Page 80 of The Demons in the Deep: Extended Edition
“Ah. Well, yes, there is that.” Mai cleared her throat. “A pity. But one must move on.”
“You’ve found something more important to you than an education. It must be monumental indeed, to have replaced your one true desire for learning.” He advanced, and Mai took a cautious step back. “I was going to offer you my patronage, so you could stay here in Stragnoag. Private rooms, your own maid, a guard for your protection, and continued access to the knowledge and resources of the university.”
Mai’s heart thrilled in spite of herself. “That’s a generous offer.”
“It is. I had hoped, in return, that you would design things for me—weapons, traps, machines, whatever I need.” He prowled nearer, his bulk consuming her gaze, his tantalizing scent filling her nostrils. “Yet it seems you are no longer interested in what I offer.”
“It’s very tempting,” she breathed. “But I’m needed elsewhere.”
“Then I’ll be needing my pin back.”
“What makes you think I’d wear it to a gala, pinned to my gown?” She forced a laugh.
Feral’s mouth twisted in a half-smile. “I know you have it.”
Grumbling, Mai lifted a ruffle at her breast and unpinned the little gold shark from beneath it. Feral extended his hand, and she dropped it into his palm.
Never taking his eyes from her, he tucked the pin into his pocket.
A quick step forward, and he took her jaw suddenly in his hand, forcing her face up while his descended.
But she twisted away. “Don’t kiss me again.”
“I like the taste of you.”
“Touch me without my permission, and I will never work for you. Back away now, and there might be a chance that I’ll agree, someday.”
It was the only power she had over someone like him—her mind, her skills. The promise of a hunt that might end in victory.
And she suspected that Feral loved a good hunt.
After a few seconds, he nodded and backed away a step. When he did, Mai saw another figure behind him—tall, with long dark hair. Rake could have been Feral’s shadow, except for the sharpness of his ears and features, his slim build and narrow waist, and the claws.
He’d been listening. Watching.
He glided forward, circling Feral and halting just behind Mai’s right shoulder.
Feral took them both in, his gaze a mix of surprise and calculation. “I see.”
Mai expected him to say more—to challenge Rake somehow—but instead Feral merely nodded and went back inside.
Strange. He wasn’t the kind of man to yield easily to competition.
“What did he mean?” Rake asked. “About you working for him?”
Mai squirmed under his intent gaze. “You know I’ve spoken to him before. Well… I may have given him some weapons designs, in exchange for information about the race route. And he may have given me a special pin in exchange, which allowed me access to more of the university’s resources and people than Flay could have offered. I kept the pin on me always, under a cuff, a lapel, in my pocket—wherever Flay wouldn’t see it.”
“So you have been working with our rival and deceiving us,” Rake said slowly.
“To help us win!” Mai exclaimed. “To save the people I care about from enslavement. Yes, I did it, and I would do it again!”
“I never said I blamed you for it,” Rake replied. “I myself performed acts of deceit, betrayal, and theft to accomplish my escape from the Queens. And I helped you humans destroy most of my race. So when I say that I understand why you did this, I mean it.”
Mai drew in a breath, her tension easing.
“I will not tell anyone,” Rake said. “But perhaps, since Feral now knows the truth, you will let me tell our friends that you and I are—that we—well…” He cocked his head aside, frowning. “What are we? Mates?”
“Tides, no—I wouldn’t say that, exactly,” Mai said, breathless. “But definitely more than friends. Partners, I think. Family, maybe, or—”
