“The dark one looks like he could snap my spine.” She tilts her head. “I’m into it.”
“That’s Kieran. And he absolutely could.” I pause. “Snap your spine, I mean.”
“The red one smells like a furnace.” Vanessa inhales deep, nostrils flaring, and her pupils slit vertically for half a second. “And old magic. Very old.”
“Orion. No biting.”
“And Mr. Darcy over there with the book?” Pepper nods toward Finnian.
“That’s Finnian. He’s?—”
“Let me guess.” She cuts me off. “Yours and no biting. I won’t.”
“Ah, yes.”
And then the awkward silence settles. No one looks at anyone else. They all stand there while I hope the earth?—
Pause. I can actually make that happen.
I count three heartbeats of silence. Pepper’s hand rests on the doorframe. Kieran’s shadows are completely still at his feet, which means he’s controlling them hard. Orion’s weight has shifted forward onto the balls of his feet.
Everyone in this clearing is deciding whether to fight or play nice.
“Welcome to the borderlands.” Kieran shatters the silence. “Your journey must have been?—”
“Long, murderous, and mostly uphill.” Pepper walks past him into the tavern without waiting for an invitation. “Where’s the bar?”
Kieran’s mouth opens. Closes. His eyes cut to me.
I shrug. “That’s Pepper.”
“I gathered.”
Sabina stops in the doorway. Gives Kieran the look. Boots to jaw. I’ve seen her do it to wolves, to gods, to Pepper’s mates when they first showed up. It takes about three seconds and it’s never wrong.
“You’re the Unseelie prince.” She definitely not asking him a question. “The one whose father runs the court Ash needs to take.”
“That is...a mostly accurate summary.”
“And you chose her over your birthright.”
A muscle works in Kieran’s jaw. “I chose what matters.”
Three seconds. Then the nod. The one she doesn’t give to anyone who hasn’t earned it.
She walks inside.
Kieran exhales. Barely. But I catch it.
Vanessa doesn’t go inside. She goes to Orion. Circles him once. Twice. Sunglasses up. Full dragon eyes.
She sniffs his collarbone.
He doesn’t flinch. Just raises an eyebrow. “And you’re the dragon.”
“Mhm.” She sniffs again. Closer. “You’re missing something. Right here.” She taps his sternum. “There’s a hole. Big one. Shaped like a bowl.”
Every muscle in Orion’s body goes tight.
