Not a naked.. elf… with abs. And very muscular thighs…
“Is he going to disappear?” she asked, her eyes on his groin. “Or do I get to keep him?”
“I… I don’t think it’s wise to keep a living being. But no, he won’t disappear. He’s alive and—”
A blast of power shook through the store, sending me several paces backward as a shot rang through the air.
My eyes widened as the elf crashed to the floor.
With a bullet lodged in his forehead.
Dead.
I gaped at him, stunned, my stardust immediately building a shield around me and the shopkeeper as the dark energy shifted closer to us.
“What the fuck, Raymond?” the shopkeeper shouted, jumping forward to throw open the door to her shop. “You owe me a new window! And a new elf!”
I blinked several times.What?
“A new elf?” a deep voice repeated. “You can’t just conjure creatures with spells, Lissa. You know the rules.”
“Technically, I didn’t conjure anything. I wished for it.”
I crept forward to see her staring down a male nearly twice her size on the street.
“You wished for it?” he deadpanned. “Sure. With what?”
“Stardust,” she replied, pointing at me. “Fromher.”
The big man’s eyebrows shot upward, his gun immediately raising in my direction. “Who the fuck are you?” he demanded. “And where’s your marker? What House are you aligned with?”
“Why is everything about Houses with you people?” I muttered, flicking a clump of stardust off my dress. “And why do you all feel the need to point weapons at me?”
It was truly starting to grate on my nerves. I’d thought this territory would be different. Alas, no. They still wanted to shoot first and ask questions later.
“She’s a goddess, and her crescent is marked with blood,” the shopkeeper—Lissa—told him. “She said King Vesperus sent her here to buy a wardrobe, and she offered me stardust as payment.”
Not exactly the sequence of my statements, but her explanation was close enough.
“And you believed it?” Raymond snarled. “I could smell her power a block away. She’s not one of ours. And you let her make you a bloody elf?”
Lissa rolled her eyes. “Don’t get jealous, Ray Ray. I just wanted to play a little.”
“Play a little?” he repeated. “With a sexy, naked elf?”
She blew out a breath, causing her orange hair to flutter over her forehead. “I wasn’t going to touch it.”
No, she just wanted tokeepit.
“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” Raymond growled, his focus returning to me. “Let me see your marker.”
I narrowed my gaze. “Why?”
“To see if you’re legit.”
“Why don’t you ask your king?” I countered, arching a brow.
He huffed a laugh. “Because I’m not going to bother him with this nonsense. And your reluctance is all the proof I need, sweet cheeks.”
