Chapter 16 #2
Without waiting for a response, he veered toward a low-roofed drinking house near the square, its doorway already crowded with early patrons. Within moments, he disappeared inside. I stared after him, irritation flaring hot and immediate.
Stand here. Like a dog.
Absolutely not.
Turning away, I headed for the row of stands lining the eastern edge of the market. With each step, the scent of crushed herbs thickened in the air.
I made my way to the merchant Elion favored, an Aurexium trader known for his quality stock, and inquired after the lunathorn caps—the rare fungus required for the concoctions I would need to prepare for the Moonbound Rite.
Its pale, crescent-shaped gills formed only in shaded stone hollows, drawn up by moonlight in the nights following a full moon.
The merchant glanced up as I approached, a smile already forming as he laid a wrapped bundle on the counter.
“You’ve come at the right time. Finest caps I’ve had in weeks. Clean harvest. Properly cured.” He looked up and stilled, studying me. Recognition flickered across his features, along with something else.
“You’re Elion’s niece. I’d recognize your face anywhere. A beauty like yours doesn’t pass through often.”
His smile thinned as he glanced past me. My piercing pulsed in warning.
“You’re alone today.”
He named his price, then nodded over my shoulder toward the brothel pressed up against the drinking house Thanor had entered.
“Could be less. If you’d care to share a drink.”
I wrinkled my nose and didn’t bother replying.
Instead, I tossed the full price onto the table, the coins striking the wood with a resounding clink, before gathering the caps without ceremony.
I slid the bundle into my satchel and fixed him with a look cold enough to end the conversation where it stood before turning away.
A low growl from my stomach followed me as I stepped back into the crowd, irritation easing into something more practical. If I was expected to wait for my master, I would do so on my own terms.
The scent of roasted chestnuts drew me toward the stall near the fountain, where I purchased a small bundle, offering the kind lady an appreciative smile.
The warmth of the nuts seeped pleasantly into my hands.
I found a bench near the fountain and sat down.
I closed my eyes as I took my first bite, the taste exploding on my tongue.
Elion used to buy them for me when I was a child.
They tasted of home. My vision blurred—but I blinked it away as an elderly couple sat beside me, heads close, voices low as though the air itself might listen.
“—they’ve been rising up for months now—” the woman murmured.
“—no one knows where they’re hiding,” the man replied.
“The Imperator’s sent the Praetor to put an end to it.”
The word rebellion passed between them like something fragile. A moment later, they drifted away together, the rest of their conversation lost to me. A rebellion? In Caelora? How had I never heard of this? I stood, following them, intent on asking more—
and collided with someone moving in the opposite direction.
A solid body beneath a cloak. I looked up. Dark skin. A jagged scar ran from the crown of his head down to his jaw, one eye clouded and ruined. Whatever injury he carried had left him half-maimed and wholly unpleasant to look upon.
He grimaced. “Watch where you’re going.”
I moved to side-step him, but he shoved past anyway, his shoulder slamming into mine before he disappeared back into the crowd. I rolled my shoulder, shaking off the sting before turning, ready to hurl a stream of insults—
A hand closed around my arm. Thanor.
He hauled me backward without a word, pulling me off the street and into the narrow mouth of an alley. Stone pressed cold against my back as he caged me in, one arm braced beside my head, the other cutting off my escape.
“What did I tell you?” His voice was low, stripped of patience. “I leave you alone for a moment. I give you clear instructions. And what do you do?”
I lifted my chin, fire burning bright. “I stayed within the square.”
His jaw tightened.
“Who were you speaking to?”
“Nobody,” I planted my hands against his chest and tried to move around him. He didn’t budge. Instead, his grip shifted, hands settling at my waist as he drove me back harder against the wall, his body closing the space between us until there was nowhere left to go.
He leaned in, his breath warm against my cheek. “What are you hiding?”
One arm held me in place while the other moved, unhurried, dragging from my shoulder down along my side. His touch lingered as it passed over me, brushing the line of my chest through the leather before slipping lower, following the curve of my waist until his hand settled firmly at my hip.
My pulse faltered as his hand drifted lower—
and slipped into my satchel.
He stilled. His fingers closed around something inside.
“What is that?” I demanded, shock eclipsing the tension as he withdrew a small vial I didn’t recognize, filled with red liquid. He uncorked it and inhaled once.
“Poison.”
His gaze pinned mine.
“Were you intending to use it on me?”
He threw the vial to the ground and crushed it beneath his boot. Then he leaned down, his mouth close to my ear.
“Answer me willingly… or I will make you.”
His scent wrapped around me, metal and leather, leaving no space to breathe without him in it. Still, I didn’t answer.
Instead, I laughed and lifted my chin just enough to look at him, even trapped beneath him.
“If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to plan it right under your nose.”
His eyes darkened. I leaned in a fraction, close enough that he could feel the words as much as hear them.
“You want answers?” I cocked my head. “Ask me nicely.”
Something in his expression shifted, enough to still me. He inhaled deeply, eyes closing. Perhaps I shouldn’t push him further. “That vial wasn’t mine,” I said, quieter now. “Someone put it there. It must’ve been that man who bumped into me.”
His eyes opened again. Hardened.
“Someone put it there,” he echoed. His grip didn’t loosen. If anything, it grew more constricting, anchoring me exactly where he wanted me.
“How is it that such a small woman can be such a persistent nuisance? I can’t leave you alone for one moment.”
As he spoke, his fingers caught a small lock of my hair, sliding it between them before letting it fall. His hand pressed into my hip, his other joined it, pulling my lower body into his.
“If what you’re telling me is true,” he said, “then in a single trip to the market, you nearly get yourself dragged before the Praetor and entangled in a poisoning.”
His hand trailed upward, fingers spreading around my throat, his thumb settling beneath my ear, enough to catch the frantic rhythm of my pulse. He lowered his face, breathing along the line of my neck.
“This little accident ensures you no longer have the luxury of distance… you move when I move. You speak when I allow it. And you do nothing—nothing—without me knowing exactly where you are.”
His gaze held mine, unblinking.
I rose onto my toes and struck him hard across the cheek.
His head turned slowly with the blow, the imprint of my hand stark against his skin.
I saw it—the moment his restraint snapped.
He surged forward, forcing his mouth onto mine, the kiss rough and claiming.
I met him just as fiercely, answering force with force, refusing to yield.
The world narrowed to breath and contact, to the press of his body and the cold wall at my back. Time stretched, each second drawn tight.
Sensation burst outward from my piercing, flaring through my limbs before settling low—liquid heat pooling between my thighs.
His tongue invaded my mouth, demanding space, seeking control. I met it head-on, refusing to give ground, the clash between us turning the kiss into something almost violent in its intensity.
He shifted, sliding one leg between mine and pressing upward, stealing the air from my lungs. My body answered before I could stop it. Craving the friction. Wanting more.
A moan slipped from me, soft and traitorous. He answered with a low growl, the vibration rippling through me, settling deep beneath my skin.
It snapped me back to myself. Fear cut clean through the haze. My eyes flew open and I bit down hard on his tongue. Metal filled my mouth. Blood.
The bite didn’t stop him. It only drove him on. He groaned as his mouth returned to mine, harder this time. The violence between us feeding something darker. I felt his arousal press into me, making my thighs clench.
Too far. This had gone too far. I shoved at his chest, turning my head away.
“Stop,” I whispered, breathless, fighting the pull of my own body. My breath came uneven, tension coiling tight beneath my skin, demanding a release I refused to give.
A low sound tore from him before he forced himself back.
I dragged in a breath, my body still aching where his had been. His pupils were blown wide, his breath rough as he stepped away, fists clenched at his sides. His eyes closed briefly, as though reining something in.
“In time, you will give in.”
He opened them again, his gaze steady, unshaken.
“I am a patient man.”