Page 40 of By the Moonbeam and the Mist
It was only when Steeler raised his gaze back to mine that I realized he was shirtless, every one of his muscles taut and flexing as Dazmine’s trap held him in place.
He was also… shaggier. I almost blinked in surprise at the shadow of facial hair and the longer locks of dark brown hair curling past his ears.
Whatever he’d been doing over this last week—stalking, murdering, or anything else his kind liked to do for fun—a razor sure as hell hadn’t been included in those activities.
Steeler finally ripped his eyes away from mine to survey the intricate tangle of carnivorous plants around the room.
Then his lips tilted into an absurd smile—revealing those canines again. I’d swear they were even sharper than last week.
“Clever,” he said finally.
Remembering myself, I stalked forward to fit the curved blade of my knife under his chin. On his knees like this, his head came right to my chest, and he had to lift that chin to meet my gaze again.
“Unfortunately,” I said, “I can’t take the credit.”
Steeler didn’t flinch. He didn’t do anything besides let his eyes devour every inch of my face until I couldn’t bear the weight of his attention anymore.
I shifted my focus downward, to that scarred engraving of a bulbed, encircled star on his shoulder. So raw and exposed without a shirt to cover it. One slice, and he’d be powerless. Defenseless.
Finally, I was the predator.
Finally, he was the prey.
But my stupid hands wouldn’t budge, wouldn’t move the knife away from Steeler’s throat to do the deed as he drawled, “You can’t take the credit, yet it was you who asked for help, wasn’t it?” A brush of dark, fathomless energy against my mind told me he’d just discovered Dazmine’s involvement for himself. Shit. “You shoved down all your pride to do what you thought was right.”
And why didhelook proud of that fact? Why was there actualadmirationgleaming in those cruel, smoky brown eyes?
I let my wall of ice surge forward a bit. Just enough to harden my eyes and calm the shake of my hand. “Pride has no place in a situation where innocent civilians are involved.”
A beat of silence. Then—“Innocent civilians?”
“You know.” I pressed the knife deeper into his neck, and a single bead of blood swelled from beneath the blade and rolled down to his bulging chest. Damn the sundew for making him strain. For making him flex. “The innocent civilians you and your fellow pirates attacked a few months ago? The ones you’re still trying to attack as if you don’t get enough magical scraps from our annual offering of exiles?” I pushed out as much sarcasm as I could in those words, hating Steeler, but hating Dyonisia just as much for giving him and his fellow pirates the people she deemed unworthy. “Or do you deny the attacks?”
Here I was, once again giving this man an opportunity to explain. To reject what the Good Council had told me.
But Steeler just said, without removing his eyes from my face, “I don’t deny the attacks, but they’re not what you think… I can explain more if you put your knife back in that neat little sheath of yours—” His eyes finally dipped to my waist, my thighs. “—and come with me.”
I gave a scowl so scathing that Wren would have been proud.
“Come with you? I’m not goinganywherewith you. And I’m not taking any more of those damned pills or letting you wipe my memory ever again.”
One slice. One measly little slice over his brand, and—
“No,” Steeler agreed. “I don’t have to wipe your memory ever again. Because I’ve found an alternative. If you’ll just come with me…”
“You’ve found an alternative to drugging me?” I threw up an empty laugh. “An alternative to stealing bits of my literalmind? How charming of you. But I’m not interested in your Plan AorPlan B.”
Even on his knees, tied up and stretched taut with a blade beneath his chin, Steeler managed to cock his head.
“Then whatareyou interested in, Rayna?”
My name on his tongue did it for me. A dark thrill erupted in my belly at the soft, sensual way he said it.
“This,” I said.
And moved my knife in one slashing motion, swiping it across his brand. Cutting through that scarred circle of flesh that matched the scars on mine.
Steeler sucked in a breath. His lips curled up in a flicker of fury, revealing those fangs in full. Oh God, I’d actually, truly pissed him off for the first time since he’d started stalking me, it seemed. If Dyonisia was wrong…
