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“Goblin.”How was she supposed to take him to Kradnovtl if he couldn’t even say the word?
“Half goblin,” Alys corrected.
“Half is as good as full,” Vori said.“Goblin blood controls.It’s parasitic that way.”It was how royals could breed outside the species and maintain their divine right.
“How often do you go green?”Perry waved a hand at her body.A too-stiff, too-judgy gesture.“And smash things?People?”
Ungrateful bastard.“I’m not a comic book character, thank you very much.You want an apology for not being the perfect rescuer you expected?Keep waiting.”Unreasonable pretty boy.He would probably expect a princess to match his standards too.He wouldn’t want a goblin.He wouldn’t want her.
Alexei swerved.“This witch?He is the one you chose, cousin?Why can’t you have fated mates as demon hybrids do?”He sounded grumpy about the last.
Get in line.She was grumpy enough for all of them.“But this isn’t a real romance.It’s a fake relationship.A business transaction.”If her would-be consort could stomach being around her.
Her cousin didn’t lose his irritable bossiness.“I know you’re on a deadline, but we can find someone else.”
“Deadline?”Perry’s powers spread from his fingertips to his arms, streaking toward his elbows.
She reached for him, and he jerked away.By the powers, the man infuriated her.Anger thrummed through her, and if she’d had his magic, she could’ve lit an entire town.“You want to hate me for something I was born to?Fine.But since you can’t control your shit, my cousins will leave you here if you don’t let me help.”
Alexei met her gaze in the mirror.“What do you mean, help?What kind of help are you offering him?”
Damn it.She hadn’t meant to share that.Taking in Perry’s powers had been a lucky guess earlier.Now, her overprotective cousin would have yet another reason to worry about her.
“She took some of the powers from me,” Perry said.Another nail in the witch’s coffin.
Why couldn’t he have kept his mouth shut?“I should’ve let you burn yourself out.”
“Yes, you should have.”Alexei’s quiet disappointment cut deeper than if he’d yelled at her.“You’re lucky it didn’t kill you.”
Perry snapped his head toward her.“How’d you know it wouldn’t when you touched me?Seeing as you only said you were pretty sure you could?”He made it sound as if she’d been the one to put that magic inside him.
“Maybe my cousins are right.”She hurried on, cutting off any chance that either of them might chime in.“I should’ve picked someone else as my consort—anyone else.Except you’re a survivor and you’re at the top of two marked-for-death lists, so no one will look too hard if you disappear.A fate that’s promised if you mouth off this much to anyone in my blood family.I’m sorry if you’re disappointed in how I’ve saved you over and over again.Jailbreaks and stealing powers and thwarting kill squads—all new to me.”
Alys glared at Perry.“Those started when she decided to help you, dumbass.”She cranked the volume on a blaring Witch’s Bane ballad.
Perry must’ve taken the hint because he was quiet for a few minutes.At least the sparks went out as though he’d flipped a switch on them.When he laughed a low chuckle, something inside Vori twisted with want.Something passionate.Something she should’ve given up on two years ago when he’d walked out.
She cursed her body’s betrayal.“What’s so funny?”
“‘Beauty and the Beast.’The joke I made earlier.I was right.Except you’re both of them all in one.”
“Excuse you.”She scrunched her nose, bunny-line wrinkles be damned.“You’re no beauty right now with your dirty, smelly self.”Liar.He was still handsome, and she hated him for it.“So I don’t know who you’re trying to call a beast.You clearly got the better end of our deal, Mr.I Have Multiple Organizations Out To Kill Me.”
He shut up.Good.Maybe in the quiet, she could figure her way out of this mess.
Seconds later, he opened his mouth.“So…”
She shot him a side-eye.Why had she ever believed a lawyer could just be quiet?“Yes?”
“You said you could hide me from both the Revelare and the Senate if either still exists.How?”
“Let me worry about that.”If he was in Kradnovtl, he’d be out of reach of both.Until then, Alexei had agreed to let them use his guarded and warded warehouse.“As long as you stay where I tell you.”
“I’m trading one unwarranted detention for another.That’s what you’re saying.”
Unwarranted detention.She’d saved him, and he complained in legalese.If she could electrocute him with his own powers, she might.“Did I hear a ‘thank you’ for risking our lives to save you?Because I think that’s what you meant.”
“I didn’t ask to join the Revelare.I didn’t ask to be forced into serving a demon.”The frustration in his voice matched his frown.
