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The Taino man cursed against the darkness, and a single candle feebly wavered to life, just as, beyond the wall, men started talking all at once and in heightened voices.
I pressed my free hand against my blouse, feeling for the locket’s curve. I found the thread of him along the chains that bound us. He was nearby on the street, and it belatedly occurred to me that he had gotten home and they had told him where I had gone and this was the inevitable result.
Drake still had hold of my elbow, pouring into me a fierce forceful need that was the fire of his magic. Never let it be said I lacked ways to extricate myself from any awkward situation, for I knew exactly what Bee would do in this one.
“I’m going to throw up!” I pretended to gag.
Drake released me and jerked back.
I hauled open the door, slipped through, and slammed it shut. Men were cursing, trying to make light. With a sweep of my cane, I cleared every mug on the long counter, sending them crashing to the floor as I jumped over.
“Wardens!” I shrieked. “Run!?”
They were not stupid men in the Speckled Iguana. Not many panicked, but enough did to stir the big room and make it hard for them to get order. That made it easy for me to wrap shadows around myself and weave my way unremarked through the clamor and out the doors.
He had paused across the street, hidden by the night. Of course he saw me, although others did not. I raced across the street.
“We have to go!” I whispered hoarsely, trying to grab his arm but missing entirely.
He began walking so quickly I had to trot to keep up, me wrapped in shadow and him hugging the darkness until I wondered if he was using illusion to mask himself, for none of the men loitering nearby took the least notice of us.
I said, “Just think! We could sneak around all over the place and no one would ever see us.”
Men looked around, gazes questing like those of scenting dogs.
“Did yee hear that?”
“I see no one.”
Vai took hold of my hand and we ran until I was breathless and laughing as we slowed to a walk in the deserted market.
“Catherine, all the shadows in the world will not hide you if everyone can hear your voice.”
Catching him by surprise, I shoved him against the wall of one of the empty market stalls. Someone sold spices here during the day. The rich perfumes of cinnamon and nutmeg lingered, and I licked my lips to savor them. “Have I ever told you you’re uncanny handsome?”
“Catherine, you are drunk.”
He tried to step away from me, but I leaned into him. The rise and fall of his chest caressed me. I was enchanted by his glower.
“I could just eat you up,” I murmured in what I hoped was an intimate whisper.
He turned his head away, so my lips brushed the prickly hairs of his decorative beard; he gripped my elbows. “Catherine, if you cannot respect yourself enough not to throw yourself at me while swilled in rum, then could you please respect me enough not to treat me as if I were a man willing to take advantage of a woman who is drunk? Because I am not that man.”
I nuzzled his throat. “You wish you were that man.”
“No, I don’t wish I were that man.”
I ignored his frosty tone in favor of rubbing against him. “Your body wishes you were that man.”
He shoved me away so hard I fell flat on my backside.
He muttered a curse, extending a hand. “I didn’t mean for you to fall. My apologies.”
I giggled as I reached for him. “You’re only angry because you’re aroused.”
An icy curl of wind kissed my nose as he pulled back his hand without touching mine. “You may think with your body, Catherine, but I. Think. With. My. Mind. I am going home. Are you coming with me, or are you returning to your friends at the Speckled Iguana? Because you can be sure I will not stop you from going where you wish.”
He walked away. It took far too long for his words to filter through my muddied brain and then longer still to remember how to get to my feet. I ran after the harried rhythm of his steps. He said nothing as I stumbled up beside him. By the set of his shoulders and the nip of the air pooling around him, I knew he was furious. Aroused and furious, certainly a bad dish to be served.
