but it gave Viri the reprieve she needed, her embarrassment shifting to nostalgic amusement as she explained, “Soren and I were doing some filing for Sarielle a few months ago—actualfiling, not the euphemism kind.” She grimaced, realizing she would never be able to hear that word again without thinking of Reeve. “I tripped over a stack of boxes, and he caught me just as Muriel walked in. With her poor eyesight, all it took was our arms around each other for her to think we were full-on making out.” Clearing her throat again, Viri shared, “That’s what gave me the idea today. Once I realized she was the one walking toward us, I figured…” She trailed off, not needing—or wanting—to put words to what they’d done.
A beat of silence passed before Reeve said, “It was a clever plan. But I have one question.” He moved a step closer, making the narrow aisle seem even smaller. “If Muriel saw your innocent embrace with Archer as the two of you making out, why did youactuallymake out with me, when you could have just re-created what you did last time by putting your arms around me?”
Viri’s mouth turned dry, every defense eddying from her mind as she realized with painstaking clarity that Reeve was right. Theyhadn’tneeded to actually kiss in order to sell the deception.
She cleared her throat—again—and bluffed her way throughan answer. “Wynter says medicine is improving every day, so I didn’t want to risk that Muriel might have sought a new treatment for her vision.” Elders, that was pathetic. “Besides,” Viri hurried on, waving a flippant hand, “that was hardly what I would call making out. We did what we had to do, and we’ll never speak of it again, since we obviously both hated it.”
“Obviously,” Reeve repeated, humor now lacing his tone. “Because I’m a reaper, and you’re a hunter, and the only thing that will ever be between us is hatred.”
Viri nodded stiffly. “Precisely.”
His humor grew, his silver eyes dancing as he moved another step forward, right into her space. He didn’t touch her, but his closeness was enough that she fought the urge to melt into the shelf pressing against her back.
“There’s just one problem,” Reeve purred as he dipped his face toward her, his mouth stopping a mere breath away. “I didn’t hate it.” Viri stilled at the admission, but he wasn’t done, moving even closer, his lips whispering against hers and prompting a traitorous shiver to travel down her spine. “You can lie to yourself all you want, Little Shadow, but the next time you ask me to kiss you, we both know it’ll be because you want it as much as I do.”
Full-body tingles scrambled Viri’s mind, making it nearly impossible for her to scrounge up the self-control needed to keep from leaning forward and pressing her mouth to his again. Instead, she somehow managed to rasp out, “That will never happen.”
A huff of laughter against her lips. “We’ll see.”
His eyes held hers in challenge, a knowing smile curling the edges of his mouth—
But then he suddenly stepped back again, the unexpected lossof him making Viri feel unbalanced enough that she swayed forward before she could get a grip on herself.
“We’re nearly out of time,” Reeve said, straightening his sleeves, all business once more, as if their intimate exchange had never happened. “We need to speed this search along before we get caught for real.” He glanced around, brow furrowed, then turned back to her with a thoughtful look. “The magic you feel—your heightened sensitivity—how strong is it?”
Viri was still reeling, struggling to catch up—and to catch her breath—after what had just occurred between them, both physically and verbally, but she gave herself a mental shake and answered, “I have nothing to compare it to, but I know it’s not normal.”
“Is it specific only to wards?”
“No, it’s any ellixen, but wards affect me the most.”
Reeve’s thoughtful look deepened, even as he said, somewhat oddly, “That makes sense.” His face cleared as he focused on her again. “I have an idea. If the map and the talisman are still inside the warded chest and they’re somewhere in this room, you should be able to feel them out and guide us straight to them.”
“I can’t feel anything,” Viri objected.
“That’s because I haven’t told you how yet,” Reeve said. “Just close your eyes and trust me.”
