Page 57 of The Princes of Stone and Steel

When I laid one hand on his shoulder and one to his elbow, his eyes popped open and he gasped. Sucking in a sharp breath, he flailed his arms, his body bobbing up and down. With his mouth open, he choked on a mouthful of water, spitting out the neon viscous liquid.

“Careful,” I warned, patting his back roughly to make sure he got it all up.

Steele flipped to his side to wrap an arm around my neck and I drew him to me close, continuing to pat him hard on the back at the same time placing kisses to his cheeks and chin and forehead happy to have him alive.

“My prince,” I cried between lip smacks. “I thought I lost you.”

“Shh… Mils. I’m fine. I’m here.”Yes, I could see he was, but he almost wasn’t.

His legs plunked below the waterline for the last time as he straightened, his feet touching the lake bottom, to reach his full regal height, the water hitting waist-high on him.

We waded back to land, sloughing up the beach completely waterlogged, dripping, and threw ourselves down onto the grainy white sand. Like drowned rats washing up onshore.

Korrigan needs us, I reminded myself—and I needed to because all I wanted was to lie there under the warm sun with Steele at my side until we dried off completely. Which, in our state, would’ve taken hours. I pushed up from the ground, holding my hand out to heave the man to his feet.

“Why don’t you have a shirt?” I asked.

“The sprites needed skin contact.”

Greedily, I drank in the sight before me because, you know, I had a set of working eyes and nobody with a set of working eyes could think anything but that the man was insanely hot. Strong and lithe, sculpted and beautiful. The body of an athlete, a warrior—wait, no.The princeof warriors. I had a feeling there was a reason that all the flesh to come before me had been men. Although our bond was helpful in the current state of affairs of Roshambo, it could also be considered a distraction.

I found the idea of so many female hands touching him—even to save his life—disgusting.

As if they read my mind, as if I hadn’t just saved their lake, the one closest to shore called out to him. “Do come back if you tire of the flesh. For a man… for a Forfex, you are most appealing.” The melody of her words struck a raw chord with me when she began to giggle.

Her spritely sisters began to chant, “Do come back… Yes, do come back…”

Irrationally, because I knew that he was mine, I had to show these women it wasn’t smart to mess with Millicent Merchant.

Licking my lips—Steele’s eyes stayed fixed on my face—I ran my fingers through his thick, unruly mop of rose-gold hair, grasping two fistfuls, and pulled his mouth to mine.

Gone, at least for now, were the sweet, demure kisses of Millie.

The harder I pressed my lips, the brighter our skin glowed again as if he was my own personal powerup, evaporating the wetness from our clothing. Energy flowed into the ground, so much energy the grass singed under our feet, yet glorious sprays of clover popped up to blanket the ground for several yards.

I had something to prove and I proved it until the wind swept in, reminding me we had an urgent job to do. When we pulled apart, our clothes felt bone-dry and his skin shone two shades darker than it had started out.

He held on because he didn’t seem to be able to stand unassisted. Dizzy, I knew I couldn’t.

“Wow,” I said.

“Wow,” he repeated. “You’re getting stronger.”

I closed my eyes tightly, collecting myself, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass as well as taking in what he said. Iwasgetting stronger. We found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of this brand-new territory. I didn’t know the extent of my powers. He didn’t know the extent of my powers. But as we still had a ways to go to finish our task, I had the feeling we’d be finding out sooner than later.

For some reason, my abilities surpassed that of all the past fleshes, and I only hoped it would be enough to save Korrigan. Save the outliers. And keep Steele and me safe.

“We have to go.” I peeked an eye open and found him staring at me with the corner of his lip tipped up.

He nodded and grabbed for my hand.

“Lead the way,” I told him.

Grass crunched underfoot as we trampled it down in our mad dash for Castle Metallum. The path cleared. Hills flattened. This part of my powers came in handy and I found myself grateful for it.

We’d had a setback with the sprites—time ticked away.

“Thheeeyyyy…aaarrreee…ppprrreeepppaaarrriiinnnggg… thhheee ppprrriiisssooonnneeerrr…” The wind rushed through me.

---