Page 16 of Hexbound
"'Friendly' my Aunt Nelly," she snapped, but he'd played within the rules of the Code and there was not much she could do about it. If it had hit her, then she'd have borne the consequences. The seven gang leaders who ruled the Hex might have considered the matter in Hex Gathering, but whilst they might have insisted Zach pay a tithe to her, secretly they'd have been stroking their moustaches to hide small smiles. The curse wasn't fatal. Zach would have won considerable esteem without causing any major damage, and that would have earned him man-about-town status whilst she was the one laughed about.
Bishop stared at her, his nostrils flaring and his hands clenched, with a very prominent erection.
"Cor," whispered someone behind her, "he's actually holding against it...."
"That's bullshit," someone else muttered. "Can't nobody stand against Lover Boy."
"Are you certain you're all right?" she asked. She'd seen grown men wade into whorehouses, forgetting about their wives and children, while under the influence of Lover Boy. A proud widow protesting the gin houses in St. Giles had taken four men in a back alley before it wore off.
Black eyes shot open. The way he looked at her.... "Fine," he pronounced, very slowly and very clearly. "But I need to get out of here, right now. Before I turn a certain someone into a greasy smear on the cobbles."
Before he lost control.
Taking a few careful steps back toward him, she kept the knife in her hand. "Zachariah?"
"Yes?" he asked warily.
"I would have preferred to keep this business to myself, but you've just made it impossible." Verity let a nasty smile show. "You just cursed an Order sorcerer of the Grave Arts. This isn't over. We have business to conclude, which means we can't take the time to teach you a lesson, but if I were you, I would sleep with one eye open."
Zachariah turned pale.
"If I were you," Bishop growled, straining with sweat, "I wouldn't sleep at all."Then he turned and strode toward the mouth of the alley, forcing her to follow.
"Iam so, so sorry," Verity said, hurrying after him and reaching for his arm.
"Don't touch me," Bishop snarled, then froze as the curse crashed over him with intensity, sensing her proximity and trying to drown him in her nearness.
The scent of her, all hot, wet woman.... He was almost overwhelmed by the sudden urge to press her against the wall, drag up her skirts, and fuck his way into her. The memory of that night she'd stolen the Chalice blinded him. He could almost feel her smooth skin under his touch.
Verity froze like a rabbit in the hunter's sights. "You could... take care of that," she whispered. "I have rooms at the Crows, but there's another place I have when I want some privacy. If you wanted to... you know...."
Bishop swallowed. Hard.Jesus bloody Christ.Was she suggesting what he thought she was?
"It's not going to go away," Verity explained, clearing her throat as though she felt some sort of guilt for the matter.
"Does this happen regularly?" Somehow the words formed.
"Everyone's got their own little curse. Zach's just tend to be nastier than others."
Curses and hexes. He couldn't imagine sorcerers scrubbing around in the dirt like this and using their talents for two-bit entertainment. There was no training here, no rituals, no control. Just bottom-feeders like Zachariah, and from the way he'd treated Verity, this wasn't the first time he'd made a nuisance of himself. Anger swelled. "Has he ever hit you with this?"
Verity's eyes went round. "No. But I've seen what it does."
"This... is not right."
"I know," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think. I didn't factor in the fact that you were standing directly behind me."
He was going to kill someone. Or four someones. All it would take would be to reach out with one hand and squeeze his fist, and they'd all four drop dead in the middle of the street, their hearts crushed with a thought....
Do it,whispered the craving, the rushing temptation of the call of the Grave. All of that sweet, sweet power... his for the taking as he rode their death throes, drained them of every last....
Bishop's eyes shot wide and he grabbed Verity by the shoulders. "Kiss me!"
"What—?"
"I'm going to kill them if you don't—"
Verity grabbed his collar and hauled his body against hers. Bishop staggered, catching her by the upper arms and feeling all of that soft flesh pressed against his. She was so small, her cheeks revealing the fact that she didn't eat well, or often, but all he could think about right now was shoving a hand under her skirts and stroking the sleek skin there. Her mouth met his, and he lost his mind.
