She wanted him to hear her voice, to look at her. She was Galilee Kincaid, and he was some kind of creature, and she wasn’t afraid. Her head was splitting apart, but she felt reckless and close to laughter. Gali gave in to it—“normal” was going to have to hold on for a second.
The stranger’s gaze swung to her and he narrowed his eyes, angling his body slightly in Gali’s direction. The stinging ache inside her made a leap for her bones and clawed through her marrow as it bloomed into wanting. Gali cursed silently, biting down on her lip.No, no, no, not now!She didn’t want her worlds to overlap, not like this. Her foreboding yelled that something heavy hung behind those carved wooden doors, and the damn migraine in her head wouldn’t stop. Gali took a step backward, clenching her hands to will them dark. The stranger’s eyes tracked to her mouth, and far away in the Kincaid forest, Celestial Kincaid giggled, standing shin-deep in water.
Did you find a toy to play with, Galilee?
This was what Nana Darling had warned her about, this treacherous amplification of her wanting, and if Gali had any sense, she would run far and fast away from anyone who could set this cascade off within her. She’d done it once before, years ago, when a girl with silver eyes had visited the Kincaid house from another powerful family and touched Gali so tenderly that Gali had wept from the force of the ache inside her. She’d avoided the girl for the rest of her visit and Celestial had scolded her for it, but then again, Celestial had no problem living madly with overlapped worlds. Gali wasn’t like her cousin. Gali could be exactly like her cousin. Possibilities swung in front of her like falling blades as she looked into the stranger’s fractured eyes.
“Idon’twant you here,” he confirmed, his voice clipped. “The artifact is not on exhibition—”
“The artifact,” Oriak? interrupted, a beatific smile on her face, “is not yours. I will show it to whomever I please, and if you have any issues with that, Helel, I suggest you take it up with my father. Are we clear?”
Everyone fell silent as the man turned his gaze toward Oriak?. Gali flinched at the way the air changed, at the unexpected malevolence that suddenly swarmed around them, thick enough to block her throat and lungs.
“I don’t work for you,” he snarled. “Unless your father stands before me himself, the decision is mine. The artifact is not a toy you can show off to impress your entourage. If you have a problem with how I do my job, I suggest—as you recommend—that you take it up with your father.”
His lips were curled to bare his sharp white teeth and his eyes were glittering. Gali impulsively pulled her arm away from Bonbon. Oriak? was bluffing; like she said, her father would never give them permission to see the artifact, but Gali could help. Pain sang under the skin of her face as the migraine coated her skull. This man reminded her of things outside the city, things she never wanted her friends to find out about, secrets that needed to be kept secret. Gali had been raised in the work, but there was so much more that was just her, humming in her blood like her swarm. Her family would never recommend what she was about to do. The girls would be surprised, but they wouldn’t actually see anything, just like they couldn’t see the light stored inside him. It would be safe. She could pull it off.
Gali stepped between Oriak? and the suddenly lethal stranger, placing her hand on his chest. Shewantedto touch him, and the contact rocked her even through the crisp cotton of his shirt. Gali hissed in a breath and raised her head to meet his gaze. Oriak? and Bonbon were staring at her in shock, and the stranger was just a breath away from her now. He smelled of live ash and bitter spices. The gold in his eyeswas flaring, but the malevolence in the air had drained away. Gali took a deep breath. When she was a child, the Kincaids had taught her not to gamble with certain things and especially not to take chances in the woods. Her cousin Celestial, on the other hand, taught her that sometimes you didn’t need dice to roll. Sometimes other things were enough, like rocks or small bones.
Maybe if she was a better or more obedient Kincaid, she would starve her ache instead of feeding it, or walk away instead of looking for trouble, but the stinging was in her bones, her head hurt, and her ears rang. Maybe the panting mouth of danger had been her all along. Maybe it was him. Maybe it was this moment when she touched him for the first time and watched his eyes blow wide. Gali couldn’t feel his heartbeat under her hand, and that was a sure sign of nothing good.
“I’ll barter with you,” she said.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Celestial snapped her neck up from the bank of a creek and searched the wind with wild eyes. Kincaids didnotmake barters like other people, but in that moment, Gali didn’t care.
“If I give you a dance back at the gala, you’re gonna let us see the artifact.”
Oriak? made a sound of protest, but Gali barely heard it. He was looking at her now,reallylooking at her, and she found herself desperately wishing to be seen. She was so many things and not even sure of all of them. She was wild and barefoot under old trees; she was painted and polished in a mansion; she was nothing decided and everything desired. She wanted to be seized, and he had so many teeth. His mouth softened from its disapproving lines, and the weight of his attention felt like a thousand touches on her skin.
Gali tried to smile, and he dropped his gaze to her feet in the crystal stilettos, then worked his way up her oiled legs, her wide hips and soft belly, her breasts under the soft singing glass and the column of her neck. By the time his eyes stopped and stayed at her mouth, he mightas well have stripped her bare, and Gali knew for a certainty that he wanted her.
Unfortunately, thanks to the blatant hunger in his face, everyone else around them knew it as well.
The man with the gray eyes frowned and took a half step forward. “Boss...?”
The stranger’s eyes didn’t move from Gali’s. She held her breath, and it felt like the hallway had vanished into the shadows, along with the people in it.
Say yes,she willed him with all her want.Say yes.
A corner of his mouth curled up. “Yes,” he said. “A dance for a viewing, but I’ll take the dance right now.”
Relief washed through Gali that he’d agreed, but she pouted at the condition. “Damn, I don’t get to see the artifact with my friends?”
“I’ll show it to you later myself.”
“Hold the fuck up—” Oriak? started, but Bonbon elbowed her sharply in the ribs.
“Y’all go on ahead,” she said, grinning at Gali with pure evil delight. “We’ll catch up.”
The rest of the security team looked uncertain, and the one who had spoken up before tried again. “Boss. What do you want us to do?”
“Show them the artifact. Show them out afterward.” He was still staring at Gali, and the tension between them threatened to incinerate the air. “I’m going to take my dance.”
He slid his hand over Gali’s, and her breath gave out at the hot touch of his skin, air escaping her lungs in a soft gasp. It felt like a world was closing in on her, the jaws of a trap encircling gently, enough to coax her into letting it hold her in place. Her wanting laughed and shouted inside her as he tugged at her hand, leading them away from the others and the carved door with expensive secrets behind it.
Gali didn’t look back.
Her heart was galloping in her chest. They turned the corner, andthe ache inside her roared louder than ever, a beast of want nipping at her heels as she stared at the sharp line of his jaw. What had she done? He was radiant, and she wanted to touch her tongue to the skin of his neck, this displaced stranger. He slid his fingers between hers, and Gali choked back a sound at the intimacy of that gliding touch.
