“Adorable,” he muttered. “The four of you are so sweet it’s nauseating.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Rowan plopped down on the couch and snatched one of the leftover gingerbread men from the plate. “You asked your lovers how they’d eat this cookie as a sort of test, yes?”
The fuck?
“You heard that?” I felt awkward being the only one standing, so I sank down in the armchair. “Have you been skulking around here all day? You reallyarea stalker.”
“Oh, I’ve been here much longer than today. Well, it’d be yesterday now. The sun is nearly risen.” He examined the cookie but didn’t take a bite. “I’ve popped in several times over the past several weeks.”
My scalp tingled as a memory surged forward. “One night while I was, uh, with my men… in bed… I thought I saw you in the corner.”
“You did.” The fire danced in his topaz eyes. Something else shone in them too. Something darker. “Quite the sight I witnessed. Their hands and mouths all over you. The sounds they made you make. Your expression when they made you fly.”
“Well, that’s not mortifying at all,” I said under my breath. “But we’re free to do whatever we want in the privacy of our room. You should be ashamed for spying on us.”
“Me? Ashamed? Never.” Rowan shifted forward on the cushion, that dark gleam in his eyes still present and paired with a faint lifting of his mouth. “Perhaps next time, I’ll join you.”
I… didn’t know how to respond to that. So, I deflected. “Are you going to eat the cookie?”
“So you can test me as well?” Rowan lightly tapped the cookie against his lips. “You know, I’m wounded you didn’t decorate one with my likeness. I thought we had a connection. Such a pity.”
“I can always give it a green scarf and dagger really quick. Maybe a little snaggletooth, too, to represent your smirking habit.”
He laughed. “The knight bit the head off first. Specs went for the arm.”
“Specs? Are you referring to Briar?”
“I suppose so, if he’s the one with spectacles.” Rowan rotated the cookie in his hand. And then, he broke it in half at the waist. “This way will give him a quick death but ensure he’s conscious just long enough to know what’s been done to him. What does your little test say about me now?”
“Nothing I didn’t already know.” I fought a smile. He was trying to get a reaction out of me, and I didn’t want to humor him. “You’re a total sadist.”
Rowan placed the two halves back on the plate.
“You’re not going to eat it?” I asked.
“I told you before, I’m not fond of sweets.”
“Wow. That’s even more demented. Killing the poor gingerbread man and not even eating him after. Killing just for the thrill of it.”
“I’m nothing if not a seeker of thrills. Now, back to my offer…” Rowan stood from the couch. Could he not stay in one place for too long? Always had to be on the move. “You have your necklace, when you remember to wear it—” He rolled his eyes at me “—but it can’t protect you from everything. No magic can, no matter how powerful. Therefore, out of the kindness of my black heart, I’m willing to travel with you, using whatever means necessary to prevent you from coming to harm.”
“Whatever means necessary. Like using the Shadow Crusher?”
When he smiled—a real smile—it smoothed his jagged edge. Made him look more boyish somehow. “You truly do like my shadow magic, don’t you? It doesn’t frighten you?”
I shook my head. “It’s cool as hell, and I’m not just saying that. But why go through the trouble for me? Do you feel guilty about the whole kidnapping thing?”
“Guilty? No.” Rowan stepped over to the bookcase and trailed a finger along the spines of the novels. “The days we spent together awoke something in me. I’ll never regret or feel guilty for the choice that led to that realization.”
“What did you realize?”
“That maybe not every person in this world is as rotten as I once believed. For the first time in my life, I met someone I felt like I could…” He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” Butwhydid it matter? Why was my throat suddenly tight and my breaths heavy?
“You fascinate me, Evan,” Rowan whispered. “More than that, you’ve consumed me in ways I can’t understand. I’ve gone years without feeling anything at all. But ever since meeting you, I have this fire inside my heart.”
