“Hello, Milaje.”
The words are gravel, punching into my soles and buckling my composure.
Dammit.
Head tipped, I wait until my full-body shiver has run its course before I slam down my walls and shore up enough courage to shove into the light.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, tone firm.
He turns and walks backward—a flaming torch in one hand, his other shoved deep in the pocket of his black leather pants. “Yourpromisedinvited me for dinner.”
That’s a terrible idea.
“Well,” I say, studying his neck in the dim light, seeing no clear scar slashed across it. Nothing to pay homage to my almost slitting his throat last night. “Feel free to leave and come back precisely when the meal starts.”
“Getting quite bossy, aren’t you?” Brow arched, he holds my narrowed stare for a few triggering moments before he turns and continues down the way he was going. “I like it.”
Grinding my back teeth, I lift the hem of my skirt, rip my blade free, and advance, dagger wielded, intent on escorting him from the palace by the point of it. I’m about to reach up and whip it around his throat when he whirls—catching my wrist, my gaze, mybreathin one smooth motion.
That silver stare roots through my insides, his rolled sleeves giving way to thick, tattooed forearms corded with unyielding strength.
My heart pounds.
One squeeze and my wrist would snap. A thought that shouldn’t thrill me like it does.
“I also likethis,” he says, gaze flicking to my blade suspended between us. “Just so we’re clear.”
“You’re not going to like it when it’s hilt-deep in your flesh.”
“I wasn’t talking about thedagger,Orlaith. I’m talking about your living, breathing fire.”
An oily blackness spilling out in vicious, torrential spears.
Burning.
Silencing.
My stomach drops, arm muscles soften.
His brow buckles, and I whip my hand away from his loosening grip, shoving past.
“Milaje ...”
I gather up the front of my skirt, weaving the dagger back into the thigh sheath I fashioned from a torn strip of sheet, because fuck him and his fucking gift. “Cainon’s having his ships repaired on one of the outer islands. It would be in everyone’s best interest for you to find them and focus your attentionthere,” I say as I continue down the dusty hallway.
“That’s exactly what I’m doing.”
I spin so fast my sodden hair slices through the air.
Brows raised, I scan the lengthy hallway that harborszeroships and cast an icy glare his way. “Try harder.”
The challenge is tossed at him like it’s made of fire.
He watches me with a honed regard, his torch casting harsh shadows across his sculpted face that’s painful to look at. The very reason I don’t blink. Don’t break away.
Drug myself on the hurt.
He storms forward, holding my stare and lungs in his stony grip. “I intend to.” The words are pledged on a low growl as he charges past, his torch gasping for breath.
