Page 51 of The Little Shop of Grand Curiosities

Her face turned into a jarring bright red. “Why does the Dragonfly havedemons?”

“Because the magic here attracts them. They prey on magical creatures, and the Dragonfly has plenty. Magic makes the soul tastier, I suppose.”

“The way you say it so nonchalantly,” she growled as she anxiously checked over her shoulder again, chewing at the corner of her lip. “Apollo, maybe we should head back to Walder’s. It’s getting really dark and—”

“Hey,” I breathed out. She veered and met my gaze, looking pale and shaky. If this were seven years ago, I would take her face in my hands, brush back the tender curls off her forehead, and tell her that she shouldn’t worry about anything. I was here, and I would never let anything bad happen to her. But all I was able to say now—all I was able tomean—was a dispassionate little, “We’re fine.”

Nepheli’s eyes turned from fearful to contemptuous in the matter of an afterthought. “What canyoudo against a forest demon, anyway? Undead or not, you’re still just a man.”

“I’ve killed a demon before,” I gritted out. “I don’t carry these blades just for show, you know.”

She visibly stiffened. “Oh, goody. He’s a killer too.”

Do not engage. Do not—“Better than the pathetic little boys you distract yourself with in Elora.”

What was wrong with me, damn it? Why couldn’t I just stay quiet and move along? I kept losing control of my tongue, my eyes, my hands. It was driving me insane.Shewas driving me insane.

“Thesemenat least know how to properly behave around a woman,” she bristled.

“Darling, theseboysdon’t have the slightest idea of what a woman actually needs.”

She licked her lips. “And you do?”

I wanted to lick her lips too. “I know you know I do.”

Nepheli blushed but didn’t falter. She merely glared at me, dauntless—and a little murderous.

I could just take a step now, and she would be up against that tree again. I could fall down on my knees, hike up her skirts, and show her just how much I knew what she needed.

What would she taste like? Starlight? Hope? Terrible decisions?

Suddenly, cold, sharp droplets of rain speckled my flushed skin. I glanced up at the silvered sky, darker by the second, the boughs standing out tender and grey against the black clouds. With a raucous thunder, the whole world flashed and tore in two, and a cataclysm descended upon us.

“Fuck,” I growled, ushering Nepheli back under the tree’s canopy.

“I told you it was going to rain!” she squealed.

Her hair was already drenched from the manic downpour, and the hem of her dress was soaking in the fresh mud. So I did the sensible thing: I slipped one arm under her knees and one around her waist, scooped her up, and made a run for it.

“Let me down!” she cried, kicking her feet in the air. “I can run on my own, you heathen!”

“Will you stop that?” I shouted over the howling of the wind, my boots squelching on the sodden underbrush as I sprinted straight toward the hill. “Damn it, Nepheli! Stop squirming! I’m going to drop you!”

She raised a hand to protect her face from the brutal lashes of the rain and coughed against the collar of my shirt. “Apollo, I swear if I get a lung infection and die—”

“You’ll haunt me for eternity. I know, darling. I know.”

???

The cave was as cold and dark as I remembered, the yawning mouth of some forest beast. Moss-covered stone, half-unburied minerals poking through the slouching ceiling, and abrasive, dusty ground.

The moment I let Nepheli down to her feet, she attacked me with her fists, pounding them on my chest hard enough to bruise us both. “If you pull something like this again—”

I caught her wrists and pushed her off me. “You’re seriously mad at me for getting you out of the rain as fast as I could?”

She whipped back the drenched strands of her hair and thundered me with her silvery ire. “I’m mad atyou. Full stop.”

Well, what’s new?

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