Page 84 of Tempt

The slip and slide of unwelcomed guests is enough to get Wonder and Malice hurdling across the divide. So much for outwitting assailants.

A door leading back to the upper levels stands at the opposite end of the gallery. As they jet toward it, Wonder’s ears perk at the zing of an arrow. Without looking back, she pirouettes from its path, dodging the projectile, which shatters a casement, glass exploding into diamonds.

Her heels skitter. Every inch of the Archives is sacred; to defile the structure or its contents borders on sacrilege. How dare they!

The azurite arrowhead that vanishes on impact confirms the enemies’ identities. The twang of a bowstring has Malice cursing. He whips around and lets a hickory arrow fly, his eyes laced with wrath.

His arrow spears through the room, intercepting the azurite’s renewed path. Unfortunately, he’s too caught up blocking one flight to notice the other zooming toward him.

Wonder pounds into Malice, her weight thudding into his, her joints smacking the ground and her teeth clattering. They crash, their limbs tangling, a manuscript display shielding them from the firing squad.

Malice scrambles to a sitting position, his back propped against the case’s pedestal while Wonder squats in front of him. Air saws through her lungs as she assesses the situation, glancing from her would-be-soul-mate to her would-be captors.

A man with hawk features and long braids stalks beside an ebony-skinned beauty in a butterfly gossamer gown. An androgynous female in frothy lace approaches, hemmed in by another goddess with purple locks similar to Sorrow’s hair, and a cloaked male with slanted brows.

All five members of the Fate Court enter the gallery, brandishing arrows of azurite, pearl, crystal, purple agate, and lava rock. Weapons that, unlike those of lower deities, can kill.

The Court must have suspected this might happen, that Malice or Wonder would defy logic—as well as sanity—and procure the means to return here. Either that, or the rulers had increased security out of reflex. Whatever the reason, they had accomplished this cleverly, installing the type of snare that waits until offenders have their defenses down.

There are two ways out of here. Back through the channel or via the door, the latter of which Wonder and Malice had been counting on. If they destroy the encasements to startle the Court, they can make it. They just have to—

“Not gonna work,” Malice pants, his breath sliding across her jaw.

Wonder’s gaze skates from the ruthless spectacle to the private one before her. His chest beats to the rhythm of his exhalations, another sign that he’s not as robust as a common immortal. The human ghost lurking within him makes itself plain in moments like these. Although Wonder’s panting as well, her demon is doubly fatigued.

He grits his teeth. “When it comes to distractions, one is better than two, especially with these mates. Problem is, they’ll expect us to head for the door.”

She shakes her head. “What, then?”

“Backtrack. It’ll stunt their aim, since they won’t be expecting it.”

“Their reflexes will atone for that.”

He smirks. “Not if someone is a decoy.”

Her eyes widen. “Malice—”

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted you?” And now he looks venomous, his face scrunching like a wad of cloth. “From the first moment I saw you in the Celestial City, my body screamed and bawled. I didn’t know what the hell was happening to me. Ever since then, every time you’ve walked into a room, I’ve wanted to shout at you and kiss you, make you bleed and make you come. I wanted to punish you and hold you, like I was two different people.”

The soft contours of his confession clash with the battery acid taste of it. “You’re still on my shit list for substituting me for him. I’m still on your shit list for being a son of a bitch. If we weren’t being hunted, I’d still walk away from you, just like you should walk away from me. But it looks like only one of us’ll be doing any leaving.”

“Malice, no—”

“I hate these,” he says, taking her hand and pressing his lips to the starburst scars. “Hate them so much.” He glances sideways at her. “Now fuck off.”

“No!” she screams, leaping forward to steal his bow, take his place, rob him of free will and, hence, seal his fate for the better this time.

Malice may be a former human, and he may carry some of that residual vulnerability with him, but in that second, he’s faster than she. Barreling from behind the encasement, he targets and shoots, causing glass shards to detonate in the Court’s path and blind them.

This is the part where she’s supposed to run, flee to safety. This is the part where she’s supposed to honor his choice, so it’s not in vain. This is the part where she loses him again.

Wonder thrusts herself into the maelstrom of glass and arrows, dismissing the door and pitching toward the channel threshold from which they’d come.

But the thing is, she has never been good at listening to Malice. Or to anyone.

Once she passes the rulers, Wonder doubles back. She skids behind the gossamer goddess and rams a booted foot into the female’s tailbone.

On the goddess’s way down, Wonder swipes the pearl longbow, its arrow still nocked. The weapon is heavier than Wonder’s, forcing her arms to slip momentarily.

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