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His mouth went dry, and every impulsive sarcastic comment shriveled on his tongue.“Thank me when we make it back alive.Let’s do this.”
She slipped a thumb-sized folding knife from her pocket.“Royal blood coming up.”
His stomach lurched.“How much do you need?”
“Only a few drops.”
“Please say you’re not teasing.”
“For my level of royal?A single drop might do.”She pressed the tip of the blade against her thumb.“I’ll need to mark you to take you through and to claim you as my consort.”
“Ever seen anyone else brought through the portal?Tested the theory?”With his run-for-your-life worries and planning to catch a killer, he hadn’t asked about the actual trip.
“No.”
“So you’re pretty sure?”
“That’s my line.”She flashed a temptress grin—one that made his heart skip a beat.
“I didn’t figure you’d mind if I borrowed it.”
She stepped into him, her breasts brushing against his chest.All reason and questions fled.
Her heady rain-and-wild-flowers scent wrapped around him.Had the air suddenly gone heavy?It was hard to breathe with her so damn close.The glittering depth of her violet eyes packed more wow factor than a cave of amethysts, and when she parted her lips as if in soft invitation, he had to remind himself that this was all pretend.
She didn’t want him.
She couldn’t desire a man who had almost murdered for his own gain.No matter the compulsion.
She couldn’t be the royal in his prophecy, but damn, if he didn’t wish it might be true for a few stolen moments.
She touched her thumb to his forehead, dragging it in a spiked pattern.“By the blood, you and I are as one.Harm to thee is harm to me.”
She drew him in with the single touch that should have him flinching from the blood she smeared or the pain she could inflict.But her promise had his heart rate picking up as if a jury verdict was being handed down, one on him personally—something he’d never had.He wanted nothing more than to kiss his fake wife.
“By the blood.”Her solemn tone speared through him.
“I feel like I should bow or kiss a ring.Am I supposed to say something?”
“According to Kradnovtl laws, we’re married.”
“That’s it?Poof, you’re my goblin bride?”
“Yeah, don’t call me that.”
But he wouldn’t stop as long as she kept scrunching up her nose all cute like that.Anything to bring some levity to this blooded-consort-to-catch-a-killer charade.“What do we do now?”
“We go through.”She held out a hand, the one she hadn’t pricked.
His powers leaped toward her in a bold arc as if she’d called the currents forth.It danced across the jewels, an electrical storm jolting across a violet sky.“Damn.”
She grabbed hold of him, smothering the brightness.“Still okay with hiding your powers?”
“Yes.With your help.”Only weeks ago a surge of emotion, a brush of skin on metal, the pain of the magic burning through him—any of those things could have tripped his control and triggered a burst.But now he could hide it.Because of her.He trailed a touch over her knuckles, his fingers still entangled in hers.“Let’s do this.”
“Don’t let go.”
“I won’t.”Letting her go after they came back to the human world might be the hard part.
