CHAPTER EIGHTEENIn Which the Girl Must Do Something She Totally Doesn’t Want to Do
Risa went rigid. Javi sucked in a breath. The woman stared between the pair, suspicion forcing the sharp V of her brows to turn sharper.
“Do you know her?” the Sanguine asked.
Risa didn’t wait for a hidden sword to suddenly materialize from beneath the bowels of the woman’s large hat. She leaped forward, clamped a hand around Javi’s wrist, and pulled him down the alley, barreling past the small crowd that had gathered.
“She’s one of them,” she hissed through her teeth, dragging the prince in what she hoped was the direction of the river market. The streets were practically bursting with people out to enjoy the pleasant evening, the day’s sticky heat dissipating with the promise of a cool night. While the locals leisurely strolled along the cobbled streets, sleeves and skirts trailing behind them, Risa was convincedthat her bad luck was going to have them trip over some stupid Monpiran’s ruffled sleeve.
“Yes,” Javi spat back. He heaved. “I know. That’s why Ifollowed her.”
“You should have told me!” She resisted the urge to shriek and, instead, pulled him sharply around a corner.
“I told you through my eyes!”
“I don’t understandidiot.”
They reached the stone ledge overlooking the esplanade, though it took them some time to find the stairs that led back to the overcrowded market. She spared no apology to the people she and Javi bumped into as they rejoined the throng of shoppers. When they passed a vendor selling colorful scarves, she plucked one right off a hanger, his shouts following them down the walkway.
If they survived, she would repay the man. After she murdered Javi.
Somewhere on the ledge behind them was a series of screams, followed by a stampede down the same staircase they’d come down.
Ahead, a crowd had gathered to watch a play being put on in a plaza cleared of vendors. Children ran amok; people shouted as the cast performed. It seemed like the perfect place to get lost until the Sanguines left.
Risa ignored the guffaws and yelps from complainants as she pressed on toward the middle of the gathering. She turned; wrapped her hands around the collar of Javi’s sweaty, rumpled tunic; and pulled him down an inch until they were eye level and his large, pompous head couldn’t be spotted over the crowd.
“I was trying to get information out of her.” He placed his handsover hers, holding her steady. He must have feared she was going to strangle him. “I was being stealthy.”
Risa rolled her eyes, and somewhere in the distance, a clock tower chimed seven times. Amina was probably waiting by the small-cake vendor, anxious. More interruptions to the play forced an actor to shout out of character, “We are performing amasterpiece!” Past the crowd, she could make out the Sanguine woman’s wide-brimmed hat, and beside her, the chipped-jade eyes of El Gib.
“Don’t say another word. They’re here,” she whispered.
Javi strained his neck to peer over his shoulder. He mouthed, “Where?”
Risa shook off his hands and draped the scarf over both of their heads. The gauzy strip of fabric painted the world pink and silver. It was a pitiful attempt at subterfuge, and she didn’t think it would be enough to fool the Sanguines, but it was all she had.
Risa glanced at Javi. Freckles were spattered across his nose and cheeks like a constellation. Beads of perspiration lined his temple, and one trailed down the side of his face and along his jaw. His pillowy lips parted—in surprise or anticipation, Risa didn’t know.
These were dangerous waters to wade through. The heat beneath the scarf simmered. Sweat trickled down her neck. Magic licked across her skin, trailing invisible fingers along her arms and down her spine. Fingers that she imagined belonged to the prince.
And then Javi’s gaze dipped, settling on her mouth. She watched, transfixed, as his throat bobbed and he opened his mouth to speak.
She planted her mouth on his.
Horrible mistake. Stupid idea. No one engaged in passionate kissing in the middle of a shitty market play. Besides, she wasobviously unskilled in this area. And it was possibly illegal in several kingdoms, especially when he was betrothed and she was sweating on his royal person.
He remained unmoving against her lips. A beautiful, perfect statue.
Until he kissed her back.
Javi’s lips parted with a sigh, as if he’d been waiting forever for this moment and finally,finally, it was here. Risa loosened her grip on one end of the scarf and traced a hand up his jaw and into his hair. His slender fingers mimicked her imagination, trailing along one of her arms, following the curve of her spine, forcing her closer until their bodies were pressed together. The world could open up beneath them and swallow her whole, a thousand flaming arrows could pierce through her skin, her heart could break into pieces with no chance of being put together again, but she did not think any of those things could stop her in that moment.
Suddenly, Javi removed the hand from her waist and pushed her back. He gasped, and the sound snapped her out of the moment enough to make her open her eyes. She found him looking at her, terrified.
She couldn’t bear the sight of him all horrified. She decided she had to kill him. It was the only way she could live with herself after such an embarrassment.
But that would have to wait. There was the more pressing matter of the Sanguines searching for them in the crowd.
