Page 28 of A Thief Among Fae

“So are you.”

Neither of us moves away. Doing so would be admitting weakness.

“I could’ve promised loyalty without a magic vow.” I tilt my head up, ineffectively attempting to gain height on him. “I’m insulted that you thought it was necessary.”

A stroke of amusement bleeds through me as he grins. The emotion feels intrusive at first, like something has crawled into my ear and whispered “Her stubbornness is almost endearing.”

I flinch. The feeling fades.

“I have no reason to trust you,” Desmond says. “Unlike fae, you can lie. And you don’t strike me as obedient or pliable.”

“Obedient?” I scoff. My ire reignites. “If that’s how you like your women, we’re going to have a problem.” Maybe I should stomp on his foot, just to show him how obedient I’ll be.

A troubled frown breaks his smirk. “You’re angry.”

“No shit. Even a troll could’ve deduced that!”

“But I felt it.” He grabs my wrist again and runs his thumb over the crescent moon. “You wanted to step on me.”

“I wanted to step on your foot,” I correct, my cheeks flushing. How could he know that? If it’s not a coincidence, did I sense him thinking about my ‘stubbornness’?

No one in the tavern pays heed to us. We look more like intoxicated lovers than two people locked in a stand-off. Slowly, I retract my dagger until there’s an inch between it and his tunic. If he’s surprised, he didn’t mean for this to happen. Still, I need to know more.

“Tell me what that vow really did,” I order, dreading the answer.

“Exactly what I said. It bound our lives so that you can’t survive betraying me,” he answers, every word vibrating from his chest through mine.

“If I press my dagger in just a little, will I feel your pain?” I ask.

“No. It tethers our souls, not our bodies.”

“Then how did we sense each other’s emotions just now?”

His brows knit, and a flicker of his trepidation rocks through me. It’s gone just as quickly as it appeared. “I suppose it’s a side effect of the vow. Fae magic is different from Gifts, often unpredictable. There is a chance we’ll only feel each other when one of us has a strong emotion, or when we’re close in physical proximity.”

Avoiding being close to him shouldn’t be difficult. No matter how handsome he is, he’s dangerous. I glare up at him. He’s hiding something about the vow from me. I’m sure of it.

“Maybe time will tell,” he adds, irritatingly enigmatic. “Your five questions have been answered, by the way.”

I finally step away and sheathe my dagger. “Room. Now. And if you try anything like that again⁠—”

“You’ll what?” he asks. “Kill me?” Then he turns, leading the way toward the stairs.

I shiver, glad he didn’t see it, but I hope he couldn’t sense it, either.

A man stumbles between us, a tipsy, gleeful smile plastered to his face. “On your way to your room? Mind if I join? I pay well.” He fondles his coin purse, the marks clinking instead.

Revulsion flashes through me, hot and burning. “Back off,” I warn. Or I’ll punch him somewhere else he fondles.

The lecherous man ignores my warning and grabs my breasts. His nails sink into my skin. “Come on,” he whines. His breath reeks of mead. “You’re so pretty.”

Before I can even hiss a threat, Desmond wrenches the man off me and punches him. Blood flies from the man’s smashed nose. His eyes roll back as he crashes into the sticky floor. There are cuts in his cheeks from Desmond’s rings, and he doesn’t twitch, knocked out by the hit.

The tavern’s racket halts for three silent beats. It quickly resumes. No one cares about a stray punch in a seedy place like this.

“After you,” Desmond says, gesturing for me to step over him.

“I could’ve taken care of him.” And I’m shocked that he did for me.